Year After Promising Success, Rogers’ Struggle Baffles Coach

Football

A year ago, Rogers was in the midst of a breakthrough football season that would include its first win over Gonzaga Prep in 22 years and a foot in the door of the playoffs.

Today the Pirates are 0-4 and coach Dave Pomante is concerned.

“We’re struggling,” he said. “Right now I think it’s a dangerous struggle emotionally. I’m at a loss for words right now.”

The Pirates are young and though they realistically weren’t expected to contend for the Greater Spokane League title, Pomante did think his team would be competitive.

The season started with a 27-0 loss against Mead and was followed by a 3-0 loss against Lewis and Clark. Both of those teams were picked to be contenders and Mead edged LC 16-14 in the third week.

However, in the third week, Rogers was pounded by Ferris 42-12, getting outscored 28-0 in the second half. That followed a 52-7 drubbing at Central Valley last week - though the Pirates aren’t the only team that will get hammered by the Bears this year.

“I’m really surprised, especially after loss to LC, what happened the next two weeks,” Pomante said. “We’re trying to get our emotions back. A big part of that is confidence. I think that’s why we’re drained emotionally, because of the lack of confidence at this point.”

One of Pomante’s goals was to get 100 players to turn out for football at Rogers and the numbers are there. And the junior varsity and freshmen teams are winning. It’s just the varsity that hasn’t “put a whole ball game together.”

Pomante said, “I’m always worried about holding this thing together. The last couple of years we’ve had some positives but it’s so easy for people to get locked into the negatives. We have to keep focused on the positives. We have lot of kids out, the other teams are winning. We are young - but we’re not going to use that for an excuse - and they’re still giving the effort. Yeah, the varsity is struggling but if we get something going, yeah, we’ll be all right.”

One of the reasons Rogers makes news for struggling is because of the job Pomante has done to make the Pirates respectable and that includes a positive attitude no matter how dark the clouds.

“Even on the varsity, even though we’re 0-4, there have been certain kids at certain positions that have performed really well,” he said. “We just haven’t put it together. Hopefully we can do it this week.”

The Pirates play University (1-2, 1-3) in tonight’s 7:30 game at Albi Stadium after Shadle Park (1-2, 1-3) tackles sixth-ranked Central Valley (4-0). On Friday, the 5:45 game is Mead (3-1) against North Central (0-3, 0-4), followed by Gonzaga Prep (3-0, 4-0) facing Lewis and Clark (2-2) at 8:30. Ferris (2-2) goes to Richland for a non-league game at 7:30.

Tackling knack

When Lind broke its 18-game losing streak last Friday by defeating Wellpinit 34-20, the Bulldogs’ Rigo Montejano had a big hand in the win.

Montejano rushed for more than 100 yards and is believed to have broken the State B-8 record for career tackles.

Family affairs over there

Though Rainier Beach lost to fifth-ranked Eastside Catholic in a key Metro League game last week, you can’t blame the Conley brothers.

Antonio Conley caught five passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns, ran for 188 yards and a TD on 11 carries and threw a flea-flicker pass for 41 yards. Brother Anthony completed 11 of 21 passes for 281 yards and the three TDs to his brother.

Rainer Beach had 544 yards of offense but had 11 penalties and two turnovers.

Enumclaw dumped Federal Way 36-25 in a South Puget Sound League game as Casey Olson ran for 141 yards and two TDs on 17 carries and his twin brother Cody returned the second-half kickoff 82 yards.

Casey is a fullback and Cody is a halfback who had 74 yards on 18 carries. They go by the nicknames of Thunder and Lightning.

“We have a great line to make Thunder roll and Lightning crack,” Cody said.

Enumclaw is a surprising 2-0, 3-1 after moving up from Class AA this fall.

Streaking

Class AA top-ranked O’Dea increased its winning streak to 17 games with a 39-0 win over Ingraham. O’Dea has outscored rivals 161-0 and is the lone Washington team that hasn’t allowed a point. Class AAA top-ranked South Kitsap also has a 17-game streak.

Puyallup and defending State B-8 champ Touchet have the secondlongest streaks, at eight games. East Valley, ranked eighth among AA teams, has a seven-game streak.

Evergreen (Seattle) continues to struggle, with a 24-game losing streak. West Seattle is at 16 and Selkirk 15.

Notable

Class A River View, which won its first three games without allowing a point, lost to top-ranked Royal 42-41 in two overtimes last Friday.

Lake Stevens, the second-place team in the state last year, has won 22 straight league games in the Class AA WesCo.

Another surprise is Eastlake of Redmond. The third-year school is 4-0 overall, 1-0 in the Class AAA KingCo.

Can’t quit

Dwaine Hatch, who retired as football coach at Bellevue after 18 years, now drives 50 miles north to coach at Sultan. Hatch, 62, reached full retirement benefits at Bellevue so it was in his best interest to retire but he wasn’t ready to quit.

Hatch has his new team off to its best start in more than 20 years at 4-0. The Turks were one of those teams not to allow a point until giving up a late touchdown last weekend.

, DataTimes