Mount Si football team to spend lots of time at home
July 31, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
“Home Sweet Home” isn’t just a signature for welcome mats. It just could be the mantra of the Mount Si football team in 2008.
The Wildcats, who begin the season just more than one month from today, are scheduled to play six of their nine regular-season games on their home turf. Mount Si will technically only be the home team in five of those; Issaquah plans to play all of its home games at Wildcat Stadium this fall, because of construction at its high school.
“It helps, because we think we play well at home,” Mount Si head coach Charlie Kinnune said. “We have a winning tradition on our field right now, and I think our crowd noise is a big plus for us because it’s a tighter stadium. It gives us an advantage.”
Mount Si will no longer play 3A state defending state champion Skyline – which has moved up to KingCo 4A – but the schedule promises to be as tough as ever. The Wildcats will need to develop chemistry early too, because three of their first four games are against teams from Eastlake, Issaquah and Bellevue who were a combined 27-8 a year ago.
“I don’t know if there are too many people in the state who have it as tough as we do in the first four games,” said Kinnune, whose team also plays Interlake in the first month. “There are three teams there who typically win a lot of games. We have a tough month to start it off.”
The season begins at home against Eastlake, who was 10-2 last season and runner-up in KingCo 4A. That game is followed by another home contest against Issaquah, who was 6-4 last season, before the Wildcats face Interlake at home.
The road opener will be in week four at Bellevue, who has finished runner-up in Class 4A the last two seasons, yet was challenged impressively by Mount Si during a scrimmage this summer.
After that, the Widlcats go back home for two more games, taking on Seamont defending champion Evergreen and Mercer Island. Evergreen was 9-2 last season, while Mercer Island finished just 2-8.
The scheduled wraps up with games at Sammamish, at home against Juanita and at Liberty.
Sammamish mounted just one win last season, while Juanita was 3-6 and Liberty 5-5. Juanita is new to KingCo 3A this season, while Skyline, Issaquah and Newport have left the league for KingCo 4A.
If Mount Si tromps through the schedule the way it hopes, the Wildcats could play a seventh game on their home field. The top two finishers in KingCo 3A will play host to playoff play-in games this season.
“We think that our league is one of the best in the state at the 3A level, even after losing the teams we lost,” Kinnune said. “Juanita, coming in with their new coaching staff, could be good with a really good area to draw from. We’re tested every week. I’m not too worried about having too easy a schedule.”
Editor Ryan Piersol can be reached at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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