“We were league champions last year, but that was last year,” Sumner High running back Tyler Salisbury said.
Indeed, the Spartans earned a share of the South Puget Sound League 2A league title with a 5-2 record. It was the team’s first league title since 1994. It didn’t matter they shared it with Clover Park and Eatonville.
Their league finish gave them a postseason spot in the playoffs, the first since 2006. Although disappointed with a 28-21 opening-round loss to Port Angeles, the Spartans were sure the program was headed in the right direction.
The team also scored big nonleague wins over bigger, former 3A opponents, including a double-overtime victory over rival Bonney Lake for the Sunset Bowl and a victory over Auburn Mountainview. The Spartans’ open their 2011 campaign at 7 p.m. Friday against the Lions at Sunset Chev Stadium and follow it up Sept. 9 with the Sunset Bowl and Bonney Lake.
“Expectations are high,” coach Keith Ross said. “It took us a while to build the foundation. Once you get there you want to keep that success going.”
Ross said the work during the summer – 68 or more players in the weight room regularly and 78 to camp – has paid off. The team hit the field running Aug. 17.
“We’re ready. We’re excited,” he said. “It’s been a great first week.”
The Spartans return many of its skill positions, but will suffer their biggest loss in the offensive line, where there are gaping holes to fill, including the ones left by the graduation of SPSL 2A Lineman of the Year Sean Dorfler and first-teamer Andrew Berg.
“We lost four out of five on the offensive line,” Ross said. “We have able bodies, we just need time to get them ready.”
That line will be protecting three-year quarterback Aaron Clark and opening holes for veteran Salisbury.
As team captains and leaders, Clark said their key is to stay focused and do their job.
“We’re looking to lead this team to where we know we’re capable of going,” Clark said.
Yes, there is pressure, Salisbury said, “but it’s more of an opportunity to show the younger guys what we’ve learned the last three years.
“Obviously we lost a lot of people, but the ones we have back are really stepping up, and the new guys are really stepping up.”
“We’re as fast as we’ve been in 12 years,” Ross said.
That speed starts with Clark, a 6-foot-4, 212-pound running quarterback, who will have an expanded role barking signals this season.
“We’re going to let him have more control over the game,” Ross said. Spartan fans will also see No. 9 on defense, a position Ross believes could take him to the collegiate level.
The Sparts’ bread-and-butter has been the West Coast veer, which garnered them 3,500 yards of offense last season. With an “if-it-isn’t-broke-don’t-fix-it” attitude, the Spartans will continue with that plan.
“That’s what we do,” Ross said.
The offense will run without the Spartans’ backfield workhorse, SPSL 2A offensive back of the year Cody Haavik, who graduated, but Salisbury, who bulled for more than 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns, should pick up the slack.
The 5-9, 180-pound senior will be joined in the backfield by Lokahi Kamau and Brendon Baker, who moves from his role as a receiver.
“We have three legitimate running backs,” Ross said.
Clark will have a bevy of targets including Bonney Lake transfer Taylor Fischlin, who will also play outside linebacker and SHS basketball player Dan DeVries, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound asset.
“He’s fast. He can run and he can jump,” Ross said.
Defensively, with the losses of league MVP Haavik and Defensive Lineman of the Year Ben Taua, they will look immediately to Jon Mayer, who racked up 100 tackles last season at middle linebacker.
The league will be tough from top to bottom, Ross said, but he figures Washington, loaded with speed and experience, will give everyone in the league a run for their money.
