When Kenny Mills got the letter inviting him to participate in the annual East-West All-State football game, he assumed he would be playing on the same team as three Arlington High School teammates also invited to the game.
Mills assumed wrong.
In order to even out the rosters, game organizers placed Mills on the East squad for Friday’s game, while Arlington’s three other representatives — wide receiver and defensive back Donavan Sellgren, quarterback and kicker Andrew Kalahar, and offensive and defensive lineman Benicio Madrigal-Reis — will play for the West, as will the nine other Wesco representatives participating in the game.
The game, which features some of the best senior talent from Class 4A and 3A schools across the state, kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday at Gonzaga Prep High School in Spokane.
Mills, an offensive and defensive lineman, is used to practicing against his teammates, but has never faced them in an actual game.
“It’s like a whole different experience,” he said. “(It will) be really fun to do since practice isn’t 100 percent.”
How many chances Mills will get to put a hit on one of his teammates remains to be seen, but he does have his eye on one potential matchup — Mills hopes to get an opportunity to sack Kalahar.
“I’ve always had my mind on that at least once or twice during practice, but you can’t really do it,” Mills said. “It would be fun to do in a game.”
Arlington head coach Greg Dailer said he doesn’t envision too many opportunities for Mills to tackle the speedy Sellgren, but said he thought Mills might get a shot at Kalahar.
“It would be kind of funny to see Kenny sack (Andrew),” Dailer said. “I’m sure Drew would never hear the end of it.”
Sellgren, too, expects Mills to relish the opportunity.
“That will be really fun for Kenny,” Sellgren said. “He’ll actually be able to hit the quarterback for once. In practice we never get to hit the quarterback, so here is his chance to get his lick on Drew.”
There is also a chance of Mills and Madrigal-Reis facing each other at the line of scrimmage.
“That’s my goal, I hope so,” Mills said. “I love going against Beni, he always gives me a challenge and I like getting challenges. That would be really fun to do.”
While Dailer was excited to see four of his kids picked to play in the game, he was surprised to hear one of them would be playing for the East squad.
“That sure makes it interesting,” the coach said. “It’s kind of too bad to go over and spend that week and not get to practice with your teammates. That’s kind of a bummer. I guess the guys will probably have a little rivalry going during the game.”
Mills said he didn’t think playing on a different team would take away from the experience, but the competitive side of him is still looking forward to facing his teammates.
“We’ll probably be friends and we’re always kind to each other off the field, but once it’s game time, it’s all fair game — anything can happen,” Mills said. “In the end, we’re still going to be friends and all.”
The Eagles, led by their outstanding senior class, finished the 2015 season with a 7-3 record, losing to Bonney Lake in the Class 3A quad-district playoffs. Their success helped them get four players invited to this year’s game, tied with Lake Washington for the most of any school represented, one ahead of Gonzaga Prep.
“It was a great season for us,” Sellgren said. “I’m proud of what we did. Maybe we didn’t go as far as we wanted to, but we still had a great season and it shows in this All-State game. We have four players and not a lot of teams can say that.”
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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