The Two Most Exciting Issaquah Football Games
- John Jarvinen
- Feb 18, 2022
- 43 min read
Updated: Jun 30, 2023
This is a two-part series describing the 1959 game with Lake Washington, the 1980 state semi-final game with Cascade.
Part Two: Issaquah vs. Cascade Nov. 28, 1980 I remember how the lyrics quickly sprang off three separate tongues and how off-key their singing was. I grinned as they laughed and laughed. Deep laughs. Each was trying to baffle the other two with their selections. It was a spring Friday night and the four of us were headed to Wenatchee for a coaches' clinic. Gary Moore (1940-2008), who was driving, had been invited to speak about coaching receivers. Kevin Thomas (1942-2014) was up front, and Tom Ingles was with me in the back. They played the game of citing past and present TV programs, then try to beat each other by being the first to start singing the theme song lyrics, or better yet, to stump each other. Their laughter and singing kept me entertained for much of the ride. When they tired, Moore said to me, “By the way, I haven’t coached receivers for years so you will be replacing me tomorrow.” My heart skipped. I'm not good at speaking in front of a crowd. I‘m not prepared. They all sensed my lack of confidence and they tried to encourage me. Moore said, “Just take them through your receiver drills.” It became quiet in the car after that. I knew I was in over my head.
Head Coach Gary Moore Gary Moore started coaching in 1963 at Issaquah Junior High. I was on that team. He was into hitting to “ring someone’s bell,” as he put it bluntly. North Mercer Junior High's passing game blew us off the field one Thursday afternoon. Once we got back to the school, he led us to the practice field. We did pass defense drills until it got too dark to see the ball. Coach made his point. He later replaced long time head coach George Nowadnick in 1967 at the high school
as the head coach of the Indians.
In 1974, two years into my teaching career at Issaquah High, Moore asked me to join his staff. I enjoyed coaching with him and learned a lot about schemes and coaching at that level. During games, I called defenses from my perch above the crowd. I would send down the call to Moore and he would relay it to Line Coach Dick Munro who would use hand signals to get the call to the “D.” "Why not just give Munro the headphones to expedite the call?” I asked. Without blinking he said, “I’m not going to allow someone to cost me my job.”
I heard everything Moore said during games for 10 seasons and never once did he yell or swear at a player or referee. He respected the game of football. Dee Hawkes, a long time KingCo coach, said, "Gary was certainly a coach among coaches. He could walk his talk as a man of principle.”
According to his obituary, Obituary he "spent his entire career as a high school teacher and head football coach at IHS, where he earned a 137-72- 3 record with three league championships, four playoff appearances and a 1980 King Bowl appearance, at which his team won second in state. Moore was honored as state Coach of the Year in 1984 by the National High School Coaches Association.”
Defensive tackle Ron Graver said, "When it came to me he went above and beyond the Call of Duty. Most people don't know but he took me to the Seahawks training facility and they made me special shoes my senior year at no cost."
My fondest memories of Moore were going to the state semi-final games at Memorial Field and in the Tacoma Dome, going to movies, being fans at Husky games, and having a beer at his home after a Friday game. Never was I with him without someone walking up to him and saying “Thanks,” “Great to see you,” or introducing themselves and catching up. It seemed everyone knew him no matter where we were.
I admired how he started each season with having the entire team sitting on the visitor’s bleachers. He would tell the team about Issaquah’s tradition of being hard hitters. You could feel his passion about hard hits. He would explain that playing Issaquah defense is about having the right attitude. “Defense is an attitude,” he would often say. During practice he would correct someone’s miscue and say, “If you make a mistake, make it going 110%."
Nose guard Dean Mitchell remembered seeing a clip from a TV interview with Coach Moore before the Cascade game. He said, "Of course, I saw this after the game. The announcer commented on how good the center was from Cascade and Mr. Moore said something to the affect that we have a nice surprise for him. It really touched me to think that Mr. Moore thought of me that way.” Linebacker Charlie Kinnune indicated that he "idolized Gary Moore. I thought he was the epitome of success. The way he looked, his style, his mannerism’s etc. I wanted to play for him.” Kicker Mark Carter recalled, "Coach and I hit it off really well, just with him calling me ‘Mikey' and I could call him 'Jerry.' Nobody else could do that.” During Carter’s junior year, we were going through our Thursday routine when Moore called for the field goal squad to setup. Everyone was in their place except Mark. Someone spotted him in the grandstands and we all turned. He was by himself a few benches up, reading the newspaper unconcerned about the activity on the field. The team broke into laughter and Moore just grinned. He knew very well we played our games on a shortened field due to Carter’s leg.
Carter recalled Moore saying one day at practice, “We were going to run sprints and [he said] 'Carter, you are going to get a ten yard lead. If anybody can catch you then the team is done and can go in but if you beat the whole team you can go in and the team has to stay to run.' When he blew the whistle, he was standing by me and he grabbed my jersey and held me back. The team caught me in a huge pig pile. We all got to go in after that. Seems like there were fun times like that. I don’t recall the tough, rough Gary Moore, which he had to be. Especially for lactic acid Mondays.” Usually we would condition the players after each practice and less so on Thursdays. Right tackle Bret Joines remembered, "Running Jarvs got us in such good shape.” Left guard Jon Njos recalled that throughout the season, "Practices were not easy. We worked hard and practice different schemes and we ran our asses off. I felt we were physically prepared."
Moore called every offensive play and only twice did he ask me for advice. Over the many seasons, I noticed one particular trait he had as a play caller. He always kept a potentially successful play for later use. That is, when in a desperate situation, he would rely on that play.
Line Coach Dick Munro That ’80 season Randy Wood and Dave Evans coached the sophomores and organized the junior varsity team for Monday's game. They had helped this group of talented players evolve as a team during their sophomore year. There were only three varsity coaches at the time and two former players who volunteered. One, Dave Mackintosh, helped me with the receivers. Mackintosh was first team All KingCo wide receiver during his '76 senior season. During stretching, the two of us would throw numerous footballs at the triangle created by the goal post supports from the 15-yard line. Kevin Smith helped with both sides of the line. Munro made the team feel like a family. He loved his linemen. He didn’t coddle or spoil them. He inspired them. He coined the heartfelt term “Beef” for his linemen. The entire coaching staff called the linemen collectively “The Beef” and the linemen called themselves “Beef” with pride. That season he challenged the linemen to push the five-man sled the length of the field for each victory.
After the Cascade game they pushed the sled 1,200 yards the following Monday. Mitchell remembered "running with the lineman up suicide hill and then down to Boehm's for some candy. I remember Mr. Boehm actually coming out to meet us on one or two occasions.” Mitchell said it would be worth the trip back to Issaquah just to "see if our team picture is still hanging above the door on your way out.”
On his own penchant and resources, Munro bought brass cattle ear tags for each member of "The Beef." The player’s tag had their jersey number stamped on it. Many of the players have that token of respect to this day. Kinnune summarized Munro well saying, "He had high expectations of himself and the people around him. We always knew that he never asked us to do anything he wouldn’t do.” Defensive left tackle Bob Rognlien fondly remembered Munro “as a hero to me. He was so great to us linemen. He worked us hard, but he gave us a sense of pride in being the line.” Rognlien continued saying the name “Beef" was “Munro’s way of saying 'You guys are big and strong, like a beef.' It was his way of instilling pride in the lineman and showing us that we had a critical job to do and we're not going to get all the accolades but if we don't do our job, nobody's going to get the accolades. We all got beef tags with our jersey numbers on it. I still have mine. It was like a trophy and he would say, 'You're The Beef and the foundation of this team. If we're gonna succeed it's gonna start with you guys.'"
Our Greatest Asset George Reid (1922 -1997) was our unpaid head scout. He played high school football in Texas and knew the game well. His daughter, Georgeanna, was a classmate of mine at Issaquah. George only watched the last game of each season because of his scouting duties. He had the uncanny ability to find hidden keys that foretold the opponent’s next play. When the players were sophomores we played Sammamish and they had a good running game due their large fullback. George found numerous indicators that had to do with the subtle changes in the alignment of the backs and how they positioned their feet and heels. That was a long Sunday coaches' meeting. I wasn’t sure Moore was going to buy into what George brought to the table. He eventually did. I realized that I would not be calling defenses from my perch game night. Moore spent the week training Kinnune, who started as a sophomore at linebacker, on recognizing the keys and then calling the appropriate defense.
The coaches nicknamed the offensive and defensive collection of non-starters the “Nut Squad” seasons prior to ’80. They had to endure the starters every practice. George taught the keys to the Nut Squad's backfield so Kinnune could practice observing the keys. Kinnune recalled he was so nervous about calling the defensive sets according to his recognition of the keys that he didn’t sleep much that week. During the game, I watched Kinnune get up on his toes and peer over the linemen and around the quarterback search for the keys. Once identified, he then yelled out the defensive set. He had no time to huddle the players. It was a solid defensive victory that Friday night.
On the bus ride home, we took the long route using Newport Way in order to stop at George’s home. The bus pulled over next to his house with all the flashers glowing and once the windows were lowered, the players started yelling for George. First, a back-room light went on, then the porch light. George opened the door and then his screen door dressed in his pajamas and waved. He knew we had won because of his efforts.
During a regular practice, as he puffed on his cigarette and wearing his comfortable buffalo check coat, George discussed his visit with Husky coach, Don James. George had taped every Husky opponent’s game during the season and then preceded to break down each game searching for those valuable keys. He had found numerous keys for the Huskies' next opponent. He wrote it up and was allowed to entertain Coach James in his office with his findings. James reviewed it and told him to join defensive coordinator Jim Lambright in the defensive coaches' office immediately. I don’t remember how long that relationship continued.
We had such an enormous advantage on Friday nights due to George. Many players loved his favorite saying, “Mobile, agile, and hostile as hell.” The only game George saw was the state championship game that season. He was always scouting our next opponent.
Little Leaguers Most of players had been playing Pee Wee and Little League football in Issaquah thanks to the Lions' Club dedication and funding. I know first hand how valuable the experience they provided for the young boys in Issaquah. Frank Fasano was the first organizer of the football program for the Lion's Club. The Lion’s Club started providing Issaquah with small town heroes by funding the Little Leaguers in 1953.
Mitchell remembered his experience like it was yesterday: "They taught us to be tough, play hard, and enjoy the game. My first year of Pee Wee football was when I was eight years old. My brother Shawn had also played Pee Wee a couple of years before me. I was so excited to start and remember clearly my first practice on the field behind the junior high school. I remember watching Mark Shinn and thinking I wanted to be like him. For some reason I was placed as a running back and that stuck for me until high school. I played at one time or another in Pee Wee with or against pretty much everybody we had on our high school team. The best part was our coaches: Mr. Gunderson, Mr. Simmons, Mr. Geralamic, and Vince Kauzlarich."
Kinnune remembers the school district failing double levies and football at the junior high level was cancelled in 1976. His dad, Chuck Kinnune, owner of the Mobil gas station on the corner of Front Street and Sunset, formed and coached a team he entered in a Seattle Bantam league. They won "the league championship in Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center and Astro Turf (our first game on synthetic turf in our life). We won in a thriller. Expectations were always high, and practices were competitive,” according to Kinnune.
IHS Football Heroes These young athletes watched their heroes play Issaquah football on Friday nights. Kinnune indicated that the "1972 team of Dan Graham, Don (Bud) Hover, Larry Backstrom, Jack Snedecker, Tim Reed, Greg Quinn, Art Galloway, Jim Corra, Eric Larson to name a few were really good. My sister grew up and graduated with them. I was a close follower of Issaquah football and the players of the 70s. The ’78 team of Clete Casper, Cort Orr, and Rick Lindblad was a good team, too.” Tight end and outside backer Doug Johnson added, "All the PE teachers would talk about Dan Graham and how he was going to go places. I remember Don Hover.” Graham became a starting quarterback for Colorado State. Moore stated that Hover was the best player he had coached and that he had to hold him out of certain drills so teammates would not get hurt. As a linebacker, Hover played for WSU and the Washington Redskins. Casper was a starting quarterback for the Cougars and was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams. Lindblad played for Idaho and was drafted by the Broncos.
Mitchell’s clear-sighted perspective was about his “brother, Dave, who played corner back, I think back in 1971. I know looking at him now he couldn’t have weighed more than 135. When I was doubting my own future in football my sophomore year, he told me I had to play football, or he would kick my ass. He said it would toughen me up for wrestling. His good friend Dan Graham was also a hero back then.”
The Beginnings
About mid-way through my coaching experience, Moore and I were sitting in the stands watching Issaquah Junior High play Pine Lake Junior High for their league championship. Throughout the game, we discussed the talent on the field, as they were soon to be sophomores at Issaquah. The teams were well-coached with decent size, good fundamentals, and great speed. Running back Matt Costello commented, "Once we played together in the ninth grade, I realized that we had something special. Issaquah High School football was really where I wanted to be because of the coach and the tradition.” As we left the game, Moore said we had to challenge them the next few years. I simply thought we better not screw up this group.
The Team Evolves Costello said, "Pretty amazing process. The guys that had played together for a long time, and the guys that came in later and fit right in. You build a tight group. That was special. Before the season started, Charlie was low key but was going around to seniors and he was doing a preseason sit down meeting with each senior. I remember him telling me in August we were going to the state championship. We were talking about Mt. Tahoma and especially Mike Vindivich. And Charlie was telling me I was every bit as good a back as Mike Vindivich. He had taken it upon himself making sure everybody’s head was on board with their training ‘cause we were going to state. That was a heck of a start to get everybody on the same page. This had nothing to do with the coaches. It was personal talk and once the season began it was getting ready for the next game."
The team was ranked No. 11 in the state when the ’80 season began and after each victory moved up in the rankings. When we went into the playoffs, the team had achieved a No. 3 state ranking. To this day, the 1980 team is firmly in the conversation as being the greatest team in the history of football teams at Issaquah High School. It only seemed natural that they would play in a state playoff on their way to the state final. Enhanced by their technical skills honed over seasons of playing football from their beginnings as a Pee Wee player to their high school seasons, collectively they had a natural toughness and desire to win. They had a relentless work ethic and mental toughness, but the trait that became their most influential was their desire to play for each other and to ward off complacency. It was deeply ingrained in everyone.
The coaches knew their potential well. We had to guide them firmly without breaking them. We had to help them to the next level of skills for them to achieve their goals. This team would be special if we didn’t screw them up.
Preparation I would spend hours with George at his house going through the previous year’s game film of the next opponent. If there were no changes in head coaches, then we would watch multiple seasons of games. His wife served me cold milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies as I studied the details. George had everything plotted out in enormous detail and well organized. He would hand me his work and then verbally explain the opponent's offense and their tendencies. That is what I needed. Tendencies. Later I would condense it and organize it on one sheet of paper that I laminated for practices and for Friday night. Munro and I would meet at Moore's every Sunday night at 6:00. We would watch game film and plot our strategy against our next opponent. I remember one season when Tom Ingles was still coaching at IHS. We were discussing who was going to be our new nose guard. After a lengthy discussion, Ingles mentioned Lindblad, who was a wrestler, had good size and strength, and could use his knowledge of leverage and balance. Brilliant. From that point on, we controlled the line of scrimmage that season. In the future, we often selected our nose guards with that in mind. I learned from that to put players in positions where they could be successful by using their skill set.
Moore always impressed upon us that winning or losing started at those Sunday evening meetings. Our collective thoughts became scribbles, then an idea evolved into hazy overlapping of Xs and Os on sheets of paper, and a method of implementation during the week agreed upon by all became our week’s game plan. On Mondays, Moore would walk through new plays and discuss the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses on defense while George would set up the opponent's defense using the Nut Squad. Moore would methodically go through the offensive strategy for the game.
Afterwards, I would gather the defensive unit and align them against the Nut Squad who George aligned in the opponent's offensive sets. I would go from player to player and discuss their duties, especially which gap to control, how we would blitz the backers, how we would handle shifting and any motion of the backs or receivers, and how to recognize the strength of the formation. Sometimes we would make subtle changes on alignments. Then I would explain the tendencies George had given me Saturday. To this day, I enjoy that part of football while watching a game.
The Huston Veer According to the book "The Original Bona Fide Dude: Coach Bill Yeoman and Early UH Football,” by Ryan Graham, "After failing to see much success against an eight-man front, Yeoman told his offense ‘Since you can’t block the defensive tackle just get out of the way.' After this adjustment, the offense gained around fifteen to twenty yards per play. The next day while watching film from the previous day’s practice, Yeoman said, 'Hold it...there’s something here we need to pursue.’"
I took a Football 101 class from a person who had coached with Yeoman. I don’t recall his name. He claimed that Yeoman developed the concept of the veer while having a drink in a Houston lounge. He scribbled his ideas on a napkin and then later shared it with his staff. They asked for a demonstration. The next day after training his young tomboy daughter how to read the unblocked defender, her brother, he had his two kids demonstrate the basics of the veer on the field to his staff. According to my source, he told his son to remain in place or take a step towards his sister as she ran toward him. He told his son you can beat her up if you can catch her. Her reads were perfect. His staff was sold on the veer.
Quarterback Bruce Opsal’s skill set and mentality were perfect for the veer. He was five foot nine inches and weighed around 155 pounds, very quick and coachable. Kinnune thought, "We ran the veer very well. We didn’t predetermine it. We read it. I think Bruce had a good feel for it and was good at it. We were undersized. Our biggest player was Chris Hall at 245, Jon Njos at 165, Todd Shultice was at 190, Bret Joines was probably 210, and Doug Johnson was 200. It was a good scheme for us. Bruce took the veer to the next level."
During daily workouts, I always perceived Opsal as being quiet. According to his teammates, he was very demanding during the games. Describing his football demeanor, Opsal said, "You don’t have a lot of time to fool around in the huddle. You don’t want to get a delay of game penalty. You want to keep everyone focused. I don’t remember ever fumbling the ball and we were not penalty prone. We were pretty efficient.” Opsal took a hard hit on the thigh during the Nathan Hale game and was getting ultrasound treatment all week long after practice leading up to the Cascade game. He remembered the Cascade as a "Tough team, and their defense played us well. I got wrapped up one time getting stuck in-between." Left guard Jon Njos said that after Opsal took some hard hits from Cascade, "Bruce in the huddle was like, ‘This is what we are doing.' He was directing it. He knew what he had to do, and we just wanted to do it for him. He was a competitor and the captain, and we responded that way.”
Opsal ran the veer option like no one else. The plays were well-suited to his reaction time and running ability. Because the veer demands precision of steps and timing, we hardly ever practiced our passing game. My receivers became very good stalk blockers. Opsal had small hands and we didn’t rely on his passing skills to move the ball. After one game at Renton Stadium, Al Russell, the offensive coordinator at Interlake, had been scouting us and as he walked by me said with confidence, “You guys can’t pass the ball, can you?” We did run into plenty of eight-man fronts that season. Kinnune said, "We were a split back, Houston Veer team that did not throw the ball a lot although Bruce was an excellent athlete who could throw. We ran the ball 90 percentage of the time. Option football was the style then.” After thinking about the entire season, Opsal stated, "I feel honored to be part of that team and to have played with all those guys. I would not trade it for the world.”
The Week of the Game During the week of the Cascade game, players noticed the buildup of energy on the campus. More and more students and staff started asking questions about the Cascade game and many classes started with talk about Friday’s game. Mine did. This team was very inclusive. They wanted their fellow students, staff, band members, drill team, and cheer staff to feel as if they were part of the success. Kinnune said, "We tried to include the band, cheer, etc. We were not the stereotypical football player. We wanted to include people."
Looking back Mitchell said, “Now as an adult, I think we took a lot for granted. At least I did. There were so many people behind the scenes that did so much during our football season to make the whole experience so positive and memorable for everyone. All the signs, pep rallies, marketing and other activities must have taken hundreds of people. It was crazy, all the hype and enthusiasm during the whole season, but it really just kept building.” Costello said, "Everyone was interested and geared for it, asking questions and talking about it. I don’t know how much classroom work was done that week. I don’t know how much hard scholastic activity was going on. Pep Pals would make the signs and decorate the entire school."
Njos said, "We had that new headdress that Arlene Rice had painted on the gym’s wall.” It had just been hung up late that season. Costello remembered, "There was a group of band members who were doing a Jimmy Hendrix “Purple Haze” at the assembly. The students went nuts. Best times to this day. We had a student body that was great. There were not a lot of factions. Everybody benefited from our success. They had a sense of being a real fan. Everyone felt they were a part of it." "Our football players were always cool, and they were even nice to us band nerds,” remembered musician Avid Arasim. Fellow band member Ann Blodgett Fradet remembered, "Our band director, Glenn Lutzenhiser, wrote out the music to part of Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' which we played during the football playoffs that year as one team after another fell to the Issy Indians. I just remember it was exciting.” Mitchell concluded, “I think we took so much for granted. There was so much effort that I never thought of back then and I would like to thank anyone for all of the support and efforts made to help encourage and motivate the team. I just know that we players could feel that we had the whole school and town behind us.”
I can remember one school year when Principal Margret Davis asked to speak to the football team at the beginning of the season. She was an experienced teacher and an insightful administrator. She told the team that a successful football season would evolve into a successful school year for the entire school. She was correct. This team and school year were examples of her prediction.
Francis Crelly Senorita Francis Crelly (1922-2014) was a long-time teacher and the football players that were in her Spanish class held her in high esteem. One former student wrote that "Miss Crelly was a special teacher in Issaquah High School. She was my mom's favorite teacher in 1945." According to Njos, "She taught my dad and my aunts and uncles. Todd Shultice and Todd Mauer were 'the Todds.' We just had fun. She was a delightful lady like a grandma. On game days, the people would be wearing our jerseys, so nothing was going to happen on Fridays. We got her to play 'Hip Hip Hurray Mr. Touchdown' on her piano. We would sing 'Hip Hip Hurray for Ms. Crelly. She would laugh. Then Carter would get up and beg her to come watch a game. He would explain to her what it would be like, and he would use the chalk and draw the stadium and the field and the fans. He would draw her in the stand cheering for us. Carter would say, 'And here comes me...dot, dot, dot' with the chalk 'to the middle of the field to kick a field goal for a 70-yarder. We win the game!' She would smile and laugh.” Carter fondly remembered, "She had so much fun with us. We brought her down on the floor during a prep rally. We said 'Here is our biggest fan, Ms. Crelly and the fans cheered for her.”
According to dear friend and former colleague of Francis, Leigh Wilson, "Francis Crelly attended that game. Francis did not like to drive at night, and she lived in the University District in Seattle for many years until her passing. I recall her talking with me about it afterwards. She said that she had attended and that she found it 'exciting.' I remember the situation because it was very unusual for her to attend a sporting event, for the reasons I noted above. She was even uncomfortable staying after school for evening play rehearsals and performances and then having to drive home, so her attending the Cascade game was a real ‘plus.’”
Home Field We never played on our own field that season because the district was replacing the grass field with Astroturf. It was a sunny afternoon in late October when the workers from Dalton, Georgia were still installing the new turf. I walked onto the field and struck up a conversation with a few of them. They were laying on their backs facing Tiger Mountain. They told me they had installed many fields throughout the country but never in such a beautiful setting. The late afternoon sunlight enhanced the fall colors scattered across the mountain. They were amazed at the physical beautyl that surrounded the stadium. I was amazed at the new field.
One day about mid-season, during our normal stretching period, I noticed defensive tackle Ron Graver, who usually lined up in the back row, was using his fingers to dig through the grass and into the dirt and pulling worms out of the ground. He explained, “Well, it's funny. It was Mark Carter and Charlie, and Costello were part of that. They said, ‘You’re not gonna eat the worm, are you?’ I got the worm, just ate it. They're looking at me. I said, 'Well, that tastes like dirt,' and so it just kind of started from there.” That worm eating during stretches became a challenge for the lineman who then challenged the backs who challenged receivers who then challenged the coaches. The laughter helped everyone get through the daily practice grind.
The team practiced on the baseball field and played every home game at Renton Stadium on their Astroturf field. Moore had the district install one goal post on the practice field. Johnson remember that as the regular season continued on "we would play the Queens’ song 'Another One Bites the Dust' in the locker room all the time. And my mother would do her little jig and sing “Another One Bites the Dust" when we got home.” During the regular season Friday afternoons, Mitchell and I would often drive to Husky stadium and practice rock climbing on their outdoor climbing rock. Mitchell wanted to learn how to climb, and I noticed he was fearless and had the perfect combination of strength and balance.
Carter often grabbed Moore's kid, Chris, and drove down to Memorial Field to practice field goals. "He was my shagger." We tore up the baseball field so badly a player could easily snap an ankle or twist a knee; Moore declared we would practice at the town field, Memorial Field. Munro somehow got the district to move his five-man sled downtown.
Casper ran the veer at WSU and made an appearance at practice the week of the Cascade game. He helped us install the "Reverse Counter Speed Option." I always loved the speed option and to me, the Reverse Counter Speed Option was a game breaker. It would help against linebackers that overreacted.
Costello recalled, "We were all beat to shit that week. A lot of neck rolls were out there. Everyone was banged up. Lot of guys were nursing injuries all fairly minor, but you didn’t need extra hitting. I had a neck problem. I had ribs that were sore. We put a pad on it and Munro wrapped me with elastic tape. My physical side was not very good. You can only heal so fast. Try your best. I knew I was not going to be my best; it is not about me; it is about the team. On Monday, I fell to my knees while doing the warmup lap because of my sore knees. I tried to run. My mobility was not 100 percent. By game I was 85 percent or 90 percent. We didn’t do a lot of hitting. I don’t remember practice being very intense. I think it was more of 'Here is the plan and let's work through that.' I don’t recall any hard tackling drills or anything like that. Everyone worked through it to get game ready.” Regarding whether the team was prepared, Costello said, "Absolutely. Monday we got the scouting report, and we would walk through the schemes on defense and offense. We had it nailed. It was up to us to execute it. We have a plan. It was not overly complicated and giving us time to digest it early in the week.” Offensive tackle Bret Joines said, “I was offensive right tackle next to Doug and Todd was on my left. Munro was telling us during the week that these guys were absolutely tough, huge, and fast.” Munro explained, "They have a linebacker that is incredible. I think his number was 41 or 44.” That was Wade Killian.
Njos said during the playoffs, "We talked about Mark Rypien at Shadle Park and how we were going to have play Shadle Park. It all seemed to be urban legend and what level were these other schools. Nathan Hale was a tough team. It was one of the hardest games we ever played. We got our nose bloodied a little bit, but our training helped keep us going and we were only one game away from going to the state championship. Nathan Hale gave us fits.” Johnson added, “I got knocked out in the Nathan Hale game and Doc Anderson said to get the okay from Gary and Gary said to get the okay from Doc Anderson. They had me going back and forth. I never did get back in. From the year before we just had that taste, and it was a mission to get there.” The team beat Nathan Hale by a narrow margin. I was sending the backers on various stunts throughout the game, and they countered by throwing quick screen passes to their right halfback. We were not stopping them. I told what change I wanted and asked Moore to put safety Mark Matthews in the game at outside backer and instruct him to key the near running back. Moore said, “Jarv, we don’t want to do something we haven’t practiced.” I said, “Trust me.” I had the confidence Matthews would rely on his football instincts and his speed. Matthews did such a good job that the screen passes stopped. With the score 13-7 and Nathan Hale on our 12-yard line with fourth down and 22 seconds remaining in the game, Matthews tackled the quarterback for a three-yard loss. Later Matthews said, "The only reason I was able to make the couple of plays I did was because someone else did their job to open it up for me." Costello said, "Matthews bailed us out of that Nathan Hale game. He had speed.”
Njos said, "What we lacked in size we made up for in speed and execution. We had a love for each other. We all trusted each other to do what we could do. After the Nathan Hale game, we knew it was not going to be easy, but we could do it. We always had a good confidence."
Inspirational
Defensive tackle Bob Rognlien thought the player that inspired him the most was "Dean Mitchell because I was always a little bit small for the line. But I was strong. Dean was a little smaller than me, but that guy was so quick and so strong and so athletic. He knew how to apply himself and I think I kind of modeled myself after him in a way, a small, faster lineman. My senior year, I led the league in quarterback sacks which you know was kind of a specialty. I wasn't close to him, like we weren't friends, really, but I think I did sort of admired him and modeled myself after him a little bit.” Kinnune stated, "Dean won the most inspirational and he got a standing ovation at the banquet."
Pregame Costello recalled, "Thursday was Thanksgiving and we were not in school. It would not have been our normal routine. I was just at home and not studying. If we had to be at the gym by 5:00 I was probably there by 3:00. Usually, we would go home after school and eat or go to another guy’s house and snack and go back. We had breakfast at Lil’ Johns for the playoffs."
Cascade Head Coach Gary Price believed his team could handle the veer offense. "Previous opponents this season have employed similar styles of offense. We have seen enough option teams and it is something we are comfortable in seeing," Rich Myhre wrote on Nov. 27, in the Everett Herald.
The sportswriter noted that Issaquah "returned eight offenses starters and seven defensive starters from the team advanced into the playoffs a year ago before losing in the opening round to the league rival Interlake.” According to Rich, Moore added, “That experience has been invaluable. We started at the beginning of the season where most people would be in the middle of the season. It has allowed us to add so many more wrinkles in the offense and in the defense. We’ve got to figure out some way to move the ball against them with some consistency. I think that’s number one, can we control the clock? Number two is to try to kick somebody like Cascade down in a hole and make them go a long way to score. It will probably be strength against strength. It could be a very, very interesting game for the purest, the person who likes all the action at the line of scrimmage.“
Gary Price recognized the fact that we were "very similar. They are a veer offense, and they play tough defense. We are an option team too and we play tough defense.“ Rich quotes Moore stating, “Defense and the kicking game has given us good field position. We’re physical in the sense that we hit people but not in the sense that we overpower people. We have a lot of quickness.” Both were undefeated going into the game.
Lost forever are the memories of IHS locker room prior to getting on the bus and no one remembers the bus ride to Memorial Field in Seattle that cold, damp night. Offensive guard Todd Shultice said, “It was a late fall game where you had that marine air and a little foggy. Because of the temperature when we breathed, there was a lot of condensation around our heads and through our helmets. That kind of set the mood."
Players do remember the crowd as they warmed up on the east end of the field. Opsal indicated the crowd “packed the stadium. We had already played the previous two games there so there was no sticker shock.” According to Costello "The Issaquah side was pretty crazy and loud. They were having a good time. I honestly didn’t pay a lot of attention to what was going on up there. You didn’t get the sense the fans were right on top of you because the stadium was so big and spread out. I suppose it was true for a lot of guys, nervous, nervous, nervous in warmup until you hit somebody, then it's good. All the nervousness goes away once the game is on. It was a physical thing. Once you feel that first hit, no more nerves. We expected to win. Moore use to say 'If we have done our preparation, the game will take care of itself. You do your work during week and get everything worked out and now why would you not win? As long as you stick to the plan, you’re going to do it. After that, it is all academic. There is nothing to worry about on game day if you prepared during game week.’"
The Purist Loved the First Half Offensive Drought About the coin toss, Costello said, “I was one of the captains that night. That was me and Njos. I
remember going out there and meeting this Wade Killian guy. No way are the stats in the roster right, this guy must have been six-four and 220. The two guys they sent out were pretty serious. They were no nonsense. They were big and ready to go. They were pretty intimating, just their captains."
Njos recalled that early in the game, "Mike [Nickels] screwed something up and he came back into the huddle and everybody in unison told him what he did wrong, and he yelled, 'I know that now.' We all started laughing and we got on with it. It was the funniest damn thing because we were all so stressed out. It turned it for us. We needed that. Someone even put his hand on Mike and said, 'I’m sorry.’”
Rognlien said, “From the first snap, everybody was giving it their all. I remember that they were doing some double-teaming or there was like a pulling guard, and it was definitely not easy. They were not an easy opponent, that's for sure. I didn't feel like I got blown away or anything."
Opsal said, “The first half was a drought” offensively. Carter was staying warm by punting because we could not move the ball. He averaged 37 yards a punt. Cascade penetrated the mesh point, where the Opsal and the running back met at the line of scrimmage, throughout the first half.
Costello said, "I thought we were going backwards on offense. The right side of their defensive line versus our left side of our offensive side we were not keeping them out. I remember getting the ball from Bruce and having nowhere to go at all. If in fact, being tackled in the backfield as I am getting the ball. What can we do? By now, it is getting wetter, and footing is no good. It was pretty frustrating, and those guys were good. If we gained a yard, it was amazing. Our lack of ability to move that ball was very frustrating.”
Mitchell said, "The center on the team was the best center I met during the year. He cleared me completely out of the way, and I thought to myself, this is going to be a long night. I had to find a way to adapt to this guy and it did seem to go better as the night progressed." Johnson recalled, "I have never been so beat up in a game. They were a big and physical team. We were not prepared for how physical Cascade was. They had that one linebacker [Wade Killian] that was tossing me around all game long. We ran a pass 80 and I had my hands out and he ran right through my arms and had the interception. We were a team built for speed. There were not a lot of KingCo players that were as big as what they had. It was the most physical football game I’ve ever been in. I remember lining up the first time and thinking, 'These guys are big.'”
Njos remembered Cascade having "some huge linemen. I remember one cutting his forearm in my chin multiple times. I hadn’t been beaten like that forever. Guys like that were an anomaly. There were some things we had to address, and we were not used to that. They were as fast, if not faster and bigger. They were formidable They were a strong and mechanical team. They were tougher than Mt. Tahoma.”
Costello recalled, “The first half we just beat each other up. They didn’t pass much. There weren’t balls thrown into my area. The weather may have had a big impact on their passing. Their defense was fast, and they were tough. They knew what we were trying to do. We were going nowhere against them."
Left offensive tackle Chris Hall and Njos were starters on the left side of the offensive line and were having a difficult time blocking the defensive tackle. Hall described the guy as huge and said, "In the huddle we decided that we would double team the guy. We did and we injured the guy, so he left the game and things got a little bit better on the weak side.” The player remained on the turf until Doc Anderson jogged across the field to attend to the injury. Later, Doc informed us that he told the player he shouldn’t play the rest of the game. Opsal saw “the guy being taken off the field and he made the coaches look like little kids. He must have been six-seven.”
Joines said, "They were absolutely huge. Their middle linebacker [Wade Killian] was an animal. He could hit and he was fast. I was hitting him a lot that night, but that guy would hit me and fly off my block and he would make a play. We could not move the ball and they were all over us. Bruce at one point getting back to the huddle and grabbed his chinstrap, he hit me on the helmet, and he said, 'God damn it guys start blocking.' He was getting killed. He was getting hurt. I didn’t have a very good first half.”
Describing Cascade, Joines said, "They had a lineman that I had to go against, he was a monster. He was around 300 pounds and tall. Back then, I was strong, but I was 200 or 205. They were all good and fast. I could tell it was going to be a long, tough night from the beginning. They absolutely killed us the whole game."
Cascade collected only 86 yards total yards offensively. The second half was an entirely different game. The game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
The Fog of Halftime
Kinnune described the locker room as being "dark, dank, musty, leaking faucets etc. It was not a nice place." Joines said, "I remember going in at halftime and feeling completely beaten. It was really quiet in the locker room. Everyone was kind of to themselves." The three coaches always consulted with each other about changes prior to entering the locker room at halftime. Kinnune continued, "Moore came in and he said some things to motivate us. I remember going back out on the field and with his words in the mind. I felt like there was still hope. It seemed hopeless because we could not move the ball and our defense was getting clobbered. I think Ron Graver had a hell of a game.”
Second half
The third quarter was similar to the first two quarters. The two teams battled for field position throughout the quarter with both defenses displaying their
strengths.
In a Seattle Times article, Jack McLader wrote the next day’s review indicating "Issaquah converted a Cascade fumble into the game's first score in the third quarter after a lackluster first half.” Graver created the much-needed break. He ripped the ball away from the running back and Mitchell recovered the fumble on the Cascade 14. Three plays later Opsal ran in from three yards out on a speed option to the left side.
Cascade's next series resulted in an equalizer. Cascade running back Larry Bushell collected a screen pass on third down. Bushell turned up field and broke into the open for a 52-yard completion to the one-yard line. The next play was a touchdown for Cascade.
Andy Fagan of The Everett Herald quoted Bushnell saying, "The blocking was there and when I turned around, I saw nothing but daylight.” The play set up Pete’s Heitzman touchdown plunge. Costello said, "I can still see the kid running the screen pass.” According to The Everett Herald one Cascade assistant said, "Their defensive line had been penetrating all night and Coach Price sent the play in because he thought it was time. We haven’t used that play all year.”
In The Herald, Bushell said, "In our scouting reports the coaches saw that there were smaller guys on the left side of the defense of line. We ran that way all night pretty much even though we really are a team that runs to the right side. The offensive line did a really nice job in the game. They really opened up some holes and it was great to look up and see nothing but daylight throughout the game."
Njos said, “They had us on the ropes. I was thinking, ‘How are we going to do this? What the heck is going on?’ We were not used to that." Johnson said, "Before the two fumbles I remember sitting on the bench thinking we might lose this game. We are climbing up hill against a tough team. They were bigger but we were quicker, and we just had to do our job.” Things got worse. Kenny Gunderson, starting running back, strong side corner, and holder for field goals, sat out the second half after taking a helmet to the outer thigh. His replacement, Kirk Russell, was hurt also. Junior Joel Nelson played strong side corner replacing Gunderson and running back for Russell and Gunderson. Nelson was one of the fastest players on the team. Russell, who got hurt at the end of the third quarter, said, "The quarterback was in my sights and number 45 [Wade Killian] took me out with a hit to my thigh. I was out of commission for that balance of the fourth quarter, so I sat on the sideline and watched. Coach Moore came up to me and asked if my leg was all right. I couldn’t stand on the leg." Brad Sapp went in for Russell at linebacker and Nelson went in at running back. Issaquah was down to their third team running back at that time. Nelson said he went in to play left half but he said, “I was confused by the plays because I usually played right half."
Forty-Eight Seconds Remaining and Down by Seven
Rognlien remembered late in the fourth quarter, “There was a set of downs where we had to hold them, or it felt like it was over. We'd lost the game.” Cascade was ahead 14-7.
According to Larry Lark, Everett Herald reporter, "Cascade had a seven-point lead with a minute, 48 seconds left in the game when quarterback Tracy McCulloch dropped back to punt. The six foot 170 pound senior fielded a low snap but the ball slipped to the turf as he was smothered by a wave of tacklers at the two-yard line.” That wave consisted of Matthews, Michell, Rognlien, Nickells, and Russell. Matthews said, "I was the first to get the punter on the 2-yard line, but only by a split second, I think we had 6 or more people on him almost immediately." Joines said he can "still hear Cascade players yelling 'Here they come, they are coming' prior to the snap to the punter." He continued, "They got really vocal on their side. I’ll never forget how they were yelling 'Here they come.' I think it motivated us more to crunch them. I think it messed them up.”
Lark quoted defensive coach Gary Talmadge saying, “We thought there was no reason for us to take a safety at that time.” He continued, "Andy Kirkaldie never makes a bad snap. It was just one of those things." Three plays later Bruce ran the option around the right side for a touchdown. Opsal remembered, "I’m pretty sure the play was Red Right 44. I was to option the defensive end on the right side.”
A safety would have given Cascade the lead at 14-9 with a mere 42 seconds remaining for Issaquah to drive the length of the field to score, something the offense couldn’t do all night.
The Fumble/The Pass/The Field Goal After tying the game at 14, Carter kicked off to Cascade and Bob Reilly caught the ball inside his five-yard line and started running between the harsh marks. He was separated from the ball and receiver Dan Brigham recovered it at the 37-yard line with 42 seconds on the clock. To this day, no player has acknowledged causing the fumble. Reviewing the play several times on film did not reveal what caused the fumble. Talmadge said to Lark, "There was no rhyme or reason for what happened tonight." Njos remembers seeing “the utter disbelief in the faces of the Cascade guys when they fumbled the kickoff."
It was a desperate situation. It was time for Moore to use the play that he had saved during the game. He hoped Cascade would be surprised by this unused play. He cited the play to Opsal who repeated it to the players in the huddle. Hall said he looked across the huddle and saw excitement in his teammates' wide eyes, which were engaged in what Opsal was dictating. The team broke huddle and approached the line of scrimmage with renewed enthusiasm after getting beaten up for 47 minutes. The crowd grew silent with nervousness. Kinnune said, "Jon Njos was my unsung hero because he told me and Chris Hall the snap counts every play. Being the center, it was kind of important that I knew the snap number.” According to several players, the play was Red Left Speed Option Pass 84. At the snap, Nickles ran a perfect pattern into the space created by receiver Todd Mauer who ran his defender off. It was a high pass and Nickles jumped what seemed like 10 feet in the air with both hands to make the catch, recalled several players. Once tackled he popped up and signaled for a timeout as did Moore and everyone else on the Issaquah sidelines. There were eight seconds left in the battle.
Dan Raley, writing for the Seattle Times, describes the situation well: “A 14-yard pass from Opsal to Mike Nichols put the ball on the 23 and the Indians called time out with eight seconds remaining. In the meantime, they summoned Carter to come in and do his thing.” When called upon Carter walked by young Chris Moore, Moore's son and Carter's shagger, and said, “Watch this,” as he left the sideline according to Kinnune. Usually “Doc always put a bit of tobacco on my tee before kicks for luck,” Carter commented but this time Doc Anderson was too busy with the injured players to continue the ritual. Mark said, "I had a Nike turf shoe for my plant foot. I had a cheap soccer shoe on my kicking foot like a Converse. Nothing special. I was never the type of guy to take a few steps back and a step to the side and hold my hand up. I just stood at an angle and did my regular thing. Kenny would be squatting there and looking at Charlie and look at me and say, 'Ready?' and I would say, ‘Yep.' I would start my approach to the ball once the ball went through Charlie’s legs. Pretty simple. I would much rather kick a field goal than catch that 30-miles-per-hour snap and have to put it down.”
Raley simply described Carter’s most important field goal of his high school career with, “Setting up on the left hash mark Carter hit a chip- shot and his club had survived its sternest test.” When Raley asked him about pressure Carter replied, "I didn’t have much pressure because I had enough pressure on the extra point." Carter continued saying, “He had a premonition about his game-winning shot.’ I thought about it all day. Daydreamed all day about winning the game in the last 30 seconds. I knew the way the defenses were, it was going to come down to kicking.’”
Kinnune recalled, "Our crowd was going nuts because they had watched Mark kick field goals for three years. Cascade thought about overtime. We thought about victory. I was the snapper, Ken Gunderson was the holder and the best player on our team was the kicker, Mark Carter. We had worked these mechanics hundreds of times. Snap, hold, and kick were perfect as well as protection. I look up as the ball sails through the uprights. Certainly, a thrilling experience for us all. After the game our crowd, kids and adults, hopped the fences and dropped onto the field. It felt like there were thousands of fans amongst us. I remember how exhausted and beat up I was after 12 games. Totally spent.”
Wick Charlton was a fan that night. He had a lot of friends on the team. He said, "I worked at KFC downtown and I was slated to work that night and I was able to trade with some Newport workers who didn’t have a game that night. It cost me because I ended up missing the KingBowl game. The stadium was close to being sold out. Todd Kumnick was our mascot and I remember sitting down with Todd. When Mark went out for the kick, Todd and I were standing at the railing with arms around each other. When the kick went through, Todd and I were hugging and going crazy. When the final whistle blew me and Todd leaped over the metal railing and fell down the six or eight feet and sprinted out to Mark to congratulate him. He was the first person we located and that was my mission, running out on the field and go find him. He probably didn’t know who he was hugging and everyone was just crazy. It was insane. Every game that year was kind of magical. Not only was the student body at the games but the community was there. It just built through the season. It was ecstatic and electric."
Johnson said there was "disappointment on Cascade's faces after the game. They were very gracious, and they shook our hands. Well-coached and hard-playing team.” Graver added, "Some of the Cascade players didn’t stay and merely turned and walked away to their bus. I congratulated them because they were so good. All they had to do was take a safety instead of trying to punt."
After the game Dan Raley interviewed Moore after he had been carried aloft by his players and gently set down. “If you play good defense and you have a good kicking game, anything can happen,' said Issaquah Coach Gary Moore, who picked up his 100th career win in the process. 'You never know. It didn’t look good, but too many things can happen.'" Lark wrote, "'They are a fine team,' coach Price acknowledged. 'They are to be complimented for their defensive quickness and excellent kicking game.'” Lark interviewed running back Larry Bushnell who said he "thought we were going to make it to the KingBowl. The whole team wanted to win this one very badly.” Talmadge said, "The kids made so many mistakes. That was the key, period." Bushnell added, "If a few mistakes had gone the other way we might have come out on top.”
Throughout the game, I was spotting for Moore from an enclosed press box high above and overhanging the crowd. I had headphones already set up and waiting for me, two chairs, a bench for my notes, and clear Plexiglas windows in front of me. Like the previous two games, I had a great view of the field. When the Issaquah players collapsed on the Cascade punter and we had the ball inside the five-yard line, I jumped onto the bench and had both hands and knees against the windows as I leaned out over the crowd. Don Eggart, who I had invited to help me spot, was holding me back for fear I would fall through the windows. Don said, "I remember you being very excited and I remember being concerned with you in that press box! I do remember grabbing you and how pumped we both were for what had just transpired!" After the tying touchdown, Moore gave team manager Robbie Adams his headphones and I put mine off to the side. I was jumping up and down on the bench as I watched Dan Brigham hold the recovered fumble above his head. My mind was full of plays Moore could call in this situation. Still on the bench with Don holding me, I went crazy as Opsal hit Nickels with a 14-yard pass. I’m sure the Cascade spotters could hear my excitement and were not pleased. I remember looking for Carter on the sideline and watching him go onto the field in his familiar, nonchalant jog. Charlton said, “It was that moment of time when you are not really moving and frozen in time. Everything was in slow motion.” Issaquah's crowd went crazy once the ball cleared the uprights. After we had been given a penalty for delay of game due to the team's celebration, Moore gathered the kickoff team together for final instructions before the game’s final kickoff. I sat down in my chair to calm down while I watched the festivities on the field. The crowd swarmed the players. Eggart said, "One of my most fond memories of that evening was being on the field after our sudden victory and the band playing 'Another One Bites the Dust' and 'We are the Champions!', if memory serves me correctly. I vividly remember Gary reacting to those songs being played and how proud he was of the team's accomplishment as well as his staff!" The stadium manager had to turn off the field lights to clear the field of fans and players.
The stats told how physical Cascade that night was. Cascade had 242 yards in offense and Issaquah had only 97 total yards.
Bus Ride Through the foggy windows we could see the Kingdome as we passed it on our ride home. The players had just enough adrenaline to cheer and yell about next week’s adventure. Moore uncorked a bottle of non- alcoholic champagne and sprayed it on the players. The players' faces wore simultaneously the pain and the excitement of the night. Most were dealing with physical pain beyond the normal. They kept their pain to themselves. Nickels was deep in the back of the bus and had dry heaves due to his exhaustion. According to Hall, several other players were sick due to physical exhaustion and dehydration.
Once we got back to the school and parked behind the gym the players filed off the bus. Fans greeted them as they walked to the locker room. Inside the locker room there seemed to be hundreds of fans, parents, cheerleaders, band members, and students. “Another One Bites the Dust” roared from the speakers.
Someone removed the stack of towels from the towel block and Shultice leapt up on it and started dancing to his favorite band. There were soft drinks and various cookies, snacks, and cakes lining a table in front of the coaches' office. Munro moved from player to player hugging his linemen and giving high fives to everyone else for the second time that night. Moore stood tall and looked exhausted. Everyone was celebrating not only the victory but also the next week’s events and being in the state championship game.
An Unsung Hero Writing on Facebook, former Issaquah police officer and a fan that night, Keith Moon said the following about Ron Graver: “If it hadn’t been for your outstanding play against Cascade the Indians might have lost. Every time a big play was needed, you were in the middle of it. You must have had 15 tackles or more. You spent the whole game in Cascade's backfield. Thanks, Ron for the memory.” Kinnune added, “What I do know is that Ron was our Male Athlete of the Year for our class. He was a three-sport athlete for all three years and did well in all of them. Very humble guy."
After the season was over the coaches called Graver down to the office and took him into a room and presented him with a letterman’s jacket. Graver remembers it well: "Y’all called me down to the office and you presented it to me. Freaking most awesome thing that ever happened to me. I'll never forget it for my life. I've never had anything like that.”
Years later, in the mid 90s, I was taking a summer class. I overheard a conversation between two teachers and as I listened closely, I realized they were talking about the ’80 game. I heard one say, “We didn't give that kicker a chance in hell of making that field goal.” I walked up to them and introduced myself with pride. The talker was an assistant coach that season for Cascade.
My Highlight Moore and I shared a room in Wenatchee the weekend of my lecture on coaching receivers. Ingles and Thomas shared a room. Thomas missed my poorly executed lecture. In fact, we never saw him once we arrived and not again until we were ready to leave on Sunday. No one questioned him.
During my lecture, I merely took the audience through my drills. I felt nervous and must have come across as such. My throat went dry. I had little eye contact with the audience. When I did look up, I noticed two coaches wearing white polo shirts and the crimson WSU emblem on them. Tough audience. Thomas slept the entire way home. Ingles and Moore chatted. I sat quietly thinking about all the things I could have done and said. There was no singing on the way home.
A year later Munro and I made the long drive to Pullman to watch Casper play. He barely recognized us when we found him in the locker room. He was still dazed from a hit he took during their game with the Bruins. We had Columbia Basin Community College as our next game to watch former quarterback Greg Forrest. As we were walking through the Cougar crowd, I spotted a former receiver, Bob Rossi, who had walked on as a receiver at WSU. He was chatting and walking with a coed. I walked up from the side and put my arm around her and said, “Why don’t you ditch this guy?” She was startled and Rossi was speechless until he recognized me. We all laughed. Later Rossi had the last laugh when he told me that the receiver coaches asked him if I had been his coach. They remembered my speech. Laughing, Rossi repeated what they thought about my performance. That was the low point of my coaching career.
My coaching career highlight? Not screwing up the 1980 team.
This article is dedicated to all the players that endured the countless up/downs, injuries, the walk throughs, Jarvs, the hitting drills, three-a- days, and being on the Nut Squad but continued to give their all to their teammates. May you be the heroes for future Issy football players.
I hope your children enjoy reading about you.
In honor of: Gary Moore (1940-2008) George Reid (1922-1997) Mike Nickels (1962-1981) Todd Mauer (1963-2021) May we never forget your dedication to the 1980 team.
Many thanks to my wife for proof reading it several times. You make me look good.
I am grateful for the research Pricilla Strettel did at the Everett library.
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