Music pulsated from the speakers on the Skyline Spartans second day of football practice on Aug. 16.
The Spartans, who lost to Central Valley in the Class 4A state quarterfinals in 2017, went through their Thursday afternoon practice session with a pep in their step while a soundtrack of hip-hop and rock music blared from every corner of the stadium. The Spartans are looking to build on last season’s 8-4 overall record.
Spartans’ senior quarterback Joe Green, who will play football at Harvard next season, will lead the Spartans as the signal caller.
“Joe is a great leader. He is the kid who you want to lead your team as a role model for your school. The other thing too is our backup quarterback Eddie Rosemont is a great leader too. He has been in our system for a while. It is a good problem to have when your two quarterbacks are your top two leaders,” Skyline head coach Mat Taylor said.
Skyline’s offense is loaded with talent at the running back and receiver positions. Brendan Bice and Beau Switzer will get the bulk of the carries at the running back spot and wide receivers Chris Johnson and Dominic Wieburg are electrifying athletes on the perimeter. Johnson has deep ball threat ability and Wieburg is one of the fastest athletes in Washington.
“We’ve had some fantastic receivers here at Skyline over the years but we’ve never quite had someone that has the speed that Dominic (Wieburg) has. He got sixth place in the 100 at 4A (state track meet). I think he was within a tenth of a second of getting first,” Taylor said.
The offensive and defensive lines will be anchored by Michael Oss and Mason Ahlemeyer.
“We feel really good about our lines. We feel like it is something we can fall back on in crunch time,” Taylor said.
Taylor, who is in his 20th season as the Spartans head coach is looking forward to its first two games of the 2018 season against nonleague opponents.
“I have been here 20 years and we’ve never played against Kentwood (season opener). That will be a lot of fun. After that, we go play Peninsula,” Taylor said.
SKYLINE
Schedule
Aug. 31 KENTWOOD, 7 p.m.
Sept. 7 at Peninsula, 7 p.m.
Sept. 14 HAZEN, 7 p.m.
Sept. 21 at Newport 7 p.m.
Sept. 28 at Bothell 7 p.m.
Oct. 5 at Eastlake 7 p.m.
Oct. 12 MOUNT SI, 7 p.m.
Spartans senior running back Brendan Bice, right, turns upfield with ferocity after catching a short pass on the second day of practice of the 2018 football season. Shaun Scott/staff photo
