| 01 September 2010
We are introducing a new weekly feature to our site that we hope you will enjoy. Feel free to give us your own predictions in the comments! Have at it, football season is finally here!
O’Dea vs. Capital
If you need entertainment on a Thursday night, head down to West Seattle Stadium for a great matchup of two teams that made the state tournament last year. O’Dea, picked to win the Metro Mountain division yet again this year, comes in having lost two major offense keys. QB Gabe Lee and RB Zach Fogerson (who’s looked good in fall practice for the Dawgs) both graduated last spring.
Even with those losses, O’Dea returns the Metro’s top running back in senior Keenan Forch and the conference’s top defensive end in Devante Curry. They looked poised for yet another deep run this year in State. However, Capital has given the Irish trouble in the past. In six matchups in the last seven years, the Irish and the Cougars have split the series 3-3.
This could be the best out of conference matchup in the league this year, just because it will probably be so close. Capital’s RB Tyler Sundberg is a monster and could cause the O’Dea defense problems against the ground game. O’Dea looks great this year though, and with plenty of seniors at important positions, they should run the table. O’Dea by a touch, 24-17
Seattle Prep vs. Mercer Island
While O’Dea and Capital feature two solid state contenders, Prep and Mercer Island could be a possibly more intriguing matchup. On the Islanders side stands QB Jeff Lindquist, a prototypical college prospect as a gun-slinger, with great size and a golden boy type appeal.
On the Panthers side stands the exact opposite. Rugged and tough-as-nails QB/LB Nick Holt (son of the Husky defensive coordinator by the same name) leads Prep on both offense and defense and is the team’s heart and soul. It seems that if these two cancel each other out, it comes down to the rest of team to make the difference in this showdown.
And that’s where the Panther’s depth kicks in. They are strong and fast defensively and have some real gamers in their front 8, including seniors Holt, LB Luke Simpson and DE Michael Hardy, who can scare RBs away from holes with their intensity. MI has a nationally rated quarterback, but still are picked 5th in the KingCo by the Seattle Times. How does that make sense? It won’t bode well for them against the Metro upstarts, and the Panther Defense will rule the day. 28-14 Prep
Bellevue vs. Union
In the weeks best Matchup, the perennial state contender and most consistent 3A program in Bellevue takes on the states newest legitimate high school program in Union. After making the move to 4A this year, Union has very high expectations. Their high school is less than five years old, and yet they already have a 3A basketball championship under their belt, along with a semifinal appearance in football last year.
But the Wolverines remember which team knocked Union out in the playoffs last year: none other than themselves. While it’s a new year for both squads, Union has too much to worry about outside of this game to focus on as a revenge game. Amazingly, Bellevue doesn’t have much to lose in this game, and because of their fairly cupcake conference with the exception of Liberty, the Michigan look-alikes will be really focusing on this game.
Look for the Wolverines to come out strong, possibly not throw a pass, and beat Union by two scores, 35-21.
Bishop Blanchet vs. Bellarmine Prep
This could be the oddest matchup of any in the Metro this week, with the Braves making the trip down to Tacoma to take on 4A’s Bellarmine Prep. The Braves were sad to watch last year, as a football team that has always been good enough to possibly sneak into the State Tournament turned into an absolute laughing stock. Need proof? They lost to Lakeside. Enough said.
But maybe the Braves can turn it around this year. They have a talented group of seniors and an experienced quarterback in Brady Flies who doesn’t like to lose and can fire up the troops when he needs to. But can the Braves find it against a 4A squad that isn’t traditional super at football? Probably not. They need some games to warm up.
That being said, they could still win a game or two in the Mountain division if they gel. I'll take Bellarmine by, 23-6.
Highline vs. Nathan Hale
Hale is coming off a pretty mediocre season (5-5) and only returns six starters. And yet somehow, the Seattle Times picked them to win the Metro’s Sound Division. This could mean two things. The division could be down, which is probably the case with West Seattle not being the championship contending they once were , beating O’Dea f two years ago.
But it also likely mean Hale is up, which is good news for a school that really tends to struggle to keep up in most metro sports. Highline will be a good opening test for the Raiders. The Pirates didn’t have a great year last year, just 3-5, and they didn’t win until game #5. If Hale is truly poised to make a run at the title this year, they should be able to handle Highline pretty easily. If not, Hale might be just the best of a few pretty weak teams in the Sound division. 28-13 Hale.
