Boys HS Weekly Beat - Week 7
Submitted by walax on Wed, 2006-04-26 18:03.
Features
BOYS HIGH SCHOOL WEEKLY BEAT April17 -23, 2006 By Fred Wilmot
DIVISION I
WALAX.COM WEEK SEVEN RANKINGS
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Conference
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Team
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In-Conference
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Overall
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Sound
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1
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1
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Metro
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1
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2
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Mountain
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1
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3
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Mountain
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2
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4
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Sound
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2
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5
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Mountain
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3
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6
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Sound
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3
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7
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Metro
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2
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8
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Metro
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3
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9
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Mountain
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4
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10
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Sound
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4
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11
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Metro
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4
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12
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Metro
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5
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13
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*To view the most current and complete Computer Rankings, visit LaxPower
RECAPS
DIVISION I
Defense, Defense, Defense. In the biggest games of the week, defense became the deciding factor. Most of the battle for rankings seem fairly solid at this point. The weakest division seems to have the most seats at the playoff table, due to a flawed playoff setup, but with such parity in the top three and possibly four teams, that should not have any impact. Bainbridge had an outstanding game against Issaquah winning 8-7 in large part to the excellent defense by BI’s Gilbreath/Wiesner combination. Mercer had a big win over Lakeridge in large part due to their defense rallying without Howell under Brazg. Issaquah handled Cape with outstanding performances from Mason Smith and Gerrard, and Bellevue almost held a shutout on Curtis with solid defensive play. This week saw two defensemen score, and several more shoot. Stay tuned to see whether defense really does win a championship.
Bainbridge Island BI pulls a gut-checking win over Issaquah last Friday at home, with great effort by both Gilbreath brothers, Wiesner, and the great freshman keeper Stevenson. BI has both their offense and defense working fluidly, Man-up and Man-down are both effective, and these guys have momentum. Bainbridge has a balanced threat led by Masi and Delius, but also relies on Irish, Knight, Olson to strengthen their assault. Watch for a battle at home against Vashon on Friday. BI is hungry this year.
Garfield Though in second place, Garfield appears to be more of an enigma. This week Rohrbach tallies five points in the win over Vashon, and Snider totals another double-digit week at 11 points including the seven point shutout against a struggling young Maple Valley. These guys play a mean game when it really means something, but blow hot and cold throughout the others. Snider, Hoffman, Rohrbach and Montoya lead the offense and defense respectively, but what happens without Snider? If Garfield wants to sit on the throne this year, they will have to find a more balanced offense and continue to build a defense around Montoya supporting quicker slides. Will prep have an answer for them this week? I don’t think so, but you never know.
Bellevue Bellevue found its stride against Curtis last week, in an 11-1 victory. Spangler lit it up going 4g-2a and spreading the offensive sauce around to Guzek, Crollard, Lynn, Mutzel and even Taylor Platt, who had a break-out game scoring unassisted and shutting down Curtis offense with knock-downs and ground ball recovery. In the invitational, Bellevue played a Cape team fighting to chalk up their first win of a long weekend, and honestly played the best game of the day in their 6-5 loss. Cape has a pair of players going DI next year, and the rest of the team hadn’t played together until Friday. Bellevue picked up a great competitive game, and can use that to carry them into this week as the leader in the conference facing weaker opponents Eastside and Maple Valley.
Issaquah Issaquah may have the most potent transition offense around. Their strength was evident in the decided victory over Hale with Campi, Morris and Goodman all getting hat tricks. Saying that- Goodman is a freshman. The true watermark of Issaquah will be how their youth performs. Goodman, now running face-offs, Travis Wright becoming a dominant midfielder as a sophomore, and Nick Yaap, who is second in points only to senior Campi and has four less games, is also a sophomore. Dropping the Bainbridge game demonstrated Issy is a great team, but will have to step up more at the midfield if they want a title fight. Another pair of big ones this week- Vashon and Mercer. The ‘Quah heads to MI to rematch the first game of the season. With a win here, Issy will lock up first place in the Mountain.
Vashon In an early week game, Vashon took a demonstrative win over Eastside with five different players scoring multiple goals in the 9-1 route. The offensive core of Craighead, McMurdo, Kimbrough and Wilks have been leading the team thus far in the season weren’t able to match up to number two Garfield in a 9-5 loss at Vashon. Ending the week, Vashon took Lakeside 8-3 missing the team’s leading scorer in Craighead as well as Serko amongst others. The youth on the team stepped up to ring a win in, but not without help from Kimbrough who had a hat trick and Davidheiser who had a pair. This week, Vashon has a tough ride against both Issaquah and BI
Mercer Island Mercer Island has been searching for its identity for a while now, and this week they may have found it. An early week win over Roosevelt at their house 17-4, helped start the engine, but a big win over Cape Elizabeth and Lakeridge this weekend, showed that Mercer still has something left and shouldn’t be written off. Kevin Mahony had five in the victory against Cape, and Greg had four. In the Lakeridge game, Greg was the atlas carrying the team in their come from behind victory against Lakeridge. Read the recap about that game! Mercer will have two more games against easier teams before Issy comes to their house for an action packed rematch of the super first game of the season with overtime loss to Mercer. Curtis and Hale beware.
Curtis After getting the plug pulled on them at Bellevue, Curtis turns around and gives tha punishment to Hale with both Yergler brothers leading the scoring. Jamie went 5-3 and Jordan goes 3-1 in the game, but ten total players score in this game, including Carr who also had a hat trick. Curtis isn’t out of the playoff standings completely, they will need help. Curtis must beat Vashon again and then rely on some help from others including the rest of the Vashon schedule.
Seattle Prep Prep had the week off, but needs to put the package together if they have some hopes of participating in post-season play. After a spirited Mercer game, Prep has returned their starting keeper, and relies on the Triad for offensive output, but it seems to be the between the lines play hurting the most. Although battling lethargy at times, Prep has the talent to do something through the playoffs. This week, they play Garfield, and will have to start focusing in on what a team in the playoffs needs to do in each of their remaining games. A strong showing there in a spirited rivalry will add some fire to the noticeably dormant Volcano.
Lakeside Rounding out the top eight for playoff contention, Lakeside had a rough week dropping games to Roosevelt and to Bainbridge. Lakeside will have to rely on their youth to win the ones they should like Hale this Friday, but keep it close in the others. Lakeside will play tougher teams next week, and will have to win the division game against Prep and hope they lose the last three conference games against the ‘riders and Hale to contemplate second place. Otherwise, Lakeside will walk into the playoffs to play BI first round.
Maple Valley Maple Valley had a tough week as well dropping games to Garfield at Redmond HS and a disappointing loss to Eastside at home. The Vandals started strong but with so much youth, they may be looking to finish strong and work hard in the off-season. This week, MV will play Roosevelt, Curtis and Bellevue, and will have to start putting up some offensive numbers and specifically, shots, to stay on the board.
Eastside Eastside dropped a tough game against Vashon, limited to one goal, as well as dropping an exhibition game to Skyline, and up-and-coming DII team, but brought that to bear on the Vandals in their 9-5 win. Greg Bearson continues his reign at midfield with a 5 goal and 2 assist game. Olin made 15 saves on 20 shots. Eastside has tough games this week in Bellevue, and a potentially great game between the Ravens and the limping Lions on Friday.
Roughriders MI handed Roosevelt a tough loss to start the week with a 17-4 final score. Bouncing back against Lakeside, Grose, Madson and Shaul had 4g, 3g, and 2g respectively to lift the ‘riders atop the Lions in a solid 11-4 victory. This week, the ‘Riders have the Vandals and Prep looking to scratch out another victory against both ailing squads.
Nathan Hale Hale had 39 points put on them this week, returning with 10 against a tough Issaquah and a strong Curtis squad. Springer, Benitez and Shiplett need a little help across the board as they prepare for games against Lakeside, Mercer and Garfield.
Division I Leaders
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TOP PERFORMERS
JAMES GILBREATH, JR, Defense, Bainbridge… had an awesome game against Issaquah last week, clearing the ball fearlessly, getting assists, shutting down attackmen, and knocking down passes. He tallied 12 ground balls on the week and a goal against Lakeside. This is a defensive captain.
GREG BEARSON, SR, Midfield, Eastside… Bearson won better than 70% of his face-offs this week, tallied a 5g 2a record in an upset win of Lakeside and sits second in goals totals for Division I. Bearson may be the most underrated senior midfielder in Division I.
Games to Watch:
4/26 Issaquah @ Vashon: Look for a good contest on Vashon
4/27 Vashon @ Bainbridge: Island battle that could be a good show if Vashon is all healthy. Their last match-up gave BI an 8-6 victory.
4/28 Issaquah @ Mercer Island: This will be an all out war. MI needs to beat by more than one for tie-breaker, and Issaquah needs this to sit alone in playoff picture as the second team in the Mountain.
