Glacier Peak football gearing up for Lake Stevens matchup

SNOHOMISH — This time of year in 2013, the Seattle Seahawks were in the midst of their eventual Super Bowl-winning season. ‘Selfie’ would soon be named Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year. The Disney animated movie ‘Frozen’ was about to be released.

It was also the last time Glacier Peak football defeated Lake Stevens. The seniors on this year’s Grizzlies team were five years old at the time. After not playing each other in 2014 or 2015, the Vikings have won nine straight matchups. They’ll try to make it 10 when the two Wesco 4A powers face off on Friday.

Glacier Peak coach Shane Keck doesn’t care about any of that, especially not this week. When asked if he knew the last time the Grizzlies had defeated Lake Stevens, Keck responded with another question:

“When was the last time we beat Edmonds-Woodway?”

The Herald’s reporter admitted he would have to go look that up.

“Exactly,” Keck said. “I don’t know either.” (For those curious, it was 2019, the last time the two schools faced each other.)

To him, the matchup history won’t mean anything when the 2025 iterations of both programs take the field on Friday.

“It really has nothing to do with this football game,” Keck said. “I think every year is different. … We got to go play this football game against this football team with these football kids.”

‘These football kids’ for Glacier Peak feel better about this year’s team than they have in some time. After spending the first month of the season rounding into form while still putting up results, the Grizzlies feel ready for this week’s test.

The defense returned nine starters from last year and hit the ground running, allowing three points or fewer in each of Glacier Peak’s first three games. Their 20-3 win against Snohomish on Sept. 12 featured two interceptions — one returned for a touchdown — as well as two blocked kicks and a fumble recovery.

The senior leadership on the team cited a stronger level of discipline, and having so many returners in the starting unit has allowed them to focus on honing the details since the basics are locked down. Keck also cited the level of communication, with defensive coordinator Jason Bean working expertly to put players in position to make plays.

“Defensively, I think for sure, we’ve been able to just go through things right away, and run a lot more stuff throughout the games and throughout practices,” senior offensive lineman/linebacker James Jenkins said. “And just have really good practices, solid practices, where we just flow and perfect the little things.”

Meanwhile, the offense introduced a new starting quarterback in sophomore Oliver Setterberg and experienced some turnover on the offensive line. After experiencing growing pains earlier in the season, the team feels like it’s starting to catch up to the defense.

Jenkins said the offensive line play “blew him out of the water,” so far, given the inexperience relative to the rest of the roster, while senior receiver/defensive back Michael Darling referred to the unit as an “X-Factor” that has made a difference in games so far.

Keck sees the potential for more explosive plays as the offense continues to gel, and that Setterberg, in particular, is gaining confidence each week.

“I think he’s a really smart kid, so he sees it (the field) really well,” Keck said. “I think just learning some of the things, to throw the football away and maybe take the easy stuff more often than show off his big arm talent. I think that part’s been a little bit of a learning process, and he’s done a good job — a better job of that as the weeks have gone on.”

Setterberg has plenty of help in the skills positions department with senior Isaiah Owens leading the way at running back and Darling making an impact as a receiver, runner and returner, among other key skill guys.

Additionally, Keck, in his seventh season at the helm, is starting to see the payoff of building out the youth program to fit the varsity scheme. Glacier Peak uses the same language and terminology in its plays at every level, which Keck believes has helped build consistency.

On top of the schematics on both sides of the ball, the Grizzlies have focused on developing the intangibles. One way has been fitting a long-distance road matchup into the schedule.

This past Friday, they embarked on a six-hour bus trip with multiple stops to face Post Falls (ID) at Eastern Washington University. After arriving, the team went through their walk-throughs and shared a pregame meal before securing a 30-18 win in which Setterberg threw for two touchdowns and Darling hit pay dirt twice, on a rush and a return. The team celebrated back at their hotel by sharing a pizza dinner.

“It kind of showed how hard we’ve been working,” Darling said. “We came off a six-hour bus ride, so we came off pretty tired, but we still came out there, we played all four quarters. It was a four-quarter game, so I was impressed with how we went.”

Keck said he likes to work a longer road trip into the schedule to prepare for potential distant travel in the postseason, but it also builds the bond between the players as they share a memorable experience.

The Grizzlies grow stronger by the week, and their performance against Lake Stevens on Friday will be a litmus test of where they stand as a program. Keck called the Vikings “the barometer” of how to play, and the players are hoping to match that.

“I mean to me, throughout this whole season, I felt like we’ve been disrespected by people doing the rankings, people throughout the state,” Jenkins said. “(We want to) just make an impact and show that we’re not the same team we were in the past.

“We’re here. We’re different. We grind and we put in the work. We’re here to make a statement.”

Meanwhile, Keck has a slightly different perspective, focusing on the bigger picture.

“Honestly, I’m not into the statement stuff,” Keck said. “Our kids kind of talked about that a little bit, and for us, it’s ‘Man, we want to get better.’ We’ve probably underachieved, sometimes, in the playoffs, and I think some of it is like progressing continuously through the year.

“So we really just said, ‘Hey man, every week, let’s get better. Let’s get better. Let’s get better.’ Just keep talking to our kids about that. If we do that, we’re going to play well when we’re trying to play well.”

Come Friday, the Grizzlies will learn how much better they really are, and how much room is left to grow.