Camp report: Mountlake Terrace

Published 9:00 am Friday, September 2, 2011

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — When the Mountlake Terrace football takes the field against Oak Harbor on the road this Friday, many players are going to have some butterflies in their stomachs.

Aside from a handful of returning individuals, the bulk of the Hawks are first-time varsity starters.

Just how green is Mountlake Terrace?

“It’s the youngest team I’ve been around in my 14 years of coaching high school football,” said Mountlake Terrace coach Tony Umayam. “It’s going to be exciting to see how the young guys stack up to their potential.”

Luckily for Mountlake Terrace, one of the returning players happens to be sophomore running back Devante Downs, who earned second-team, all-league honors as a freshman.

Downs saw his first varsity action during the third game of 2010 and then started from the fourth game on. Behind what Umayam regarded as the best offensive line in school history, Downs ended up carrying the ball anywhere from 25 to 30 times a game.

“We’re expecting him to shoulder a good amount of our offense,” Umayam said. “He’s also a key part of our defense. He’ll be playing strong safety. This year he’s expected to go both ways.”

Downs worked hard in the off-season to prepare for his added workload. His advice to the players who’ll be seeing varsity for the first time this season is to weather the emotional storm.

“At first some of the new people are going to be shell-shocked,” Downs said. “After they get a couple more snaps, they’ll be ready for it.”

Graduation decimated the Hawks’ offensive line with the top eight linemen gone. That means Mountlake Terrace will be employing different strategies to cope with the inexperience.

“We know teams are going to be keying on him (Downs),” Umayam said. “We have other guys that we feel good about getting the ball to and spreading it out a little bit more. His carries may go down this year.”

Junior Chris Guerrero joins Downs in the backfield. The junior running back blocks well but also figures into the offensive scheme. “He’s probably the most explosive fullback that we’ve had here in a long time,” Umayam said. “He actually is one of the fastest kids on the team.”

Junior wide receiver Mason Stone is another player with good speed.

Given the offensive line’s inexperience and some of the speed of the team’s skill players, Umayam expects the Hawks to stretch the field and try to get the ball out on the edges.

Still the players realize offensive lines don’t develop overnight.

“They’re starting to get to know each other better,” Stone said. “It’s just going to take some games to get the experience.”

Umayam is going to be relying on senior Jacob Castoe to lead the offensive line. Castoe is one of only two senior starters for Mountlake Terrace.

Sophomore Jevin Pahinui also will play a key role both on the offensive and defensive lines, Umayam added.

Junior Beau Kennedy moves up from junior varsity to take over at quarterback. He won the job earlier this spring and has continued to make an impression on his teammates.

“He’s really got everything down,” Stone said. “He’s running the whole playbook. He’s real fast. He’s got a great arm. We have a lot of trust in him.”

Umayam is impressed by Kennedy’s leadership.

“He has pretty much been the guy driving the ship since spring,” Umayam said. “He came out and had all the intention of winning the quarterback job from day one.”

The Hawks know they are viewed as underdogs this season, given the squad’s lack of returning starters. But they don’t mind.

“A lot of people are doubting us because we’re so young,” Stone said. “But that just motivates us more and makes us hungry to come out and prove them wrong.”

The Hawks are coming off back-to-back six win seasons and also a first-ever Quad-District playoff appearance in 2009.

“We’re hoping that some of these young guys have seen the three classes before them and how they handled going on the road and things as a varsity player,” Umayam said. “They’re really coming together. They’re excited to put a stamp on their own identity.”