Yellow Pages
BURLINGTON — Players on the 2009 Burlington-Edison football team are not bashful about their goals for this season.
“State championship. Nothing less,” senior Jeff Hayton said. Senior Mikey Sanchez echoed the same four words minutes later.
Many of these seniors were on the field when the Tigers went to the Class 2A state semifinals last season, and some were on varsity during a second-place finish the year before.
Were it not for the Prosser Mustangs, Burlington-Edison might be talking about a third consecutive state title.
“Our goal is the state championship,” junior Dylan Boe said. “We’re going to play as hard as we can. If everyone does their jobs, we’ll be hard to beat.”
Other than two season-ending losses to the Mustangs deep in the playoffs the past two seasons, the Tigers have been very difficult to beat. They followed up a 12-2 season in 2007 with a 11-2 mark last year.
The Tigers will be trying for similar numbers with a new corps of running backs. Gone are Cole Sager, Stetson Shearer and Jeff Adams, who handled the bulk of the rushing the past two seasons.
In their place will be Sanchez, who finished with 226 yards last season, sophomore fullback Andy Aken and wingback Cody Larson.
They will be running behind an experienced group up front.
Center Troy Skogmo, right guard Alex Graves, and tackles Hayden Spevacek and Brandon Ellerman are returning starters.
All five starters are seniors, and they comprise the biggest line coach Bruce Shearer has had in years, averaging about 230 pounds per player.
Factor in 6-foot-4, 225-pound tight end Jacob Schifferl and the Tigers should be able to move some defenses.
Shearer said, given the choice, he’ll take the experience up front and an inexperienced backfield.
“They’re doing great,” Shearer said. “Mikey has made the transition to running back well.”
The Tigers do have some experience in the backfield.
Boe started more than half the season as a sophomore and threw for 991 yards and a quarterback rating of 114.5.
This year he has the added benefit of taking the first-team snaps all summer and throughout fall practice.
“The big difference is getting an earlier start,” Boe said. “I wouldn’t say the game is getting slower, but it’s getting easier. I’m figuring out my responsibility and where everyone else is going to be.”
Achilles Wynn (10 receptions) and Schifferl will be his two targets out wide.
Defensively, the Tigers have a lot more holes to fill, including almost the entire secondary.
Hayton will shift from safety to cornerback, where he’ll be joined by senior Ray Burt. Boe and Schifferl, who played on the defensive line last year, will be at safety.
The only other returning starter is on the line in undersized nose guard Jack Nevitt, who returns to anchor the front five.
“Right now our defense is ahead of our offense,” Shearer said. “Right now they just want to hit somebody else.”
The Tigers also have one of the best high school kickers in the state, if not the country, in Andrew Furney.
The senior spent the summer attending camps put on by some of the biggest college programs in the country.
He made 12 field goals last year, including two from beyond 40 yards, and during practice has been hitting from beyond 50. A two-time all-state selection, he will also handle the punting.
The Tigers program is looking stronger than ever, Shearer said, with 127 players out.
“This is the biggest group we’ve ever had,” Shearer said. “The nucleus of the team came in in great shape, so it’s the strongest we’ve ever been. It seems to get better every year.”
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at .
