No picks from my daughters this week, the Thursday night game between Tumwater and Timberline fouled up my time to get their predictions this week. But here is the full high school football schedule this evening complete with radio and webcast information.
A reminder that the OlySports.com and KMAS Game of the Week comes to you live from Ingersoll Stadium and the Spaghetti Bowl tonight. Pregame is at 6:45. Kickoff at 7:00 PM. 1030 AM comes in pretty good in the Olympia area but KMAS now has a Thurston County FM frequency that works great on 92.9. You can also listen online at KMAS.com or you can easily tune in on a smart phone by searching for KMAS on the TuneIn app.
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Olympia Bears @ Capital Cougars
Ingersoll Stadium – 7:00 PM – Radio: 1030 AM, 92.9 FM and KMAS.com
OlySports.com pick: Olympia
North Thurston Rams @ River Ridge Hawks
South Sound Stadium – 7:00 PM – Webcast: Eli Sports
OlySports.com pick: River Ridge
Rochester Warriors @ Black Hills Wolves
Tumwater Stadium – 7:00 PM – Webcast: Eli Sports
OlySports.com pick: Black Hills
Tenino Beavers vs. Castle Rock Rockets
Tenino Stadium – 7:00 PM
OlySports.com pick: Tenino
Rainier Mountaineers @ Kittitas Coyotes
Kittitas High School – 7:00 PM
OlySports.com pick: Rainier
Shelton Highclimbers @ Sumner Spartans
Sunset Chevy Stadium, Sumner – 7:00 PM
OlySports.com pick: Sumner
Yelm Tornadoes vs. Foss Falcons
Mount Tahoma Stadium, Tacoma – 7:00 PM
OlySports.com pick: Foss
High School Football
| Tumwater 35, Timberline 33 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Sound Stadium | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |||||||
| T-Birds (2-0 overall) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 | |||||||
| Blazers (1-1 overall) | 0 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 33 | |||||||
Timberline quarterback Gabe Gutierrez threw three touchdowns and rushed for another but a missed extra point and a subsequent missed two point conversion in the second quarter plus numerous key penalties throughout proved to be the difference in Timberline’s 35-33 loss to Tumwater on Thursday night at South Sound Stadium.
Tumwater’s Easton Trakel rushed for two touchdowns – one for seven yards and the second for 54 – in the fourth quarter after struggling to find much room to run in the first three quarters. Cade Otton caught a pair of touchdownw from Spencer Dowers in the first half and the T-Birds took a 14-12 lead into the half.
Gutierrez hooked up with Elijah Alllen twice, once near the end of the first half and once more in the fourth quarter to cut the T-Birds lead to two points, 28-26. Following a Trakel touchdown that extended the Tumwater lead to 35-26, Jonathan Dowell caught a 14 yard touchdown pass from Gutierrez to once again cut the lead to two points, 35-33.
The Blazers had the opportunity to take the lead after stopping the T-Birds with under five minutes left to play but a fourth and one slant pattern was broken up and Tumwater escaped Lacey with a 35-33 win.
The T-Birds are still #1
It was a very good week for the local schools. The only losses came to other in-area schools and Rochester’s loss to Centralia so there isn’t much of a shakeup in the Oly Sports power rankings this week. With more in-area games this week, there will definitely be some changes next week.
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1. Tumwater T-Birds (1-0)
Last week: #1 (no change)
Previous game: Beat Capital, 14-3
Next game: @ Timberline – South Sound Stadium – Thursday, 7:00 PM
Notes: It took a half of football, but the second ranked team in 2A finally got the job done in the second half to knock off the Cougars 14-7. Junior Spencer Dowers struggled a bit in his first start at quarterback but Addison Barrett and Easton Trakel each scored for the T-Birds. Next up, Timberline on Thursday night, who they trounced last season 44-0.
2. Tenino Beavers (1-0)
Last week: #2 (no change)
Previous game: Beat Charles Wright, 50-8
Next game: @ Castle Rock – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: The Beavers hung 30 points on Charles Wright in the first quarter and never looked back in their 50-8 whomping of the Tarriers. Thomas Pier had runs of 94 and 95 yards and the single wing worked to perfection in Randy Swilley’s debut and the Beavers moved up to #4 in 1A in this week’s AP poll.
3. Timberline Blazers (1-0)
Last week: #3 (no change)
Previous game: Beat North Thurston, 34-21
Next game: vs. Tumwater – South Sound Stadium – Thursday, 7:00 PM
Notes: Gabe Gutierrez threw a touchdown and rushed for three more in a game that wasn’t as close as the score maybe indicates. Timberline took advantage of North Thurston turnovers to take home the win but now they draw a team in Tumwater that beat them up good last season, 44-0, and it will be interesting to see how the Blazers respond and will show a lot about where this team actually is this season.
4. Olympia Bears (1-0)
Last week: #4 (no change)
Previous game: Beat Ferris, 20-13
Next game: @ Capital – Ingersoll Stadium – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: The Bears got a nice performance out of running back Collin Courter and the defense made a clutch stop to knock off the #9 team in last week’s AP poll. The win moved Olympia into the top ten of the poll and now they put that ranking up against their fierce rival, Capital.
5. River Ridge Hawks (1-0)
Last week: #6 (+1)
Previous game: Beat Aberdeen, 49-7
Next game: vs. North Thurston – South Sound Stadium – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: Wow River Ridge! We knew they had some speedy weapons but they absolutely rocked Aberdeen on both sides of the ball and suddenly look like a very dangerous team. And for the first time in a long time, you look at the Hawks schedule and you can’t see too many roadblocks. We’ll see if they can repeat that performance against North Thurston on Friday night.
6. Rainier Mountaineers (1-0 overall, 1-0 in 2B Pacific)
Last week: #7 (+1)
Previous game: Beat South Bend, 44-2
Next game: @ Kittitas – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: Rainier’s first game in 2B couldn’t have gone better. It’s nice to get a team that was winless the season before to build some confidence and the Mountaineers did just that. Nic Henry ran for 250 yards and three touchdowns. Next they travel to Central Washington for non-league game against Kittitas.
7. Black Hills Wolves (1-0)
Last week: #9 (+2)
Previous game: Beat Montesano, 33-7
Next game: vs. Rochester – Tumwater Stadium – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: The Wolves spoiled the opening of Montesano’s rebuilt Rottle Field thanks to a backup quarterback. Chase Morrow threw for over 350 yards and four touchdowns against the 1A – albeit a historically good 1A school – Bulldogs. They next face a Rochester team that is staffed by many former Wolves assistants.
8. Capital Cougars (0-1)
Last week: #5 (-3)
Previous game: Lost to Tumwater, 14-3
Next game: vs. Olympia – Ingersoll Stadium – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: As I said last week, Capital could be a pretty good team. But this schedule that they play is nearly impossible. They played a very good defensive game against Tumwater in week one and took a 3-0 lead into the half. But not being able to get into the endzone when they were holding the T-Birds down was their demise and now they take an 0-1 record into a game with their rival, the #9 ranked 4A team Olympia.
9. North Thurston Rams (0-1)
Last week: #8 (-1)
Previous game: Lost to Timberline, 34-21
Next game: @ River Ridge – South Sound Stadium – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: It looks like it might be a rough season for the Rams. The only reason I didn’t drop them further below winners like Yelm and Shelton is that they lost to a pretty good team in Timberline while the Tornadoes and Highclimbers beat weaker competition. The Rams next get a River Ridge team that looks poised to have a big season and the speed of the Hawks will likely be a major problem for the Rams.
10. Yelm Tornadoes (1-0)
Last week: #11 (+1)
Previous game: Beat Steilacoom, 22-12
Next game: @ Foss – Mount Tahoma Stadium, Tacoma – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: Yelm made the necessary adjustments to knock off Steilacoom but it was hardly convincing. Devante Pearson started at quarterback but moved to running back and scored a pair of touchdowns.
11. Shelton Highclimbers (1-0)
Last week: #12 (+1)
Previous game: Beat North Mason, 28-21
Next game: @ Sumner – Sunset Chevy Stadium, Sumner – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: Confidence. Last year the Highclimbers opened against Tumwater and were completely stymied in a big loss. That loss, though expected, set the tone for the rest of the season. The coach, the players, nobody seemed to have any confidence to do anything other than run Jake Henry straight up the middle. This year, you can tell that the team has more confidence. They have matured and against North Mason they opened the playbook, played more players and reaped the benefits against a Bulldogs team that didn’t take proper advantage of their best weapon, Daniel Burggraaf. But now they get Sumner, a team that went 11-1 last year and easily beat Franklin Pierce in their opener.
12. Rochester Warriors (0-1)
Last week: #10 (-2)
Previous game: Lost to Centralia, 47-7
Next game: @ Black Hills – Tumwater Stadium – Friday, 7:00 PM
Notes: Rochester, with a big loss, is already out of the playoffs. That is the sad by-product of running away from the 2A EvCo and joining Aberdeen – who also lost to a 2A school and is eliminated – in the hybrid 2A/1A. Basically, they had to beat all of their 2A opponents to get in and they didn’t and now they are done. Perhaps that will allow them to play with a certain abandon from here on out.
Schedule for Thursday, September 11th
High School Football
Tumwater @ Timberline – South Sound Stadium – 7:00 PM
Audio webcast: Eli Sports
Girls Soccer
Timberline vs. North Thurston – South Sound Stadium – 3:30 PM
Tumwater vs. Eatonville – Tumwater Stadium – 7:00 PM
High School Volleyball
Olympia @ Tumwater – Tumwater HS – 5:30 PM
Timberline vs. Yelm – Timberline HS – 7:00 PM
My fine friends at KMAS asked me to do a two minute local sports report twice a week and I was happy to oblige. You can hear it on air at 6:33 AM, 8:33 AM and 4:33 PM on 1030 AM and 92.9 FM. Or you can hear today’s report here on the Oly Sports mothership.
Today’s report features the Evergreen Geoducks volleyball team, girls soccer scores and the upcoming high school football schedule plus a warning for anybody trying to drive to a sporting event in town this weekend.
College Volleyball
| Evergreen 3, Pacific Lutheran 0 – Box score | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRC Gymnasium | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Geoducks (10-4 overall) | (3) | 25 | 25 | 25 | ||||||||
| Lutes (7-2 overall) | (0) | 18 | 23 | 16 | ||||||||
Evergreen notched their tenth win of the season by racking up 10 service aces in a three set sweep of Pacific Lutheran at the CRC Gymnasium on Wednesday night. Brandee Victorino notched six aces and 13 kills and Jaclyn Trinque made 31 assists to make quick work of the Lutes, the 11th ranked NCAA Division III team. The Geoducks return to CCC play with home games against Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho on Friday and Saturday.
| Hawaii Pacific 3, Saint Martin’s 0 – Box score | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Pavilion | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Saints (1-5 overall) | (0) | 22 | 16 | 19 | ||||||||
| Sharks (2-4 overall) | (3) | 25 | 25 | 25 | ||||||||
| SMU: Brenna Peterson – 22 assists | ||||||||||||
Girl’s Soccer
| Olympia 8, Capital 1 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ingersoll Stadium | 1st | 2nd | Final | |||||||||
| Bears (1-0 overall) | 4 | 4 | 8 | |||||||||
| Cougars (0-1 overall) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Hanna and Jenna Killman each scored a hat trick in Olympia’s 8-1 dismantling of Capital in the opening game of the season for both teams. Nicole Fesbeck and Tea Effland were the only non-Killmans that scored for the Bears.
Schedule for Wednesday, September 10th
College Volleyball
Saint Martin’s vs. Hawaii Pacific – Marcus Pavilion – 7:00 PM
Evergreen vs. Pacific Lutheran – CRC Gymnasium – 7:00 PM
Girls Soccer
Olympia @ Capital – Ingersoll Stadium – 7:00 PM
College Volleyball
| Northwest University 3, Saint Martin’s 2 – Box score | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland, OR | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||||
| Eagles (7-6 overall) | (3) | 25 | 23 | 18 | 25 | 15 | ||||||
| Saints (1-5 overall) | (2) | 22 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 9 | ||||||
| SMU: Kristyn Ross – 17 kills | ||||||||||||
High School Volleyball
| Northwest Christian 3, Chief Leschi 0 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland, OR | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Navigators (1-0 overall) | (3) | 25 | 25 | 25 | ||||||||
| Chief Leschi | (2) | 6 | 12 | 16 | ||||||||
| NCHS: Megan VanMarter – 12 kills | ||||||||||||
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| Rogers 3, Olympia 0 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympia High School | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Bears (0-1 overall) | (0) | 23 | 21 | 15 | ||||||||
| Rogers | (3) | 25 | 25 | 25 | ||||||||
| OHS: Jona Spiller – 15 assists | ||||||||||||
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| Curtis 3, Tumwater 0 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University Place, WA | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Curtis | (3) | 25 | 25 | 26 | ||||||||
| T-Birds (0-1 overall) | (0) | 21 | 23 | 24 | ||||||||
| TUM: Sarah Warner – 18 assists | ||||||||||||
Women’s Soccer
| Warner Pacific 2, Evergreen 0 – Box score | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland, OR | 1st | 2nd | Final | |||||||||
| Geoducks (1-4 overall) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Knights (2-3-1 overall) | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| TESC: Kayla Kitts – 5 saves | ||||||||||||
Girls Soccer
| Tumwater 1, Fife 0 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fife, WA | 1st | 2nd | Final | |||||||||
| T-Birds (1-0) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| Fife | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| TUM goal: Devyn Thompson (34th minute) | ||||||||||||
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| Timberline 4, River Ridge 1 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geoduck Pitch | 1st | 2nd | Final | |||||||||
| Hawks (0-1 overall) | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Blazers (1-0 overall) | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||
| RR Goal: Renne Pickard (5th) | TIM goals: Leah Magee (19th), Jade Castaneda (60th), Casey Whitt (64th), Maddie Dhanenf (74th) |
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| Black Hills 6, North Thurston 2 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geoduck Pitch | 1st | 2nd | Final | |||||||||
| Rams (0-1 overall) | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Wolves (1-0 overall) | 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| BHHS: Joslin Lindsay – 3 goals | ||||||||||||
MRPBL Logo from their Facebook page
Shut Up Fatty and Four Eyes is a new feature on Oly Sports where my radio partner and friend, John McGlamery, and I discuss topics in the sports world that aren’t necessarily related to Olympia sports.
Grays Harbor’s The Daily News and KXRO have reported that professional baseball could be coming back to Hoquiam’s historic Olympic Stadium for the 2015 season. The proposed team will revive the Grays Harbor Gulls name and will play in the new Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League.
All six teams in the MRPBL will be owned by one man, Shoreline’s Mike Greene. Greene, according to his bio on the MRPBL website, has coached college baseball at Mississippi Valley State and Oklahoma Panhandle and most recently coached the Douglas Diablos, a defunct team in the independent Pecos League.
The Pecos League is the obvious model for the Mount Rainier League. Most famous for the Fox Sports 1 reality show of the same name, the Pecos League is an independent league with teams in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado that has floundered and found controversy along the way since their first season in 2011. The league plays in rustic ballparks in tiny cities like Alpine, Texas and Taos, New Mexico and players are paid as low as $50 per week. Every year, the league basically releases a wish list of cities, team names and logos and hopes to convince those cities to allow them to host their team.
Essentially, that is what the MRPBL is doing. Since their Facebook page was started in late July, there have been numerous teams mentioned by the league in their stream of consciousness posts…
Centralia Minotaurs logo inspiration. From MRPBL Facebook page.
*currently listed as in the league
The league’s website and Facebook page are proposing paying players a minimum of $100 a week and they have hired Kyle Holtman, a name vaguely familiar to Oly Sports from his time as a player in the Puget Sound Collegiate League, as the general manager for both of the proposed teams in Centralia and Grays Harbor. Greene has also hired a handful of managers, player representatives (players that serve as reps for the league and get paid 1 1/2 times more) and signed a few players.
In Grays Harbor, the City of Hoquiam and the league seem to have come to an agreement on $300 a game for rental with 35 planned home games. That works out to over $10,000 for stadium rental alone just on game days. Though the other planned facilities in the league are smaller and likely less expensive, there is still a remarkably substantial cost just to rent facilities.
My biggest question is: how does Mike Greene, who seems to be a journeyman baseball coach, plan on paying for all of these baseball teams? In today’s article from The Daily World, Greene said “I’ve got a couple of backers that are financing this.” While that is a nice thing to say, it doesn’t concretely answer the question. He says that the break even point is 200 fans per game and I suppose that sounds like a realistic number, but it also sounds remarkably low to break even considering all of their proposed, albeit somewhat modest expenses.
I interned for the Grays Harbor Gulls during the 1997 season. The team had a dedicated staff of between four or five employees that were focused on selling advertising and tickets, an excellent media relations guy (the late Mike Warchol), and were locally owned and backed by the league owner/founder, a multi-millionaire lumber baron named Bruce Engel. They had remarkable success in 1995, struggled in 1996 and had a much better year at the box office in 1997. And yet, they still failed. Badly. They folded up shop in the middle of the 1998 season and Charlie Kerfeld’s squad finished the season on the road.
I have followed professional independent baseball since the rebirth of the Northern League in 1993 and I have seen many leagues come and go without ever playing a game. Sure, there have been some resounding successes like the Atlantic League, but for every well financed league there are many more that have been monumental flops. Many failed without ever playing a game. All of the classic warning signs of a flop are there for the Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League.
Look, I just convinced someone to fund a start-up semi-professional indoor soccer team for me. We have a logo, a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a General Manager (me) and a league to play in and that is all so far. The season starts in just over two months. I probably shouldn’t throw stones. But we also have virtually no overhead. If the Oly Town Artesians struggle at the gate, we won’t lose much. Nobody will lose much. We didn’t bite off more than we can chew (other than the hours that might go into it).
I fear that Mike Greene and the Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League are biting off MUCH more than they can chew. If they fail they leave cities with bills, they leave players in small towns without paychecks, they put another stain on the legacy of independent baseball. And if they follow the model of the Pecos League, they also leave town swinging, burning bridges left and right.
I wish the MRPBL all the luck in the world. I would love nothing more than to have a viable independent or collegiate league team back at Olympic Stadium or at Wheeler Field in Centralia. Heck, this is the best chance that the Olympia area, without a decent facility, has at professional baseball.
But I have reservations. I have serious doubts. And I think these communities should beware.
P.S….Please don’t use the old Grays Harbor Gulls logo. I beg of you. Leave it be.
Oly Sports 