Record-to-Date:
HSF Degen Plays: 11-18 (-19.4 u)
College Foot FBS: 11-11-1 (-6.5 u)
College Foot FCS: 4-2 (+4.8 u)
---------------
*Capping HSF thus far has proven to be very challenging.... I will update records shortly, but will start with a 2A match out of Washington.
Hockison -3'
Archbishop Murphy 54'
Definitely think a look at Hockison Hawks on Thurs evening is warranted... Here we have the last 2 State Champs in 2A going at it to give a leg up on what to expect in this year's Wash State HSF playoffs....Hockison beat Tumwater (a perennial power player) in the title game of 2017, 35-21.......Tumwater had disposed of Archbishop Murphy 10-6 in the Semis.... Both programs lost some very talented athletes to graduation, so what this ultimately comes down to; is who had what in the cupboard?
Hockison had a fairly easy win to kickoff the season lw defeating Toppenish 52-14......HC Rick Steele is giddy over this years team and feels they are a legitimate challenger to a 2nd consecutive State Crown.... Steele should know as he is in his 14th season (83-52) and is the owner of a 15 game win streak.... The Hawks are ranked #1, 522 nationally and #19 in the State.
Hawks lost 8 All League players to graduation, including All State talent QB Canon Racanelli but reload with 5 All League players that were Soph last year.... New QB Jr Levi Crum may win State Honors when all is said and done, and has several D1 programs garnering interest... Last week against Toppenish, he was 12 of 18 for 217 yards w/2 TDs...... He takes over last seasons best Wash HSF Offense that averaged 45.2 ppg... Defense held to 13 ppg... Last year's version was a very pass heavy offense, but last week, Hawks rushed for 175 yards and passed for 271 total yards in the 52 point blitzkrieg.
Crum has a wealth of top talented WRs to throw to.. WR Sawyer Racanelli (brother to grad Canon) is 6'3" and caught 1,801 yards w/28 TDs, with big Bro throwing to the Super Soph in 2017, Sawyer received All League accolades and looks to be in prime form as he accounted for 99 yards on 3 catches w/2 TDs, also returned a punt for 78 yards w/TD... Sawyer is drawing interest from several PAC 12 schools....... Joining Racanelli is 6'5" Jr Peyton Brammar (815 yards receiving w/9 TDs ly) Also All League honors...... Adding is WR Adam Mallory (5'10")returner......
Another Soph All League player is Jr OL Takumi Velay, and OL behemoth Nathan Balderas (6'4" 295 lb Jr).... Sr LB Jonathan Domingo was 1st team All League and DB Adam Mallory (also WR) returned a pick 6 for a TD last seasons Championship.
The Archbishop Murphy Wildcats were 11-2 last year with 2 losses to Bellevue and Tumwater (both Power HSF Programs in the State) They opened with a respectable win at Eatonville 23-3 last week.... HC Jerry Jensen was the 2015 Coach of the Year, and his team won State 2A in 2016.... Wildcats won State in 2003 & 2002.... They have consecutive League Titles from 2002-2011 and 2015-2016.....Their Dynasty Record is 157-32 (165-24 in League).... Their National rank is #2,115 and State is #27... The Offense averaged 40 ppg in 2017 while Defense held to 12.5......
The team does return the starting QB Jr Victor Gabalis (6'3" 185 lbs).... WR Dillon Sign-Halpin (5'10" 175 lbs) caught 6 passes for 77 yards w/1 td...... Last week, RB Mason Mathis rushed for 120 yards....... There is no doubt that the team weakness will be its youth, especially on the DL and OL as the team lost several starters to graduation.... HC Jerry Jensen may have to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but he does return 6 Defensive Starters and last week the Defense manhandled Eatonville holding them to 3 points put up in the 4th quarter...... Sr LB Luke Riojas (6'1" 220 lbs) will be playing Div 1 ball next year.... Wildcats held Eatonville to 4 yards of offense, so the Defense could keep Archbishop Murphy in most games...... They also have a veteran kicker, Max Henderson, who accounted for 3 fg lw...
Bottom line, everyone wants a piece of Archbishop Murphy as it was in 2016 that the school had 6 forfeits by public schools that refused to play the private school citing injuries and blow-outs as their reasoning for the forfeits...... Archbishop won State that year as it boasted 6 Div 1 recruits and HC Jensen showed no mercy as the school scored lop-sided victory against the programs that would play them..... Unfortunately for Murphys players, they practiced for a month and a half without an opponent to play them....... I think it should be noted that Murphy (being a private institution) were able to recruit up to 50 miles radius and the program attracted some top ranked players (recruits) which the Public Schools cried foul..... In 2017, the public schools of the Cascade Conference chose to disband, in a deliberate attempt to circumvent having to play Murphy.... No other league would accept the school because opponents still cited the 50 mile rule as being grossly unfair to their programs.... Archbishop Murphy petitioned the WESCO League to let them in and still the ADs got together and blackballed the program...... Finally, the state stepped in and in the name of education first (yeah right)... Forced the other schools to accept the Wildcats or face sanctions against themselves.......
So, here we are..... Looking at this from my perspective, I can understand a school to try and build an elite program like a Bishop Gorman or Mater Dei, however, it looks to me like the talent pool wasn't deep enough, and even the best athletes want to play football on a Friday Night.... I think 2016 was actually a turning point for Archbishop and the number of recruits diminished because kids want to play, not have to practice with noone to suit up against..... Archbishop appears to have shot itself in the foot on this.... The only way it could've worked was if Murphy was interested in loading up competition from other states, which is something it didn't do.
Don't get me wrong, the program is still successful and will more than likely be in the 2A Playoffs again, however, I think Hockison is the better team man for man here.... The Seattle Times has the Hawks as the #1 Pre-season Team in 2A...... HC Rick Steele has developed a program that is built for yesterday, today and tomorrow..... Still, Hockison hasn't ever been in this position as sometimes its better to be the Hunter, not the Hunted....
I think this one could be a defensive struggle, so I'm all over the Under here, and will put a couple of shekels on Hockison to win by 7..
2 units units ts on the Under 54' LOSS FS 42-13....missed by the hook
2 units on Hawks -3' WIN.. Easy roll
Good Luck
HSF Degen Plays: 11-18 (-19.4 u)
College Foot FBS: 11-11-1 (-6.5 u)
College Foot FCS: 4-2 (+4.8 u)
---------------
*Capping HSF thus far has proven to be very challenging.... I will update records shortly, but will start with a 2A match out of Washington.
Hockison -3'
Archbishop Murphy 54'
Definitely think a look at Hockison Hawks on Thurs evening is warranted... Here we have the last 2 State Champs in 2A going at it to give a leg up on what to expect in this year's Wash State HSF playoffs....Hockison beat Tumwater (a perennial power player) in the title game of 2017, 35-21.......Tumwater had disposed of Archbishop Murphy 10-6 in the Semis.... Both programs lost some very talented athletes to graduation, so what this ultimately comes down to; is who had what in the cupboard?
Hockison had a fairly easy win to kickoff the season lw defeating Toppenish 52-14......HC Rick Steele is giddy over this years team and feels they are a legitimate challenger to a 2nd consecutive State Crown.... Steele should know as he is in his 14th season (83-52) and is the owner of a 15 game win streak.... The Hawks are ranked #1, 522 nationally and #19 in the State.
Hawks lost 8 All League players to graduation, including All State talent QB Canon Racanelli but reload with 5 All League players that were Soph last year.... New QB Jr Levi Crum may win State Honors when all is said and done, and has several D1 programs garnering interest... Last week against Toppenish, he was 12 of 18 for 217 yards w/2 TDs...... He takes over last seasons best Wash HSF Offense that averaged 45.2 ppg... Defense held to 13 ppg... Last year's version was a very pass heavy offense, but last week, Hawks rushed for 175 yards and passed for 271 total yards in the 52 point blitzkrieg.
Crum has a wealth of top talented WRs to throw to.. WR Sawyer Racanelli (brother to grad Canon) is 6'3" and caught 1,801 yards w/28 TDs, with big Bro throwing to the Super Soph in 2017, Sawyer received All League accolades and looks to be in prime form as he accounted for 99 yards on 3 catches w/2 TDs, also returned a punt for 78 yards w/TD... Sawyer is drawing interest from several PAC 12 schools....... Joining Racanelli is 6'5" Jr Peyton Brammar (815 yards receiving w/9 TDs ly) Also All League honors...... Adding is WR Adam Mallory (5'10")returner......
Another Soph All League player is Jr OL Takumi Velay, and OL behemoth Nathan Balderas (6'4" 295 lb Jr).... Sr LB Jonathan Domingo was 1st team All League and DB Adam Mallory (also WR) returned a pick 6 for a TD last seasons Championship.
The Archbishop Murphy Wildcats were 11-2 last year with 2 losses to Bellevue and Tumwater (both Power HSF Programs in the State) They opened with a respectable win at Eatonville 23-3 last week.... HC Jerry Jensen was the 2015 Coach of the Year, and his team won State 2A in 2016.... Wildcats won State in 2003 & 2002.... They have consecutive League Titles from 2002-2011 and 2015-2016.....Their Dynasty Record is 157-32 (165-24 in League).... Their National rank is #2,115 and State is #27... The Offense averaged 40 ppg in 2017 while Defense held to 12.5......
The team does return the starting QB Jr Victor Gabalis (6'3" 185 lbs).... WR Dillon Sign-Halpin (5'10" 175 lbs) caught 6 passes for 77 yards w/1 td...... Last week, RB Mason Mathis rushed for 120 yards....... There is no doubt that the team weakness will be its youth, especially on the DL and OL as the team lost several starters to graduation.... HC Jerry Jensen may have to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but he does return 6 Defensive Starters and last week the Defense manhandled Eatonville holding them to 3 points put up in the 4th quarter...... Sr LB Luke Riojas (6'1" 220 lbs) will be playing Div 1 ball next year.... Wildcats held Eatonville to 4 yards of offense, so the Defense could keep Archbishop Murphy in most games...... They also have a veteran kicker, Max Henderson, who accounted for 3 fg lw...
Bottom line, everyone wants a piece of Archbishop Murphy as it was in 2016 that the school had 6 forfeits by public schools that refused to play the private school citing injuries and blow-outs as their reasoning for the forfeits...... Archbishop won State that year as it boasted 6 Div 1 recruits and HC Jensen showed no mercy as the school scored lop-sided victory against the programs that would play them..... Unfortunately for Murphys players, they practiced for a month and a half without an opponent to play them....... I think it should be noted that Murphy (being a private institution) were able to recruit up to 50 miles radius and the program attracted some top ranked players (recruits) which the Public Schools cried foul..... In 2017, the public schools of the Cascade Conference chose to disband, in a deliberate attempt to circumvent having to play Murphy.... No other league would accept the school because opponents still cited the 50 mile rule as being grossly unfair to their programs.... Archbishop Murphy petitioned the WESCO League to let them in and still the ADs got together and blackballed the program...... Finally, the state stepped in and in the name of education first (yeah right)... Forced the other schools to accept the Wildcats or face sanctions against themselves.......
So, here we are..... Looking at this from my perspective, I can understand a school to try and build an elite program like a Bishop Gorman or Mater Dei, however, it looks to me like the talent pool wasn't deep enough, and even the best athletes want to play football on a Friday Night.... I think 2016 was actually a turning point for Archbishop and the number of recruits diminished because kids want to play, not have to practice with noone to suit up against..... Archbishop appears to have shot itself in the foot on this.... The only way it could've worked was if Murphy was interested in loading up competition from other states, which is something it didn't do.
Don't get me wrong, the program is still successful and will more than likely be in the 2A Playoffs again, however, I think Hockison is the better team man for man here.... The Seattle Times has the Hawks as the #1 Pre-season Team in 2A...... HC Rick Steele has developed a program that is built for yesterday, today and tomorrow..... Still, Hockison hasn't ever been in this position as sometimes its better to be the Hunter, not the Hunted....
I think this one could be a defensive struggle, so I'm all over the Under here, and will put a couple of shekels on Hockison to win by 7..
2 units units ts on the Under 54' LOSS FS 42-13....missed by the hook
2 units on Hawks -3' WIN.. Easy roll
Good Luck
Last edited:
