Bellevue: Fall season heats up

It’s been a wild and crazy fall sports season and, with playoffs looming in all sports, it’s getting to be that exciting time of the year again. Here are a few thoughts I’ve had regarding the seasons so far.

*Bellevue’s Kate Bennett makes World Cup Team

Big props go out to Bellevue junior Kate Bennett, who was recently named to the U.S. Under-17 team that will play in the World Cup in New Zealand later this month.

Bennett, who has been splitting time playing with the Wolverines and traveling for the National Team tryouts, will play on the 21-player squad that will play for the World Cup from Oct. 26 to Nov. 16. She spent the summer playing with the team and traveled to Trinidad for World Cup qualifying, where the team placed first.

Bennett is the only player from Washington on the team. Check Saturday’s edition of the Reporter for a bigger update on Bennett.

*Bellevue football: good as ever

Every time I think the Wolverines will have a tough game, they win it going away. Take a look at the 42-7 win over Juanita Friday night. Bellevue’s best player, running back Peter Nguyen, didn’t even play and the Wolverines still rolled up 42 points. It just goes to show you what a great system can do for a team. When any team in any sport can execute their system as good as Bellevue executes the wing-T offense, it can turn a good team into a solid team, and a solid team into a great team.

No doubt about it, Bellevue is the No.1 3A team in the state. There were only two teams in 3A last season better than the Wolverines; one of them (Skyline) is now in 4A and the other (O’Dea) is struggling its way through a season plagued by injury. It’s hard to see Bellevue not playing for all the marbles this season.

*Newport volleyball keeps rolling

After the Knights lost KingCo 3A Player of the Year Lauren Barfield (now playing at UW), I figured there’d be a drop-off, especially with the jump up to 4A. Barfield was a difference maker; opponents had to game plan around the 6-foot-5 game-breaker.

But Newport has looked like it hasn’t skipped a beat. The Knights are 11-4 overall and 7-1 in conference play, tied with Bothell and Issaquah for the conference lead. They’ve won three matches in a row and could finish atop KingCo, as their last two games come against the Cougars and Eagles.

*Tight race for the KingCo 3A soccer crown

The top three teams (Mount Si, Bellevue and Mercer Island) are separated by merely three points. The conference leader (Mount Si) has as many overall points (24) as the league’s fifth-place team (Sammamish). It’s a tight conference and this final week of league play has huge games with big impacts on who’ll win KingCo.

Click here for Week 8 power rankings.

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