It never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes in the sky, especially when those eyes belong to that of former WSU quarterback Jason Gesser, who scored a rare assist in Interlake’s 35-20 win over North Mason in Tuesday nights state play-in game.
Gesser, a friend of Interlake coach Sheldon Cross, was in the press box as a guest of the Saints, and made a halftime play suggestion to Cross based on his view in the air.
That suggestion turned out to be an 18-yard touchdown on a swing pass from quarterback Matt Malos to running back Brett Kirschner, a score ended up as the decisive points in the win.
“That was all Gesser,” Cross said after the game, although inside the Saint’s locker room after the game, Gesser did his best to deflect any credit, instead giving all props back to his friend.
Turns out, Cross and Gesser, who led WSU to back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2001 and 2002, have been friends since Cross, a former quarterback at Stadium High School in Tacoma, almost committed to play at WSU before deciding on Iowa Wesleyan.
“We’ve been buddies for a while, since I thought about playing there,” Cross said. “But obviously I was just going to be 9th-string, holding Jason’s clipboard.”
Communications Breakdown: You knew something was going to go nuts in Interlake’s first playoff game since 1985. Little did the coaches know it’d be their headsets that went haywire.
Minutes before kickoff, the Saints coaches in the booth realized that the headsets that relay plays to Cross on the sideline were on the fritz and not working.
Instead, coaches used an iPhone to call Cross directly on the rain-soaked field. Let’s hope the coach had a good rain-damage warranty on his phone.
Gotta love technology.
What a turnaround: When Cross took over the Saints last season, he inherited a team that went 1-9 and 0-8 in the KingCo 3A conference.
Two year’s later, Cross has his team in the hunt for a 2A state title.
After going 2-8 last year, Interlake is 6-4 this year.
“It’s night and day,” Cross said of the difference from two years ago. “If you go to a new program and you can’t change the mentality, it’s not going to happen.
“Our kids bought it. These were players that said they really wanted to change it and now the whole school has bought into it.”
Receiving into the record book: Dylan Amell’s two touchdowns Tuesday tie him for sixth place in Washington state 11-man football history for receiving touchdown’s in a season, as compiled by high-school stat king Dave Maley. The record belongs to Prosser’s Kirby Moore, who owns the first spot with 29 touchdowns in 14 games last season. He also owns the third spot and is adding to it with his 27 touchdowns this year.
Amell is also tied for second with nine other players for the most receiving touchdowns in a single game with five. Tom Owens of Peninsula caught six touchdowns in 1986 for the record.
Joel Willits can be reached at jwillits@reporternewspapers.com or 425-453-4270 ext. 5060.
