It’s Spaghetti Bowl time
by By CHRISTOPHER A. SMITH
Cougs, Viks are on fire and ready to rumble
Coach Tom Bainter’s running overhand fist-pump in front of the Bothell High bleachers after the Eastlake High game said it all.
It signified the adversity the Cougars had to overcome last Friday.
It signified that Bothell was one game from a second straight 4A Kingco title.
But most of all, it signified a 19-13 win for the No. 1 team in the state over the No. 3 squad in the most anticipated regular-season matchup this year. Bothell improved to 6-0 in Kingco and 7-0 overall, while Eastlake fell to 5-1 in league and 6-1 overall.
“That’s a great football team over there, and if they drop in the polls, somebody doesn’t know much about football,” Bainter said of Eastlake. “We played really well against them. Very pleased and proud of our kids.
The win sets up a showdown against natural rival Inglemoor (5-1 league, 5-2 overall) in the Spaghetti Bowl this Friday at Pop Keeney Field, and a Bothell victory means a second straight Kingco championship.
Since Inglemoor and Eastlake have just one loss, an Inglemoor victory means a three-way tie with one week to play.
But Bothell is still undefeated due to key back-to-back victories, first against No. 8 in the state Woodinville, then at Eastlake.
The Cougars faced real adversity for the first time all year, finding themselves down 13-3 early in the third quarter following an Eastlake touchdown pass. But that’s when special-teams and defensive star Cody Burk proved once again why he is the best return man in the conference, returning the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.
“That was probably the biggest play of the game in terms of momentum in my opinion,” Bainter said.
It was Burk’s fourth kickoff return for a touchdown, two on kicks and two on punts, on the year.
“Coach was talking at halftime and said somebody needs to step up and be a leader and be a playmaker out there,” Burk said. “I was trying to be, but everybody was a playmaker, too.”
Perhaps no playmaker was bigger than Trey Burwick on defense. With the ball near midfield on a fourth-and-less-than-a-yard with just over three minutes to play in the game, Eastlake star running back Taylor Lapano tried going over the right side, only to get stunned by Burwick behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of a yard as the swarming Cougars surrounded him to put a stranglehold on the game.
“We talked about facing adversity and we never really had,” Bainter said. “We played a tough Woodinville team, but we were never down. I needed to know what we would do when we were down, and we did well. That was important for our team — we needed that test.”
On the Cougar offensive possession prior to that, it was tight end Craig Monson’s time to play hero, catching two passes on the three- play drive, including a 54-yard touchdown pass from Johnny Hekker across the middle of the field, scampering the final 35 yards as he ran toward the sidelines and then up the field.
“We ran that play most of the night,” Monson said. “I was open a lot and Johnny read it right at that point, and thank God he did because I made the most of it.”
Cougar senior Ben Moschell also stood out both offensively and defensively, taking a critical 50-yard pass up the sidelines early in the fourth quarter to set up the tying field goal, and then intercepting a pass on the next possession to set up the Monson touchdown for the Bothell lead.
And now with wins against Woodinville and Eastlake in back-to-back weeks, Bothell is in position to win another Kingco title if it can get by Inglemoor.
“We are playing for a Kingco title against our rival at home,” Bainter said. “If we have to get something up for that game, then there’s something wrong with us.”
• The Bothell-Inglemoor matchup doesn’t need any extra storylines, but with the two teams in the top three in the standings, this year has them.
Inglemoor and Eastlake are each tied with one loss, behind undefeated Bothell with one week more to play.
Even before Inglemoor knew the scenario, this is the game players have been talking about since in June at a media day prior to Inglemoor’s game at Qwest Field to open the year.
“I think we are getting kind of tired of Bothell beating us, and always hearing how good Bothell is,” Inglemoor senior co-captain linebacker Mat Gastineau said back in June. “I think we are going to revert back to Inglemoor tradition and beating up on Bothell.”
To add to the rivalry, Inglemoor is also playing its best football of the year, coming off a 42-7 victory against Garfield, led by Brandon Thurston’s three touchdowns — rushes of 41 and 6 yards and a pass catch of 21 — and Kurt Wagner’s three passing and one rushing touchdown.
Inglemoor beat Franklin the week prior, 38-13.