An inside look at the Grizzlies | Prep football preview
Published 12:25 pm Thursday, November 3, 2011
Glacier Peak (6-3) @ Bellevue (9-0) Friday Nov. 4, 7 pm
The Grizzlies enter the game as the third seeded team from 3A WesCo and will face their third state-ranked opponent of the year in the Wolverines. Oak Harbor, ranked in the top-ten for much of the regular season, defeated G-P back on Sept. 9 by a score of 30-27 and conference champ Meadowdale took down the Grizzlies back on Sept. 30 by a count of 34-17.
Running back Alex Karabut has tallied a team-high 511 rushing yards for an average of 8.1 per carry while quarterback David Linney had thrown for 1,226 yards and 20 touchdowns against five interceptions. Linney’s leading receivers are Sean Elledge (36 catches, 520 yards, eight TDs) and Evan Nelson (35 catches, 732 yards, 10 TDs). On the defensive side of the ball, Trey Chambers leads the Grizzlies with four interceptions while five other players have one for the year.
I spoke with both Aaron Swaney of the Everett Herald and Grizzlies’ coach Rory Rosenbach, who has been the Grizzlies’ head coach since the school was founded in 2008. Prior to leading Glacier Peak, Rosenbach spent seven years (three as head coach) at Eugene’s Marist High School, an Oregon power that plays in a 6A/5A league despite having 3A enrollment.
Here’s what they had to say:
JOSH SUMAN: Tell me a little about the Glacier Peak offense.
AARON SWANEY: They’re really a system team, not unlike Bellevue actually. They are just the Spread offense. The coach just plugs guys into the system and just go out there and a lot of people in the WesCo have a tough time stopping their offense. Their quarterback is pretty good, he missed one game to a suspension. They’re obviously one of those offenses that are wide open. They throw the ball all over the place and let their guys go make plays. [Elledge and Nelson] are the main two weapons offensively. They run the ball basically just to keep teams honest.
JS: How do they match up on the defensive side?
AS: When they ran up against Meadowdale and Oak Harbor, they had trouble stopping teams like that. Glacier Peak has been really good, they’re quite a bit down from what they have been in past. They crush teams that are kind of middling to bad, which WesCo 3A has five or six of those teams. They will probably score points, but they’re not going to stop the run. they’re going to need those turnovers to capitalize. In the past, they have been really good at that, they are up 40 in the first quarter. They just get turnovers and next play it’s a score. They are really good at striking quickly and running up and down the field, but when you get against a team you can’t stop, it’s hard to take over a game.
JS: What is the story behind Rosenbach and how he came to lead the program since the school’s founding?
AS: The coach came up from Oregon and basically turned it into a power in their first season. They were a first-year program and they won seven or eight games. Since day one this program has been nothing but amazing and this is the first year they have really struggled.
Speaking of coach Rosenbach…
JOSH SUMAN: Coach, what is it like for this group of seniors, the first class to begin at G-P as freshman and see it through for four years?
RORY ROSENBACH: It’s obviously exciting for them. Their mantra this year has been, ‘Finish what we started.’ They want to go out on a high note and continue doing the things they can to take the program to the next level and have another shot at Bellevue is no better way to start their senior playoff run.
JS: You led the 2009 team against Bellevue in the playoffs as well. What did you and your program learn from that experience?
RR: Well, they’re really good. The first play of the game sticks out to me. We hit him (the Bellevue running back) two yards deep in the backfield, we hit him at two yards and he broke both those tackles and goes 80 yards for a touchdown. I think the biggest thing for these kids, we had a couple that started that game that are still here. The thing we take from that is you talk about the speed at which they execute and which they play defense and that to me is the biggest thing that some of those guys know it. We can talk about it, and say it’s going to be fast, but these guys know. If we’re not practicing at the right tempo, if the scout teams aren’t giving us the best look, the older guys know and can tell them to pick it up.
JS: What is the biggest key to the game for your defense?
RR: Anybody that plays Bellevue, that is the biggest thing, discipline. We need to tackle well in space. You have to trust what you’re doing and what your keys are and you can’t guess. We tell them, ‘don’t chase ghosts’. You’ve got to do what your taught to do and be where your supposed to be. When you start guessing, then you’re going to be in trouble.
