SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Bothell on mission for amends
Bad taste lingers from '06 final
Last updated November 29, 2007 10:08 p.m. PT
By DEREK BELT
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
BOTHELL -- They've been here before. They didn't like the results.
"When we lost last year, I felt like we blew it," Bothell running back Jon Kirchner said of the Cougars' 21-14 loss to Oak Harbor in the 2006 Class 4A state championship game.
"It was such a sad feeling. We want to finish it the way a storybook season is supposed to finish, with a state championship."
Not many teams get a second chance at a state title, but the Cougars have earned just that. Top-ranked Bothell (13-0) is back in the championship game and plays Lewis & Clark (10-2) of Spokane at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
For the Cougars, there's no better way to put last year's loss behind them than to walk off the field as champions this year.
"We need to realize that it's not finished," Kirchner said. "Just because we got there doesn't mean we've done anything yet. Second place is never good enough for any athlete."
That's a different mindset from last year, when Bothell was in the state title game for the first time in school history.
Looking back, Kirchner said the Cougars were just happy to be there. They didn't practice very well the week leading up to the game, he said. Maybe they thought it was going to be easy.
Whatever the case, the Cougars are not going to make the same mistake twice.
With eighth-year coach Tom Bainter harping on linemen at practice this week for missing blocks and coaching cornerbacks on the correct way to rotate their hips when breaking on the ball, it looked more like week one than state championship week.
And that's exactly how Bainter wants it.
"I think it's different," he said. "Last year, it was hard not to say, 'Wow, we made it. We got to where we wanted.' But I think this year we're overcautious about saying, 'Getting here is great.'
"We got here last year and we went home hurt. We don't want there to be any pain this year."
The Cougars are in for a fight, though. Like Bothell last year, Lewis & Clark is making its first appearance in the state championship game. But Tigers coach Tom Yearout doesn't expect there to be any first-time jitters with this bunch.
"They seem like a group that's not going to be satisfied with finishing second," he said.
Lewis & Clark finished second to Ferris in the Greater Spokane League, but Ferris lost to Bothell 14-7 in last week's semifinals. The Tigers, meanwhile, held on for a 28-26 win over Edmonds-Woodway to punch their ticket to the Gridiron Classic.
Leading the surge for Lewis & Clark is running back Alex Shaw, a bruising 6-foot-2, 216-pound workhorse who's averaging 29 carries and 164 yards per game during the playoffs. For the season, Shaw has rushed for 1,494 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Tigers quarterback Steven Eglet was completing passes at a 76 percent clip in the playoffs (34 of 45) before going 6-for-15 for 79 yards with three interceptions against Edmonds-Woodway. Still, the junior has 1,425 passing yards and 11 TDs this season.
With such a balanced offensive attack, the Tigers defense sometimes gets overlooked. But it shouldn't.
"That's the strength of our team," said Yearout, whose club is allowing fewer than 200 yards per game and has held eight teams to two touchdowns or less.
Bothell has a pretty potent offense as well, with Kirchner (932 yards, 10 TDs) and quarterback Johnny Hekker (1,981 yards, 21 TDs) accounting for much of the Cougars' yardage. It'll be a tough challenge this week, though, as Lewis & Clark yields just 2.7 yards per rush.
"We've got to do our job up front," Hekker said. "They play really good football, and they'll come at you all day."
KingCo champs for the fourth time in six years, Bothell has been here before. The Cougars haven't forgotten what it felt like to watch Oak Harbor celebrate its state championship on the Tacoma Dome turf last December.
It still hurts to think about it. But that's exactly why they're so determined to make the most of this second chance.
"If you go there and win it you don't know what it's like to lose it. Well, we know what it's like to lose it," Bainter said.
"We've tasted the sour, now we want the sweet."
4A CHAMPIONSHIP
WHEN/WHERE: Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Tacoma Dome
MATCHUP: Bothell (13-0) vs. Lewis & Clark (10-2)
GRIDIRON CLASSIC
WHAT/WHERE: State high school football championships,
Tacoma Dome
CLASS 1B: Odessa (12-0) vs. Almira-Coulee-Hartline (12-1), Friday, 4 p.m.
CLASS 3A: O'Dea (13-0) vs. Skyline (13-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m., FSN
CLASS 2A: Burlington-Edison (12-1) vs. Prosser (13-0), Saturday, 10 a.m.
CLASS 1A: Royal (13-1) vs. Connell (13-0), Saturday,
1 p.m.
CLASS 2B: DeSales (12-0) vs. Toutle Lake (11-2), Saturday, 4 p.m.
CLASS 4A: Bothell (13-0) vs. Lewis & Clark (10-2), Saturday, 7:30 p.m., FSN
SEATTLEPI.COM
Previews of the 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B championships.
seattlepi.com/preps
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