BELLEVUE, WA - You could feel the energy from both sides as the Eastside D1 powerhouses took over the field upon the final horn of the JV game. After coming home empty-handed from the 2015 State Championship, coach John Bauman and the Bellevue Wolverines (1-0) reload for 2016 with a sightly tweaked version of last year’s team, now with one more year of experience and a newly developed taste for revenge. The visiting Woodinville Falcons (1-1) kicked off their campaign on Friday night with a 18-6 win over Blanchet. Now coached by Will Corrigan, Notre Dame '15 midfielder and son of the Irish head coach, the Falcons are also developing a new identity by looking for leadership from only two seniors and a deep roster of underclassmen.

From the opening whistle, it didn’t take long for midfielder Joe Bethke to score the first Wolverine goal of 2016. Bethke would then punch in the second, third and fourth scores for Bellevue before passing the torch in the 2nd quarter to attackman Paul Johnson for a pair of goals. The Falcons were able to put a break in Bethke’s run in the 1st quarter with Mitchell Herman’s first notch of the evening.

Woodinville’s best night offensively came in the 2nd quarter with a trio of goals from Kaden Fitzpatrick, Noah Bamesberger, and Nelson Rayl before sliding into a nearly 20-minute scoring drought. On the opposite side, Matt Marino and Augie Fratt scored their first goals of the night in the second frame to bring the half to an 8-4 lead and Bellevue would never look back.

In the third quarter, a single strike from both Bellevue’s Michael Medzegian and Jackson Fredman would be the only action we would see on the scoreboard, mostly due to the strong defensive effort on both sides of the field. It may have been the rowdy student section that helped to light the Wolverines’ fire in the 4th quarter where they took the Falcons on a 6 goal run, led by Fratt finishing his hat trick, Marino’s second goal and solo points for Andrew Blasko, Joe Albrecht and Justin Backer. Keeping his chin held high, Herman’s second goal would close out the night with the last score for either squad, leaving the game at 16-5.

Speed and discipline were major factors in Bellevue’s stellar opening win, that especially goes for face-off man Andrew Choe, who showed off his commitment to the craft at the X, winning a significant amount of possessions for the offense. Six of the nine different players who scored for the home side were midfielders and all but four of their goals came from the group.

The Wolverines will be back in action Thursday night as they take on Eastlake at 8pm, back at Bellevue. Woodinville will also get back to work on Thursday when they head to Redmond for a 7pm start. By Mark Donahue.