At the time, it just seemed like a spirited reunion for a collection of men united by sport, sweat and a tradition of excellence.
But when the Cascade and Archbishop Murphy high school football teams scrimmaged this past June during a Wing-T offense camp at Mariner High School in Everett, it also signaled the start of a remarkable new chapter in the teams’ already decorated histories.
Cascade and Murphy faced off for just about a dozen plays at the event, but the time-tested relationships that link many of the Bruins and Wildcats coaches enhanced the competition, however brief. The connections went straight to the top, starting with Wildcats head coach Terry Ennis and Bruins head coach Jake Huizinga.
“It was a fun, friendly kind of get-after-it environment,” Huizinga said of the scrimmage. “Both of us came away thinking we had a lot to work on.”
Ennis coached Cascade for 11 seasons (1988-98) before he moved to Murphy. At Cascade, he compiled a 103-20 overall record and guided the Bruins to 10 consecutive postseason appearances, including a Class 4A state title in 1991. The title came the same year that Huizinga, previously a resident of Abbotsford, B.C., moved to the Everett area and took over Cascade’s wrestling and freshman football teams.
Ennis promptly made a strong impression on Huizinga, as a football coach and as a human being. A friendship blossomed.
“Terry’s not the kind of guy to toot his own horn at all,” said Huizinga, who in 1994 became a varsity assistant at Cascade and in 2002 rose to the Bruins’ head coach position. “But I quickly realized that he was a special person and a special coach.”
Besides admiring the success of Ennis’ teams, Huizinga respected the way Ennis preached (and practiced) consistency.
“In football, there’s a million different ways to do something,” Huizinga said. “But you need to find something you believe in and stick with it – make it as good as you can make it.”
On a nuts-and-bolts level, this season Ennis and Huizinga used an approach they strongly believe in, the Wing-T offense, to guide their teams to the state semifinals. Class 2A Murphy (13-0) and 4A Cascade (9-3) hope to ride the heavily run-focused Wing-T attack to victories today at Tacoma Dome. Huizinga’s Bruins play Woodinville (10-2) at 10 a.m. and Ennis’ Wildcats battle Cashmere (12-0) at 4 p.m.
Murphy and Cascade wield nearly identical offensive playbooks but, Ennis said, the ties he has with Huizinga “go way beyond running the Wing-T. We’ve worked hard together. We appreciate what each other does.” This year, they’ve both accomplished plenty.
“I think it’s great, certainly, for the Everett community,” Ennis said of Cascade and Murphy’s simultaneous success. “I hope (Everett residents) are proud of the good teams that have. As hard as you’re working to advance (in the playoffs), it’s just that much more fun when you both make it to this point.”
Murphy, ranked No. 1 among the state’s 2A teams according to WashingtonPreps.com, is a Tacoma Dome regular. This is the fourth-straight Final Four trip for the Wildcats, who won 1A championships in 2002 and 2003. But for Cascade, it’s the first semifinal appearance since 1998, Ennis’ final season.
Ennis rarely gushes, but he’s clearly thrilled with the Bruins’ resurgence.
“They look a lot like the Cascade teams that I was a part of,” Ennis said, “and that’s great to see.”
Even if Cascade fails to reach its first championship game since 1991, when it defeated Puyallup 14-7, Huizinga has returned the Bruins to prominence. He’s proud to be a member of the celebrated Cascade/Archbishop Murphy football tree, and to have made a friend for life.
“Even though we follow different careers,” Huizinga said, “the bond that was established at Cascade back in the ’90s is a special one. And I have a special place in my heart for Coach Ennis.”
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