PREP NOTEBOOK: Terrace linebacker earns statewide recognition
Published 5:24 pm Saturday, September 19, 2009
By doing what he loves — blasting ball carriers — Mitch Haldane earned a chance to hang with the Seahawks.
Haldane, a middle linebacker/tight end on the Mountlake Terrace High School football team, has been named Washington’s U.S. Army High School Player of the Week. The junior made 16 tackles (11 solo) in Mountlake Terrace’s 28-21 victory over Mariner on Sept. 11.
The Player-of-the Week award, presented by the Army and the Seattle Seahawks, includes all sorts of perks. Haldane gets two tickets and sideline passes to the Seahawks’ game against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 27, recognition on the Hawkvision video screen, and a $250 grant for his school. Haldane also will be honored Tuesday during a student assembly.
“He is the heart and soul of our defense. He’s the emotional leader on the team,” Terrace football coach Tony Umayam said.
The award belongs to the entire squad, Haldane said, because his teammates helped him stand out.
“It was one of my better games,” he said. “But everybody had a good game overall and that’s the only reason I was able to do that.”
Haldane plans to take his mother, Patty Haldane, to the Seahawks game. But right now he and his Terrace teammates are focused on their next challenge. Terrace (2-0) plays high-powered Meadowdale (2-0) tonight in a non-league game at Edmonds Stadium.
“I can tell you right now, it’s going to be our toughest game of the year — that and Glacier Peak,” Haldane said.
Last year Terrace shocked Meadowdale, beating the Mavericks 23-17 in overtime.
Strong start for Terrace
For the first time since 2002, Mountlake Terrace’s football team opened a season with two wins. It’s a big deal for a program that has never made the playoffs.
“People are pretty excited all around the school and people who follow us,” coach Umayam said. “It’s not a huge, huge surprise to us because I think we put in a lot of work in this offseason.”
“The buzz, it’s definitely going around,” Haldane said. “But we’ve got to get ready for (Meadowdale). We’ve got to flush last week.”
Points aplenty?
Tonight’s non-league football game between Arlington (1-1) and Jackson (2-0) at Everett Memorial Stadium promises be a wide-open affair. The scoreboard operator might pass out from exhaustion. Arlington averages 56 points per game, Jackson 48.
Poll: Best Wesco South team?
Asked to pick who will win the 2009 Wesco South football title, most readers are choosing unbeaten Jackson. The Timberwolves received 74 percent of the votes submitted through noon Thursday. The poll will be open through the weekend. To vote, go to cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
UCLA grad helping Snohomish
Snohomish High alum Adam Heater is helping the Panthers football team as a volunteer assistant coach. Heater is a recent graduate of UCLA, where he played football.
“He brings enthusiasm,” Snohomish head coach Mark Perry said last week. “You’ve got a guy who just came out of a major-college program that knows what he’s talking about when he says something, and he always brings up some good points at the end of practice.”
Heater was mainly a backup tight end and special-teams contributor at UCLA.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
