Bellevue may play the underdog role this year

As the Wolverines conduct their defensive practice on the field below, Bellevue High School football coach Butch Goncharoff ponders from the grandstands the situation his team finds itself in this season.

For the first time since he took over as head coach eight years and five Class 3A state titles ago, the Wolverines may be underdogs in every one of its first four games.

And Goncharoff is the first to admit it.

“To be honest, that hasn’t happened here before,” the coach says. “I think we’ve realized that we just have to go back to basics. Right now, we’re not even worrying about the games, we’re just trying to get ourselves right.”

Bellevue, which went 11-2 last year, begins its season with three non-conference games against some stiff competition; the Wolverines travel to Portland, Ore., to take on Central Catholic (Portland) in the Les Schwab “Best of the West” showcase on Sept. 6 at PGE Park.

Things won’t get any easier when the Wolverines return home, as they’ll take on 4A state runner-up Bothell on Sept. 9 before hosting California High School of San Ramon, Calif. at Qwest Field on Sept. 20. The Grizzlies went 11-2 last season.

Bellevue begins conference play on Sept. 26 against Mount Si, which Goncharoff says may be one of the strongest teams in KingCo 3A this season.

They’ll have to get through without the help of mainstays like David DeCastro, a lineman now at Stanford, and Rusty Haehl, a dependable fullback now at Eastern Washington University. With a whole new offensive line and a heated competition between three players at quarterback, Goncharoff says the staff has yet to name the starters for the opening game.

“Right now it’s weird because we’re almost only a week away from playing and we don’t know who we’re going to start,” he says. “I don’t think anything is going to be easy with this group, but we have some athletes and if we get ourselves where we need to be, we have a chance to make a run at it.”

The quarterback spot has become a competition between three players: Tommy Castle, who made all 13 starts last season, Cam Warren, a senior Goncharoff calls Bellevue’s “one true captain” and junior Joe Joe Conners, who may have outright won the job last season if not for a fluke injury on the second day of practice that left the sophomore with a broken jaw.

All of them bring something unique to the table, Goncharoff says.

Castle, who led the Wolverines all the way to the state semi-finals last season, knows and runs the offense to a tee. Warren displays the leadership traits Goncharoff says are important for a young squad. Conners may be the best athlete on the field for Bellevue when healthy.

“That is the one decision we do need to make, who is going to be our guy,” Goncharoff says. “Right now, it’s by committee. No one is really pushing ahead of the other guys; each of them do something well.”

One certainty in the backfield for Bellevue will be senior running back Peter Nguyen, who earned 1st-Team All-KingCo honors after rushing for 1,003 yards and nine touchdowns a year ago. He’ll share time in Bellevue’s Wing-T with his brother David and juniors Freddie Levine and Sean Koley.

And it’s not like the cupboard is bare either. Bellevue also returns defensive stalwarts in Warren, linebacker Eric Nelson and safety Jamal Atofau, who, while currently out with a knee injury, has been named the No. 8 prospect in Washington by Rivals.com.

“We just want to compete and have fun, because that’s how you get better,” Goncharoff says. “We have the leadership; our seniors are all a buck-sixty, but they can lead like nobodies business. We’ve got the young kids and we’ll see how they respond. In 2003, we had to mix and match, too, and we didn’t really know who we were going to go with until about four games in.”

Maybe being underdogs isn’t such a bad thing; the Wolverines won the state title in 2003.

Joel Willits can be reached at 425-453-5045 or at jwillits@reporternewspapers.com.

Bellevue Reporter Sports Writer Joel Willits can be reached at jwillits@bellevuereporter.com or 425-453-5045.

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