HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Large senior class leads Quilcene

QUILCENE — A star-powered squad propelled Quilcene to its best football season in school history in 2015, including the program’s first-ever state playoff win.

The Rangers did it behind the arm and legs of Eli Harrison, the team’s quarterback and also an Associated Press first team all-state selection at defensive back, and the bulldozing of Nate Weller, another first team all-state selection along the offensive line.

Both are graduated, in addition to two other key starters, so the Rangers look to keep momentum by focusing more on a team effort led by a solid group of seven seniors.

“We have a big senior class, for us,” first year head coach Trey Beathard said.

“We’re counting on these kids to be leaders on and off the field. I’m expecting a lot of good things from them.

“I don’t know that we have that one unbelievable standout, but I think we have a good group of solid kids.

“That makes it, to me, a little more fun. We’re going to be depending on everybody to do their part.”

Beathard takes over the head coaching reins from Byron Wilson, after serving under the long-time head coach for two seasons at Quilcene.

Wilson, who is retired, had advocated for the switch in order to take some of the burden off his plate while still staying involved in the game.

He will move into Beathard’s vacated defensive coordinater position.

“Coach Wilson is a little more conservative than me when he’s calling offense,” Beathard said.

“I’m a little more conservative on D, and I take a few more chances on offense. So we’re the opposite.

“We’ll see how that goes for both of us.”

The biggest question mark for the team is at quarterback, where Harrison started nearly every game the past two seasons.

Senior Juan Rogers and junior Andy Johnson are expected to rotate at the signal-caller position.

“Juan and Andy are probably both going to alternate at quarterback right now,” Beathard said.

Both Rogers and Johnson are athletes, but have minimal experience leading the offense.

“They can both throw the ball pretty well, it’s just they don’t have the experience of reading the D and being in those situations,” Beathard said.

“Last year, Juan was injured, so he missed a lot of the season. He came back and played in a couple games as backup quarterback.

“Andy’s our fastest kid. Last year was his first year to ever play football, and he did a good job for us at defensive back.

“Both of them are athletic enough that whichever one’s not starting at quarterback will be on the field somewhere else.”

Another vital open position is at running back where Acea Such looks to be the early frontrunner.

“He’s been doing real well at practice this year,” Beathard said.

“He looks like he’s got a good chance to be a starter at running back. He had some good games last year.”

Offensively, they’ll stick mostly to last season’s recipe for success; ground and pound to open up play-action and offset opposing defenses.

“We’ll be real similar to what we’ve done in the past,” Beathard said.

“We try to run the football.”

“We’re hoping to run some play-action and throw it some too.

“Typically, we’re pretty vanilla, but every once in a while we’ll line up in more of a spread formation.”

The Rangers lost four two-way starters from last year’s squad, so essentially, eight starting spots need to be filled, creating a void but also an opportunity for younger players to step up and fill those roles.

“We have kids that have to fill in some spots that haven’t played a whole lot,” Beathard said.

“And some of those returning starters, we have to see if they can go from being pretty good to real good.”

Tough slate

The Rangers face a rigorous schedule, taking on formidable division foes Evergreen Lutheran and Seattle Lutheran, who finished first and second in the division in 2015.

They also take on Crescent and Tulalip Heritage, two games in which Quilcene won a narrow dogfight.

“We have a hard schedule, in my opinion,” Beathard said.

“We start off with some good teams. We’ll see how the kids do.”

But the Rangers appear locked in and ready to roll with their season opener at home against Mary M. Knight at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“We have a lot of seniors returning,” senior linebacker Ace Elkins said.

“We have a lot of hard workers. We’ve had people in the weight room all summer working their butts off.”

Senior tight end/linebacker Jarod Smith sees some areas to work on, but ultimately likes what he has seen so far.

“I think we can improve on our intensity and teamwork, but we have a lot of drive as a team,” Smith said.

Senior Hayes Beathard also is confident.

“We’re at the point where just about everyone here has been in the system,” he said.

“They’re used to running this stuff. I think that will help us out.

“We’re a pretty small school, but I don’t want anyone to sleep on us because we’re expecting to have a big year.”

Elkins said he expects the team to do well despite the roster turnover.

“We have a new running back and quarterback, but I still feel confident that we’ll succeed with who’s out there,” Elkins said.

Whether Quilcene exceeds last season’s historical run, regresses back to average, or keeps an even keel, the result is solely in the hands of the Rangers.

“A lot of people act like you make your own luck,” coach Beathard said.

“We had some close games last year that we were fortunate enough to win.

“I give credit to the kids for that. We had some good leaders on last years’ team.

“For us to have a season like we did last year, we’re going to have to win some close games.”

Quilcene capsule

• Offense: Power run and play-action.

• Defense: Various base sets.

• Contributors: C/DL Ethan Davis, G/DL Hayes Beathard, OL/DL Robert Comstock, LB/TE Jarod Smith, LB/FB Ace Elkins, QB/DB Andy Johnson, QB/LB Juan Rogers, RB/DB Asea Such.

• Expected team strength: Senior-laden squad

• Question mark: Tackling and fundamentals.

• Players they’ll miss the most: Eli Harrison, Nate Weller and A.J. Prater.

• Games to watch: Crescent and Tulalip Heritage. Both were close games last season with Quilcene escaping with narrow victories.