East vs West has heart and a hint of payback...
View pictures of the East vs West Game Here!
For nearly a week straight on the practice field the best of the best, both east and west, practiced together. The rivalries took dividing lines from mountains instead of city or school borderlines. Each member of both teams had to drop local celebrity status and come together as teams. They could have just shown up to play and have fun and meet eachother but this was serious football. No one was going to "phone it in' even with college starting the followin Monday for many of the players. The West team had 4 representatives from Bothell, Coach Bainter as Head Coach, Bill Christensen as his assistant, Johnny Hekker, and Cory Burk in the player mix.
The East Team was lead by QB Jeff Minnerly, Alex Shaw, Geno Munoz, and a many other names the Bothell Cougars had met before.
The best part of the whole game for the West was the friendships that were made after the game the group was happy to have had the experience win or lose.
The boys on the East took it a bit more seriously. Talking to the Minnerlies after the game they said they may have lost their son had the game ended like the Bothell vs Ferris game. The game preceeded as an eerie repeat of the Ferris game with the West ahead and the East team making a long march to the goal to score. This time Jeff Minnerly made sure he had the W on his side and celebrated with the great players from the east, some who were his arch rivals during the season. Now in college many will be playing together.
On the west side Cory Burk celebrates with Demetrius Bronson, Antoine Wafer, Joelle Reyes, Cory Mackay, Donny Lisowski, and Rodrick Rumble gather for a picture with other players. It was so funny, every picture we tried to take of the Bothell boys, Ryan Robertson jumped into, also, it was almost as if he forgot we were once rivals..Isn't that great! Best of luck in College boys!
Quarterbacks Johnny Hekker, Ryan Robertson, and Kyle McCartney no longer head to head but arm in arm.
Congratulations Graduates
New article: Bothell Reporter Athlete of the Year
East West Game Bonds State's Top Players
The East vs West All Star Game was played at the Everett Stadium today. This game is a unique opportunity for the top players from both sides of the mountains to compete. The coaches and graduating Senior players are invited after the end of the regular season. They represent a large variety of teams around the state. Some of the teams had heavy rivalries during the season but come to this game on even ground to compete, have fun, and represent the best this state has to offer.
The coaches arrive Sunday, the players Monday, and they stay together for the week until the game is over. There are two-a-day practices to bring the teams together and learn the plays. There are limited types and number of plays and coverages allowed. The game today was lots of fun with the score bouncing back and forth. West ended up winning the game 27 to 17. Bothell was well represented with Taylor Hudson and Luke Jones.
Taylor called the defensive plays all day and had several balls thrown to him. He caught a two point conversion in the endzone at a critical time in the play. He recovered a fumble in the third quarter. Luke Jones was on the field with some nice hits and running opportunities. Luke's older brother watched him from the stands with great pride. Taylor is leaving a legacy for Evan his younger brother.
Coach Bainter said, " I think they both did really well today. This is a fun game to get the opportunity to play. They have been together all week getting to know players from all over the state."
I spent the game taking pictures and people watching. It was fun observing a group of 3 to 9 year old boys practicing their plays in front of the stands during halftime. It made me realize how little they can be when a sport captures their hearts. The graduates on the field are the same little boys with bigger uniforms; still chasing that pass, that hit, that dream, just at a new level. You're doing it boys, 
now go long........You might even learn how to fly.
Two Everett Herald Articles
East-West All-Star Football Notebook
Players go from rivals to roomies
Oak Harbor's Marshall Lobbestael and Will Hunter battled Bothell's Taylor Hudson and Luke Jones for the Class 4A state title last December. Now the four are teammates and fast friends
By Mike Cane, Herald Writer
EVERETT - Respect has the power to turn enemies into pals.
It's the driving force behind an unexpected friendship that has blossomed between one-time foes.
The West team, which plays the East unit at 1 p.m. today in the East-West All-Star Football Game, features two players from Oak Harbor High School (quarterback Marshall Lobbestael and lineman Will Hunter) and two from Bothell High (linebacker/tight end Taylor Hudson and defensive end/fullback Luke Jones).
In December, the four outstanding athletes clashed in the Class 4A state championship game. The Oak Harbor guys prevailed over Bothell, winning 21-14 in a highly competitive battle at the Tacoma Dome.
Nearly seven months later, the former opponents have developed close ties as teammates on the West team.
It started Monday when Lobbestael and Jones found out they would be roommates at the team hotel in Everett. The foursome clicked at the first few practices and began hanging out. They shared adjacent bowling lanes Wednesday during a party at Evergreen Lanes.
It shows there's more to the East-West experience than winning and losing.
"It's an interesting bond," said West head coach Dave Ward, who coached Oak Harbor to the state title. "There's a mutual respect that came out of that championship game because it was so close and so well-played. They know they were in a memorable situation together (and) it was something they'll never forget."
The foursome of stars will likely remember this week forever, too.
"They're good guys," Hunter said. "Everybody here is a good guy. We're all getting along really well."
Time helped ease the raw emotion stirred up in the title game, Bothell's Hudson said.
"It was weird at first, but now it's just fun," he said. "If we had done this like a week after or a month after (the state championship game), it would have been hard."
Instead, it's been easy. The way they horsed around at the bowling alley and crack jokes at practice, it's as if the Bothell and Oak Harbor standouts have been lifelong friends.
"It was funny. It's something I didn't expect," said Ward, "but I understand how it's all transpired. It's nice to see."
Believe the hype: One of the East-West game's most acclaimed players is East QB/defensive back Kellen Kiilsgaard, an Auburn High graduate headed to Stanford University. The 6-foot-2, 217-pound Kiilsgaard deserves all the praise he's received, East head coach Bob Lucey said.
"He's been everything he was billed as a quarterback and an athlete," Lucey said. "He's just an impressive young man. He's going to Stanford for a reason."
Kiilsgaard, who considered scholarship offers from eight Pacific-10 Conference programs, had 23 rushing touchdowns and 13 passing TDs as a senior, propelling Auburn to the 3A state title game.
Stay cool: The generally mild weather this week has been much cooler than last year, and that's fine with Ward, the West team head coach.
"We didn't want to come out here in 80- (or) 90-degree weather and get cramps. We're taking a lot of water breaks. The guys are getting their bodies in shape to perform and the heat would have just been another element to deal with."
The forecast for today is a high temperature in the low 70s and mostly cloudy.
Snore wars: Marc-Avery Airhart is a loud dude, even in his sleep. Taylor Hudson, teammates with Airhart on the West team, roomed with the boisterous Airhart this week. Even at night, Airhart commands attention. Said Hudson, "He snores like a bear. We all go to sleep before he does."
That's nothing, said Airhart of Kennedy High. During high school wrestling trips, Airhart and teammate Kevin Freitag had epic snoring battles, to the dismay of everyone in earshot.
"We had to sleep in the same hotel and it was bad," Airhart said. "(Freitag) and I would have snore wars."
Players find bowling pins tough to tackle
By Mike Cane, Herald Writer
EVERETT - These guys certainly dominate on the football field. But their rate of success in the bowling alley isn't nearly as imposing.
Members of the East and West football teams converged at Evergreen Lanes in Everett Wednesday afternoon. They took a break from practicing for Saturday's annual East-West All-Star Game and tried knocking over pins instead of each other.
Based on a few first-hand observations, they'd better stick to football.
On adjacent lanes, Bothell High School graduates Luke Jones and Taylor Hudson had a laugh-filled competition with Marshall Lobbestael and Will Hunter of Oak Harbor and Zak Rydzak of Mariner. All of them are West teammates.
Hudson, a 6-foot, 235-pound linebacker/tight end, used an interesting bowling style which began with a powerful right-to-left approach, a hard lean to the right and a fast, spin-inducing release. His method yielded mixed results.
In Game 1, Hudson rolled a 93 - respectable, but a far cry from Lobbestael's opening score of 145.
Hudson and dozens of other football stars enjoyed their time at the alley.
"It's nice," said Hudson, "because we've all been hanging out all week. We've gotten to know each other really well. It's just fun to joke around."
Hunter (6-5, 310 pounds) tried a new tactic after his standard bowling style stopped working. The lineman tried a 180-degree twist, between-the-legs toss. But instead of nailing pins, he got a dreaded gutter ball.
"I wasn't bowling good the regular way," said Hunter, "so I just tried something new."
Needless to say, Hunter didn't take his failure too hard. Maybe Lobbestael's grotesque neon pink and yellow bowling shoes cheered him up.
Hunter switches to WSU: Hunter, who helped control the line of scrimmage during Oak Harbor's Class 4A state championship run, is no longer headed to Eastern Washington University. He planned to walk on there but recently chose Washington State instead because the Eastern assistant coach who recruited him left the program. Hunter is excited to see what he can do at WSU, where he'll room with Lobbestael. "I think it'll work out better," Hunter said.
True value: The East-West game isn't just for fans. It's a special chance for college-bound players to get a taste of what the future holds. "They're helping themselves," East head coach Bob Lucey said, "because ... if they're going on to play in college, and most of them are, they'll be better prepared because they're gonna play (NCAA) D-I recruits (this week)."
Scouting report: Tuesday evening, after going through three practices with the West and sneaking a peek at the East, West linebacker/fullback Anthony Kubin said his team appears to have an advantage. "From what I've seen, our (team) is working a little bit harder than the East side," Kubin said. "Just the intensity from over here compared to those guys over there, it's just a world of difference. We're meshing together like family already and it's only been three practices."