Tonight’s season-opening clash of North and South titans is also a collision of two worlds for Joel Vincent.
Head coach of the Jackson High School football team, Vincent will lead the Timberwolves of Mill Creek against the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks this evening in a highly anticipated game at Everett Memorial Stadium. Jackson is the two-time defending Western Conference South Division champion and M-P won the last two North Division titles.
In The Herald’s preseason coaches’ polls, M-P was picked to win the North again and Jackson was ranked second in the South.
The non-league matchup is certainly an exciting way to kick off the 2010 season, and it’s extra intriguing for Vincent, who coaches and teaches at Jackson but lives in Marysville.
“My sons (Tynan, 13, and Sean, 10) go to Marysville schools. All their friends know that their dad is the coach at Jackson,” Vincent said. “Of course, for me it makes (tonight’s game) a little bit more interesting and fun.”
Tynan, Vincent’s oldest son, played on the Marysville Kodiaks youth football team that won the Greater Snohomish County Youth Football League senior division title last year. One of Tynan Vincent’s Kodiaks coaches is the father of Tyler Thompson. Thompson, a senior running back/outside linebacker, is a Marysville-Pilchuck captain who will help the Tomahawks try to topple Jackson tonight.
Which team will coach Vincent’s sons and wife cheer for: M-P or Jackson?
“If you asked my sons,” Vincent said, “they would tell you, ‘We root for Marysville schools every single game they play — except when they play my dad’s team.’”
As usual, Vincent’s sons will be ball boys on Jackson’s sideline.
And as for Vincent’s wife: “She will sit somewhere near the middle,” coach Vincent said, “because she’ll know all the Marysville people sitting 8 feet away.”
Jackson WR Wilde will miss season opener
Jackson senior John Wilde, a speedy receiver, will not play tonight, coach Vincent said. Wilde is injured (Vincent declined to identify the injury) but Vincent is hopeful Wilde will play next week. Last season Wilde missed several games because of a broken wrist and finished with 276 yards receiving and three touchdowns. In 2008, his sophomore year, he had 506 yards receiving and four TDs.
Mariner to honor beloved former trainer
Before the Mariner High football team plays Arlington tonight at Goddard Stadium, Mariner will honor its former athletic trainer, Brad Agerup. About 15 minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff more than a dozen of Agerup’s family members are expected to be on the field when the Marauders retire a No. 1 uniform with Agerup’s name on it, said Pam Degamo, co-president of the Mariner Marauders booster club.
Agerup, his wife Melissa and their friends, Tom and Hilda Woods, were killed by a drunk driver in a crash on Highway 9 on Nov. 29, 2009. Tonight’s football game is Mariner’s first since the death of Brad Agerup, who was a teacher and athletic trainer at Mariner for more than 25 years.
Mariner plans to raise awareness about the danger of driving drunk. Agerup’s family and Marauders coaches will wear T-shirts with the printed message “Don’t drink and drive” and booster club members will pass out 1,000 rubber bracelets that convey the same message, Degamo said.
The vehicle the Agerups and Woodses were in when the drunk driver crashed into them is on display at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. With the families’ support, the Snohomish County DUI &Target Zero Task Force is using the vehicle to deter people from driving under the influence.
Top-ranked A. Murphy aided by yoga
The Archbishop Murphy High football team is No. 1 in the Tacoma News Tribune’s preseason Class 2A rankings. The Wildcats start their season tonight with a big test at eighth-ranked Ellensburg. It’s a matchup of two 2009 state semifinalists.
Murphy hopes one of its new training methods — yoga — pays immediate dividends. A Murphy assistant coach’s wife runs a local yoga studio and once a week Murphy players take yoga lessons to work on stretching, flexibility and balance, Wildcats coach Dave Ward said. As many as 50 players have simultaneously attended a session, Ward said.
“The guys are starting to realize it’s pretty hard, to do it right,” said Ward. “You’ve got to concentrate and pay attention.”
List of local team captains
Which players have been named captains of their respective teams for the 2010 high school football season? Find out by going to http://tinyurl.com/2eeu4mw.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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