We’ve made it to week number 9 of the high school football season; a few last minute cancellations here and there; and we make our way back to where this season started; we’re in Snohomish for this final regular season game between the Lake Stevens Vikings and the Glacier Peak Grizzlies.
The Lake Stevens Vikings come into this game as the #5 4A team in the Cascadia Preps State rankings; the Vikes are on top of the WIAA RPI rankings. All of those rankings and ratings won’t mean a thing if the Vikings don’t finish out the regular season with a victory. And suddenly this week,that result might be in doubt. Lake Stevens has won seven straight Wesco 4A titles; and are riding a 49 game winning streak in league games. A win tonight would give them 50 straight Wesco league victories. Domination doesn’t seem to be a strong enough word to describe coach Tom Tri’s team. Coming into this week, quarterback Grayson Murren, who will not play, had passed for 1293 yards and 18 touchdowns.
But the strength of the Vikings has changed to a very, very potent running attack. Jayden Limar, Trayce Hanks and a host of others have put up some pretty impressive numbers; but here’s the thing; the Lake Stevens defense has played so well, that the Vikings usually only have to go the short field to find the endzone. Don’t sleep on the passing attack; Drew Carter has 32 receptions, 657 yards and 11 touchdowns. Oh, and by the way, the quarterback will be 6-1 165 lb sophomore Kaden LaPlaunt.
Lake Stevens is 6-0 overall and 3-0 in league play; you remember that the first two games of the Vikings’ season were canceled due to Covid Concerns in the Lake Stevens program. Lake survived a spirited attack by Kamiak last week, winning the game 35-28.
Glacier Peak comes into this game at 2-0 in league play and 6-1 overall. Only two league games for the Grizzlies, because their Wesco 4A game with Kamiak was scrubbed by Covid Concerns at Kamiak. The only loss was to Marysville Pilchuck a couple of weeks ago; and they got absolutely boat-raced by the Tomahawks 49-20.
We’ll keep an eye on running backs Ryan King, he had 3 touchdowns in last week’s 63-0 pasting of Jackson; and Trey Leckner; the Snohomish transfer had 2 scores against the Timberwolves. Of course, tight end Cooper Jensen is hard to miss as well, the 6-6 210 lb junior has already committed to take his talents to Corvallis in two years to play for Oregon State. Cooper Jensen is the son of former Cascade Bruin; Washington Husky and Carolina Panther Jerry Jensen.
High School Football on KRKO AM 1380 & FM 95.3; streaming live at www.krko.com and on the KRKO Phone App. Tom Lafferty, coach Joel Vincent and Steve Willits will have the call on Friday night, 6:30 pm Pregame Show; 7:00 pm Kick-Off, live from Veterans Memorial Stadium in Snohomish.
