Lake Stevens, Arlington QBs take to the air tonight

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, September 27, 2001

By Aaron Coe

Herald Writer

Footballs will be flying tonight in Lake Stevens.

Only a few years ago, Snohomish County football teams used the passing game about as often as Bobby Ayala threw a good pitch.

“Quarterback” was an honorary term used to describe the guy who took the ball from the big guy kneeling over in front of him. The quarterback was a converted running back who either ran with it himself or handed it to someone else.

Throw the ball? Only a coach with mad cow disease would be so crazy. The closest thing to an air attack was “toss sweep left.”

Ah, but things have changed.

When Arlington travels to Lake Stevens for tonight’s rivalry game, it would not be a shock to see 40 passes thrown. Some coaches would rather eat sideline chalk than throw 40 passes in a year, but with Arlington’s third-year starter Kevin McCormack and Lake Stevens’ junior rising star Mitch Canham, 50 yards go by a lot faster on one passing play than 14 runs up the gut.

Mitch Canham

“If you can throw the ball, you can play and be competitive with anybody,” Arlington coach John Boitano said. “If you just run the ball, you’ve got to be pretty darn strong and match up size-wise. We never have, but with our versatility, we never feel like, ‘Gosh, these guys are going to kill us.”

And this from a coach whose son, Joseph Boitano, is the starting running back.

Sorry son, we’re airing it out.

Boitano has always loved throwing the football. Vikings coach Ken Collins despises the passing game, but says he believes it to be a necessary evil to win in the playoffs. After losing to the high-flying Eagles four years in a row (1996-1999), Collins unleashed quarterback Nolan Perkl last year and is doing the same this season with Canham.

The Vikings have not lost a conference game in the last two seasons, the last such defeat coming to Arlington in 1999.

McCormack, a senior, is battle tested. He led his team to the postseason his sophomore and junior years. He had a tough game in a 28-7 loss to Snohomish last week (7-for-21 passing), but threw for 222 yards against Lake Stevens last year.

Canham watched last season as Perkl guided the Vikings to the state playoff quarterfinals. He struggled a bit against Cascade in his first career start, completing just four of 12 passes while allowing the Vikings’ running game to dominate. In Week 2 against Snohomish, Canham displayed his strong arm in a 14-7 victory over Snohomish. Canham completed 12 of 16 passes for 125 yards and had a long touchdown pass called back by a penalty.

“The tempo of the game slows down as you get used to playing out there,” Canham said. “Those first-game jitters get to you.”

Both quarterbacks are a hair under 6 feet, 2 inches, have strong arms and can utilize several receivers who can go deep. McCormack overthrew a pass to receiver Michael Klein last week that sailed 60 yards. Canham says he can throw it 50 yards.

McCormack led the Wesco 3A in passing yards last year, but the Eagles lost to Lake Stevens, Arlington’s only league loss of the season. In 1999, Lake Stevens’ only conference loss was to Arlington.

Both years, the Arlington-Lake Stevens winner was the Wesco 3A champ. Both schools have moved up to the 4A Western Conference North Division this season, but it could be the same deal. Lake Stevens (2-0 in conference play and overall) could remain in the driver’s seat. Arlington, which fell to 2-1 with a 28-7 loss to Snohomish a week ago, would stay in strong contention. After all, if a few things fall right for Arlington this weekend, six schools would top the North Division standings with one-loss records.

What all that means is, this – as usual – is a big game.

“This is the game we look forward to every year,” Lake Stevens tailback Justin Balunsat said. “They still talk about games from five years ago. It’s bigger than a postseason game, this rivalry between Lake Stevens and Arlington.

“When you come out on top, it’s the best feeling.”

These teams will still run the ball. Coach Boitano will let his son get his hands on the football 20 times or so. Same for Balunsat, who ran for 190 yards against Cascade in the season opener. Both coaches say you’ve still got to be able to run to be competitive.

But, if you want to win, you’ve got to throw the football.