Working up an appetite at Lakewood’s Turkey Bowl

Published 9:00 pm Monday, December 1, 2003

LAKEWOOD — For some guys, a pigskin breakfast is the best way to set the table before a traditional turkey day feast.

After all, the ingredients and the routine vary only slightly. Wake up early and commence mashing bags of ‘taters and stuffing as many carcasses as you can get your arms around. Never mind that both the former and the latter are moving targets bent on doing the same, or worse, to you.

Substitute raspberries for cranberries, guts for gizzards, stir in several dozen hardy cuts of beef on the hoof and you’ve got the makings of football ala Turkey Bowl at Lakewood High School.

"They all know, whether it’s rain, snow or shine you show up at the high school on Thanksgiving morning," said event co-founder Lance Otto.

Otto, age 25, and his lifelong friend and fellow Lakewood graduate Travis Boortz, 26, hatched their turkey bowl idea while at work shortly before Thanksgiving in 1997.

"It started with 10 good buddies playing five-on-five," Boortz said. "After about the third year it got to where everyone was talking about it. Now, it just gets bigger by word of mouth."

The annual event has mushroomed to attract an ever-increasing number of players. last week’s affair drew about 60 ranging in age from 15 to 39. A hard-nosed lot they were, anxious to play full-contact tackle football without the protection of helmets or pads.

To get started, six team captains were selected by mutual accord. The chief stipulation was that Otto and Boortz — an assistant varsity football coach at Lakewood — each captain a squad to ensure they would not land on a team together.

The captains picked their teams from among prospects who lined up along the west end-zone. The selection process looked like something out of a physical education class.

Many of the participants grew up in close proximity to the Smokey Point area and attended — or still attend — Lakewood, Stanwood, Arlington or Marysville-Pilchuck high schools.

Sometimes captains eschewed the available stock and made surprise picks.

"I got Busby, the guy driving that truck that just pulled in," Sam Ortega, a 1992 Stanwood graduate shouted. "Hey number 63, yeah, you’re over here buddy."

Others opted for high mileage players whose wily ways might give their team the edge.

"We’ll take the old man," 2000 Lakewood graduate Ben Davis said as he pointed to John Renouard.

Renouard, 39, ambled over to join the Davis group. His son Bryson, one of the youngest players at 15, stood across the way, selected by another team.

Tuesday was the elder Renouard’s fifth appearance in the Lakewood Turkey Bowl.

"You’re sore afterwards … everybody’s beat up," he said. "But, I’m the one who has to sit in the hot tub for six hours the next day."

Steve Gronenthal, 32, played high school football in tiny Weeping Water, Neb., and settled in Snohomish County 10 years ago after serving a tour in the navy.

At 6-foot-3, 245-pounds, Gronenthal is 60 pounds over his high school playing weight. The former wide receiver, standing proud in his red University of Nebraska jersey, declared himself ready to take the field for the first time in several years.

"I just decided to see what I’m made of," Gronenthal said as he surveyed the assembled players. "I think I’ve got a chance."

Rob Stark, a 1987 Lynnwood graduate, said he’d had Wheaties, eggs and toast for breakfast. The one-time semi-professional football player with the Snohomish County Storm was content to minimize his goals.

"I’m just hoping to not embarrass myself today," he said with a laugh.

The teams played three games simultaneously, side-by-side across the width of the field. Extra sweats, jackets and plastic bags weighted down with plastic water bottles sufficed as sideline markers.

Thankfully, the grass was spongy enough to absorb some of the shock when players took big hits.

"It works out a little better if it’s a little soft," Otto said.

The rules were fairly simple and straightforward.

"Rule number one … show up," said Harold Phillips of Lakewood as he rushed onto the field.

Additionally, the kicking team had the option to punt, pass or kick the ball to the receiving unit. Quarterbacks were required to line up in shotgun formation. The quarterback was not allowed to run unless first touched by a defender. Two completed passes resulted in a first down. Touchdowns counted as a single point. No conversions. Teams played three games, switching opponents every 25-minutes.

Hey, why sit idly and subject yourself to ho-hum televised yawner’s from Dallas or Detroit when you’ve got 38 degrees and hazy sunshine right here at home?

The bone-jarring game action featured equal measures of sand lot trickery and rugby scrum. Comic relief was in abundance as well with busted plays just as apt to turn into big gains as any strategy dreamed up in the huddle. Good sportsmanship was much in evidence with players helping opponents up and exchanging high fives and respectful pleasantries on virtually every play.

"Nobody’s out there to rip anybody’s head off," Otto said. "Most of us have got to go to work the next day."

A group of the players’ dads gathered 10 yards behind the sideline. It seemed prudent to maintain a safe distance from the hard-hitting and plays that often culminated with players spilling out of bounds in a heap.

"Last year it was raining so hard you could barely see them," Chuck Boortz noted.

Marsha Kilponen, came up from Arizona for the Thanksgiving weekend and took the opportunity to come out and watch her sons Michael and Lance Otto play.

"That’s kind of rough isn’t it?" Kilponen asked after several defenders converged to drop a ball carrier unceremoniously to the turf. "I didn’t know they played that rough. I should have know better with Michael and Lance out there."

True, but after a full morning of football the players triumphantly left the field, bound for their homes to engage in another brutal spectacle just as likely to defy description.

"They just devour the food," Chuck Boortz said with a laugh.