Washington state isn't a convenient commute for most of the country, but two of the nation's top teams from arguably the top two football states will be making the trek to the Great Northwest next season.
According to the
Seattle Times,
Trinity (Euless, Texas) and
Manatee (Bradenton, Fla.) have committed to playing a pair of defending Washington state champions in two separate events.
Skyline quarterback Max Browne is
ranked the No. 4 junior in the
country overall.
Photo by Tom Lemming
Texas teams rarely travel out of state, but Trinity, a perennial national Top 10 team, will play another national juggernaut
Bellevue (Wash.) on Aug. 30. Bellevue, which finished 14th in the country last season, will host the game at Memorial Stadium.
Bellevue is the defending state 3A champion.
Two weeks later,
Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.), which features one of the nation's top junior quarterbacks
Max Browne and is the defending state 4A champion, will host Manatee on Sept. 15. Manatee is the defending Florida 7A champion and it finished No. 11 in the final
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings.
Manatee returns quarterback
Cord Sandberg, who threw for more than 2,100 yards and 19 touchdowns last season and has more than 15 college offers, including from Auburn, Clemson and Baylor. He also rushed for 813 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Browne is ranked the
No. 4 junior in the country overall.
Skyline coach Mat Taylor told Times reporter Mason Kelley that the game will serve as great motivation throughout the offseason for his players and also showcase Washington football to the rest of the country.
"It's just starting to show there is great football in Washington," Taylor said. "It's going to be really, really exciting for the state of Washington."
Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff.
Photo by Jeff Napier
Bellevue received a little scare when its highly successful coach Butch Goncharoff applied for the then vacant job at Southern California power
Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.).
He said he just wanted to go through the application process.
Perhaps he stayed in part for the challenge of Trinity, known for it's athletic and beefy squads. Goncharoff has led Bellevue to nine state titles in 11 years. He knows a thing or two about preparing for a juggernaut. He might be best known for devising the perfect game plan to end De La Salle's national-record 151-game win
streak.
Bellevue returns 15 starters from last year's title team that finished 14-0.
