Red Wolves prepare for season opener
Published 10:13 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Cedarcrest gained some much-needed game experience last week
as the Red Wolves prepared to open their third year as a member
of the 3A KingCo conference Thursday night against Newport.
Coach Art Kuehn was pleased with the way his young team
performed against two 4A schools at the annual jamboree held
Friday, at Skyline High School on the Sammamish Plateau. Both
opponents ran option offenses, which Kuehn believes will help the
Wolves prepare for Newport’s wishbone.
Cedarcrest held Woodinville scoreless during the scrimmage,
and then executed well on offense to score on the more physical
opponent.
“Woodinville has the numbers, both in terms of players
and experience,” Kuehn said. “Our defense did a good
job of shutting down Woodinville’s Wing T option offense.”
The coach praised the work of both quarterbacks, senior Casey
Peterson and junior Nick Rich. Cedarcrest scored on an acrobatic
catch by senior wide-out Michael Smith. The Red Wolves ground
game clicked behind the blocking of senior Ryan Sage and the
running of junior Darrin Carrido.
During the second scrimmage, the Cedarcrest defense shut down
the Fly offense of Central Kitsap High. KingCo foes Liberty and
Issaquah will be running similar offensive schemes this season.
Kuehn was especially pleased with the play of linebackers Ted
Durn and Matt Cain.
The linebacker corps will play a key role if Cedarcrest hopes
to stop Newport’s potent wishbone attack Thursday night at Howard
Miller Field in Carnation.
The Knights scored seven touchdowns without the aid of a
forward pass last year, when they beat the Red Wolves 49-28 in
the third game of the season.
This year’s team from Newport will be relying on senior
running back Tripper Johnson to help the squad rebound from
1998’s mediocre 6-3 record. Johnson led the Knights as a junior
last year with 897 yards rushing, 10 touchdowns and kicked 27
extra points He had 61 tackles and three interceptions for
Newport on defense.
The Knights will have five starters returning on each side of
the line of scrimmage. The Red Wolves will need to expose the new
players in the Knights’ defense if they hope to upset Newport at
home on Thursday.
“I know the players are excited about opening the season
in front of friends and family,” said Kuehn. “But
honestly, it does not matter to me if we play them at home or on
the turf field in Bellevue. We still need to find a way to stop
the option offense, then take the ball back, turn around and
score ourselves.”
Newport’s 80 wins during the 1990s are 26 more than any other
team in the KingCo conference. Bellevue ranks second during the
decade with 54 victories.
Thursday’s game is scheduled to start at 7:30pm. The game was
rescheduled from Friday in respect for the Jewish holiday of Rosh
Hashanah that begins at sundown on Friday.
