Sports
PAGE 12
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011
Mount Si stuns Bothell on record-setting night By Sebastian Moraga The Mount Si Wildcats turned in a promising performance Sept. 10, defeating 4A school Bothell 26-14 on the road. The Wildcats (1-1) avenged a home loss to Bothell last year and erased much of the sour taste from last week’s home loss to Woodinville. “It was a total team effort,” head coach Charlie Kinnune said. Bothell struck first, with a 13yard pass from quarterback Austen Dahl to wide receiver Trent Sewell in the end zone. Mount Si punted on its next drive and left Bothell starting at the 50-yard line. Just when it looked like Dahl might engineer another Cougar score on a short field, Mount Si’s Josh Mitchell collided with the Bothell center with 12 seconds left in the first quarter. The game was stopped for about 20 minutes while the trainers tended to the Cougar player, who left the field on a gurney. Instead of galvanizing the team, the injury left the Cougar offense in flux, with Dahl dealing with errant snaps for the rest of the night. On the first post-injury drive, early in the second quarter, Bothell had the ball on first-and15 at the Mount Si 35. A bad
By Calder Productions
Cameron VanWinkle kicking during the Mount Si-Bothell game. VanWinkle broke the school’s career record for field goals, broke the school’s record for field goals in a single game, tied the school’s record for field-goal distance, and is two shy of the school’s record for field goals in a season. snap cost the Cougars 18 yards. The Cougars would eventually punt on fourth and 41. Wildcat QB Ryan Atkinson, took over at his own 24 yardline, and began moving the chains up. On second-and-eight, he connected with Tyler Button twice to find the end zone. On the next Bothell drive, a holding penalty erased Dahl’s 80-yard touchdown run.
Forced to punt, the Bothell snap rolled between Dahl’s legs and Mount Si got the ball at the Cougars’ 20. The drive stalled, and kicker Cameron VanWinkle was asked to nail a 47-yard- field goal. The ball sailed easily through the uprights. The Wildcats had the lead and VanWinkle had himself a tie for the 30-year-old school record for distance.
Ahead 13-7 at halftime, Wildcat fans fretted over a repeat of last week, when the Mount Si team emerged lifeless after the break. For a while, their fears looked well-founded, too. After forcing Bothell to punt on the first drive, Button touched the punt as it slipped behind him. Bothell recovered and on the next play, Sewell had his second touchdown of the night.
Unlike last week, Mount Si shoved back. With four minutes left in the third, Van Winkle kicked his team back into the lead, with the third of his schoolrecord four field goals in a game. With a minute left in the third, Mount Si’s defense came up large and shut the door on the Cougars for good. On second-and-goal at the 7, Dahl connected with Nick Anthony for six yards. On thirdand-goal at the 1, the defense stuffed the Cougars and on fourth-and-one Dahl overthrew to Anthony. On the next Cougar drive, Mount Si’s Zach Usselman picked off Dahl at the 50-yard line, and the Wildcats were in business again. With 3:43 left in the game, on first-and-goal at the Bothell nine-yard line, Riley Reed took it to the 1 and then Elijah Mayfield punched it in. Mount Si had a 23-14 lead. A late field goal by Van Winkle and a Nick Mitchell interception of Dahl with 50 seconds left in the contest sealed the victory. “It felt great,” Josh Mitchell said. “We came out, played all four quarters and stuck together as a team.” Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
Duo trades in the gridiron for putters and a nine iron By Sebastian Moraga They have heard the jokes and the putdowns. They have seen the disappointment in their friends’ eyes, and their disbelief. Switching high school football for golf? Really? Hut-hutfore? “The switch was pretty difficult,” said Erik Stai, one of two varsity golfers at Mount Si High School who traded the gridiron for the links this year. “Telling my coaches and teammates was really hard because I was going into my junior year and was fighting for the starting varsity quarterback decision.” A quarterback since fifth grade, Jake Archambeau became a defensive end last year. This year, he did not turn out for football. “People have said, ‘Golf is a wimpy sport, and you’re just scared.’ I just say when you have to make a 10-foot putt to win a tournament, that’s just as scary as many situations in football,” Archambeau said. The teammates have played
golf for years, but only this year did they begin playing competitively. The individual nature of golf, after years of team sports, enticed them. Stai had a practical reason, too. A longtime skier, it had become too difficult to balance skiing and football. “Football is a big commitment in the Valley and my passion is skiing,” he said. “I chose to play golf to keep me doing something in the fall that wasn’t as much a commitment.” Golf has the shortest schedule of all the school’s varsity sports. The duo still miss certain things about football, like the big crowds on Friday nights that Stai never got to experience as a starting quarterback. That atmosphere, he said, is the only thing that would make him consider putting the pads on again. If given the choice between being drafted by the NFL or handed a PGA tour card, Stai said he would take the card and travel the world. Archambeau was more hesitant, mentioning
Monday Night Football and the fact that golfers who don’t make the cut make no money. Still, they love their new game. They love the focus and commitment it takes to improve. They love the solitude of it and how they are in control of their own performance. Well, sort of. Sometimes they swing and that little dimpled ball does its own thing. “Makes me want to get back out on the gridiron and hit some people,” Archambeau said. The only thing that would make him return to high school football, he said, is if someone else returns with him. “Jake Locker,” he said. “If he decided to go back to high school and play for the Wildcats and I would get to play wide receiver.” Until the former Husky ditches the National Football League for the KingCo Conference, Archambeau will keep golfing, and so will Stai. Both want to make it to state before they graduate. The fact that it’s state golf
By Sebastian Moraga
From left, Erik Stai and Jake Archambeau. The Mount Si golfers share a passion for the game and a past as varsity football players. and not state football matters little to them, but not everyone is as lenient. “My coaches were very understanding about how important skiing was to me and felt like I should follow my dream,” Stai
said of the Wildcats’ football staff. “My teammates are still mad I’m not playing.” Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.