SNOHOMISH — Since Glacier Peak High School opened in 2008, head football coach Rory Rosenbach, who is the only head coach in school history, has led the Grizzlies to the playoffs every season. There isn’t much to debate when it comes to the success of his tenure as head coach — Rosenbach is a proven winner.
Many would see Glacier Peak wide receiver Justin Guffey’s junior season in 2014 as another example of Rosenbach’s coaching excellence. Guffey caught 43 passes for 732 yards and nine touchdowns, leading Wesco 3A receivers in all three categories.
Rather than pat himself on the back, Rosenbach wasn’t satisfied and he pointed the finger directly at himself.
“We didn’t get him the damn ball,” Rosenbach said. “We didn’t get him the ball for the first half of the year.”
In the second half of the 2014 season, it wasn’t uncommon for Guffey to catch eight to 10 passes a game and rack up 100 yards receiving, but in the first half of the season the Grizzlies had trouble getting the ball into the hands of their playmaker.
Rosenbach didn’t place blame and accepted full responsibility.
“I’m doing a bad job of calling plays if he’s not getting the ball, so I’ve got to make sure he’s getting the ball,” Rosenbach said.
“It’s 100 percent on me,” Rosenbach added. “Get him the ball. It’s stupid. It’s just bad coaching. Get the good kids the ball.”
Guffey said all the right things when asked about his 2014 statistics. He was humble about his accomplishments and satisfied with how often the ball was put in his hands.
“I’m just trying to make every play I can,” Guffey said. “I don’t really care about the numbers. At the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is the win or the loss.”
It was the type of answer every coach wants to hear their players give when asked about statistics. In turn, Rosenbach’s take on getting Guffey the ball is exactly the kind of response any explosive player would want to hear from their coach.
“I care about his stats,” Rosenbach said. “All I care about is at halftime, he better have seven to 10 touches in a half. If he doesn’t have seven to 10 touches in a half, I need to manufacture some touches for him.”
It stands to reason Guffey’s numbers will increase this season with Rosenbach more focused on getting him the ball from Week 1. Guffey doesn’t necessarily think that will be the case.
“We’ve got so many weapons out there,” Guffey said. “Whatever (Rosenbach) feels is right is whatever play that he calls. I think he just calls what play he likes not really who he wants to go to because we’ve got so many weapons we can just spread the ball around.”
Rosenbach and Guffey are on the same page when it comes to the depth of the Grizzlies. While Rosenbach is excited about the notion of getting the ball into the hands of his standout senior, he said he will welcome a double-team of Guffey.
“I think we are more balanced as a team, meaning that we have some more viable weapons, which is good,” Rosenbach said. “If somebody wants to put a safety and a corner and bracket him — great. All day long, please do it because I feel like we are good enough to go beat that this year whereas maybe we weren’t last year.”
As former Mountlake Terrace head coach Tony Umayam noted, no matter what defenses are thrown at Glacier Peak, Rosenbach knows how to get the ball to the guys who can make plays — especially Guffey.
“They’re creative in the different ways that they try to get him the ball with bubble screens and receiver slip screens,” Umayam said. “Every time he touches the ball you kind of hold your breath because he’s pretty dynamic. It’s extremely hard for one guy to bring him down, so you need to corral him in order to keep him from breaking a big play.”
Guffey had his share of big plays against the Hawks last season. He helped the Grizzlies build a 22-0 lead at halftime of their Week 6 matchup, but an injury slowed him in the second half and the Hawks came from behind to win 33-32.
The win propelled the Hawks to a second-place finish in the Wesco 3A South, while the Grizzlies needed a last-second win over Edmonds-Woodway in Week 8 to continue their streak of consecutive playoff appearances.
With several key players returning led by Guffey, the league’s coaches don’t expect the Grizzlies’ season to come down to the wire this year. They are the heavy favorite to win the league championship.
In college and the National Football League, having a big-play guy won’t necessarily separate a team from the rest of the pack because the talent pool is more similar. Umayam said it’s a much different story in high school.
“At the high-school level, it’s probably the most critical thing to have that will decide the outcome of your season,” Umayam said. “Kind of like how you need have a very good quarterback in the NFL to know that you are going to be a team that is going to have a nice season and compete in the playoffs each year, in high school I would say the explosive player is that. Very few times do you see a team do well or have a very good season without that explosive player.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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