Wesco 3A South Football Preview: Coaches poll/storylines

COACHES POLLS

The predicted order of finish as voted on by the league’s coaches. Included is the average number of points received per vote, with first-place votes in parentheses.

1. Edmonds-Woodway (2) — 5.5

2. Meadowdale (2) — 5.3

3. Snohomish (1) — 4.6

4. Shorecrest — 3.5

5. Everett — 2.8

6. Shorewood — 2

7. Lynnwood — 1.2

NOTE: Coaches weren’t allowed to vote for their own teams. Two coaches did not vote.

FAVORITES

Edmonds-Woodway, Meadowdale and Snohomish. The race for the Wesco 3A South crown appears wide-open. Last season, Edmonds-Woodway won every conference game by at least 15 points, rolling to the league title behind a talented all-senior defense that allowed just 8.5 points per game in conference play. But with the Warriors needing to replace their entire starting defense from last year, the door appears open for Meadowdale and Snohomish to contend with Edmonds-Woodway for league supremacy. All three teams garnered first-place votes in the league’s preseason coaches poll.

STORYLINES TO WATCH

New coaches take the reins at Everett and Snohomish

The league features a pair of new head coaches in Everett’s David Coldiron and Snohomish’s Joey Hammer. Coldiron, a Southern California native with more than 20 years of experience coaching high school and community college football, takes over an Everett program that made major strides the past three seasons under previous coach Doug Trainor. Coldiron has installed a new offense centered on a zone-blocking scheme that will feature more passing than last year, when the Seagulls threw the ball sparingly in their flexbone option attack. Hammer, a 1998 Snohomish graduate, returns to his alma mater as just the program’s fourth head coach in the past 56 seasons. He replaces Kai Smalley, who guided the Panthers for the past five years. Hammer was an assistant coach at Snohomish for two seasons before spending the past three years as Monroe’s defense and special-teams coordinator. He takes over an experienced Panthers team looking to end a 10-season state-playoff drought, which includes losses in Week 10 winner-to-state games each of the past three years.

Can Edmonds-Woodway overcome losing its entire starting defense?

Strong defense has been a staple of Edmonds-Woodway football under longtime coach John Gradwohl, and that was especially the case last season. Behind an all-senior starting unit that allowed just 13.7 points per game — including a mere 8.5 points per contest in league play — the Warriors rolled to the Wesco 3A South title and earned their first state-playoff appearance since 2011. However, now comes the daunting task of replacing all 11 starters from that stalwart defense. “That’s never happened before for us,” said Gradwohl, who’s entering his 23rd season at the helm. “Usually you lose five or six (starters) — maybe seven.” Players such as junior linebacker Ben Grimes and senior defensive backs Grayson LeCompte and Jack Kramer will be tasked with helping fill the massive void. “I know that we’re replacing 11 guys, but I don’t feel like it’s 11 right now,” Gradwohl said. “I feel like we’re still only looking for a few spots, because they did such a good job in the offseason.”

Can the new-look Seagulls continue their recent success?

New coach David Coldiron takes over an Everett program that accomplished a massive turnaround the past three seasons under Doug Trainor, who resigned this past spring along with several assistant coaches. After three consecutive one-win campaigns from 2012 to 2014, the Seagulls went 5-5 in back-to-back seasons before a breakthrough 7-3 campaign last year that resulted in the program’s first Week 10 playoff appearance since 2010. Everett graduated numerous key players from last season’s squad, but among the key returnees are senior offensive lineman Anthony Amundsen and senior running back Christian Balmer, who averaged 6.5 yards per carry last year. Though the Seagulls are expected to pass the ball more often than last season in their new zone-blocking offense, Coldiron said they still plan to churn out yards on the ground with Balmer and a hard-nosed rushing attack.