Cascade Conference football Player to Watch

Published 10:56 pm Wednesday, September 3, 2008

How do you follow up a record-breaking football season?

If you’re Sultan quarterback Zach Beebe you hit the weight room and tour football camps across the nation in hopes of bettering the previous season’s accomplishments.

That’s what the Turk quarterback did this past summer after setting Sultan school records for yardage (2,154 yards passing) and touchdowns (23) in a season.

And the most impressive part – Beebe was just a sophomore.

PRIME GOAL

Beebe’s record-breaking season was impressive but what eluded the quarterback most was the chance to play in the postseason.

“I was more concerned about the win-loss record. I wanted to win more games,” Beebe modestly said.

Sultan finished 3-4 in league and 3-7 overall, good for fifth in the Cascade Conference.

The All-Cascade Conference second team quarterback will take the reigns of the Sultan offense for the second straight year with one goal in mind – a trip to the postseason and preferably a home playoff game.

GETTING READY

To prepare himself for his upcoming junior season, the quarterback got into the weight room and also participated in high school football camps at universities such as Brown and Princeton, along with visiting former Washington State Cougar quarterback Jason Gesser’s Elite Quarterback and Skills Camp at Interlake High School in Bellevue.

Beebe’s coach, Michael McMahon, believes his quarterback can better last year’s season along with having the potential to play at the next level.

“As a sophomore last year I thought Zach did a great job. He’s still got a lot to learn to get to where he could be. He’s got all the potential in the world, I think,” McMahon said.

NO MORE PICKS

If there was one thing Beebe would like to work on with his own game it’s cutting down on the interception total.

“I was happy with the number I put up except for the interceptions.

I’m not real proud of that,” Beebe said, trying not to disclose the amount of interceptions he tossed last season — psst…it was 21.

His coach believes with experience that total will decrease.

“As much as he threw the ball it wasn’t that bad. I mean his TD: INT ratio wasn’t where we wanted it to be. I blame that on inexperience with the offense. He’s learning and he’s worked hard this summer so I see him making improvements this year,” McMahon said.

FOCUS OF ATTENTION

Beebe isn’t phased by the thought of teams focusing on stopping or at least slowing down his performance.

“I’m not worried about it. We’ve got a pretty new team and a lot of talent.

The challenges are getting people eligible and keep on focusing for each game,” Beebe said.

EXPERIENCE FACTOR

McMahon is in his second season as the Turks head coach and believes there is an advantage to having had Beebe in his first season as the head coach.

“I think it worked out good having Zach the first year and putting him in the offense to learn it,” McMahon said.

And even though he’s not ready to give the quarterback free reigns of the offense he did say, “This year we’re open to giving Zach the options to call audibles or make checks at the line.”

“It will be nice (running the offense for a second consecutive season). I feel much more comfortable coming into this year with the offense and everything,” Beebe said.