Don’t you love surprise parties?
Whether you’ve been the guest of honor or just one of the sneaky conspirators, you probably recall the routine: The sly party throwers hide in a dimly lit room and startle some beloved friend with punch, pie, gifts and a blood-pressure spike.
The Arlington High School football team has put a new twist on the surprise party – the Eagles tweaked the rules.
They organized the whole shindig, invited the Western Conference North Division, and boldly declared themselves the guests of honor. Picked by opposing coaches to finish near the bottom of the division after winning just four games over the past two seasons, Arlington has shocked the Wesco North by rolling to a 6-0 start, including 5-0 in league play.
Tonight, the upstart Eagles face a tough test when they travel south to take on Marysville-Pilchuck (5-1, 5-1).
As his team strives to keep the party hopping, Arlington coach John Boitano doesn’t blame those who underestimated the Eagles.
“There were games last year where we looked pathetic,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t have picked us very high either.”
That’s not entirely true, Boitano admitted. Early last summer, Boitano had a hunch he had something special when he saw how committed his players were. They quickly embraced a rigorous new weight-training program and developed a team unity that had been absent in recent years.
“Everybody wants to win,” Boitano said, “but not everybody’s committed to doing what you have to do. These guys really are.”
Hard work is vital but so is talent, and this Arlington team possesses an obvious strength: eye-popping speed. Boitano said it’s the fastest group he’s worked with in his 13 years at Arlington.
“On offense, we’ve got five pretty fast guys,” he said. “You can’t let one of them get out in the open.”
When you do, you pay. The swift unit includes senior quarterback Kenny Gunter, running backs Jake Webb and Taylor Brown, tight end Thomas Payne and wide receiver Tim Acker. They have turbo-charged Arlington’s big-play offense, which has struck for seven touchdown plays of 40 yards or longer.
Webb, a junior who scored four TDs last week in a 42-8 non-conference victory over Kent-Meridian, is the fastest with a 40-yard dash time of 4.5 seconds. Payne (4.6), Brown (4.6) and Acker (4.7), also juniors, have been tough to contain, too. And at the helm is Gunter, a gifted runner (a 4.6 time in the 40, 5.0 yards per carry, four TDs) and passer (702 yards, six TDs).
Together they generate throbbing headaches for opposing defenses.
“(Gunter) has kind of come into his own as far as his ability to make big plays, and he has a strong supporting cast,” said Stanwood coach Dick Abrams, whose Spartans lost to Arlington 27-7 on Oct. 1 in the annual Stilly Cup game.
The Eagles popped off three scoring plays of 22 yards or more that night, including Payne’s 51-yard end-around run and Gunter’s 40-yard sprint.
“They’re able to spread it around,” Abrams said. “There’s not one thing you can take away from them. They have a lot of weapons.”
Arlington applies its speed on defense, too. Gunter (defensive back), Payne (DB), Acker (DB), Brown (linebacker) and Webb (LB) all pull double duty. They have teamed with Eagles defensive standouts like linebacker Justin Myers and lineman Eric Cort, both juniors, to limit teams to an average of less than 12 points per game, including three games of eight points or less.
Winning can breed friendship, but in Arlington’s case it seems to have unfolded the opposite way. The players look forward to their time together, Brown said, whether it’s during team dinners or while encouraging each other in the weight room. And now they share the joy of success – success that Brown, Webb and Gunter said they saw coming. The talent was there, but it finally fused when the Eagles dedicated themselves to turning things around.
“We realized that we all needed to come together and…be one,” Brown said.
That means sharing new-found glory with teammates like senior John Barlond, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound left tackle. While Arlington’s end-zone frequenting speedsters get heaps of praise, Gunter and Webb said they couldn’t do it without guys like Barlond protecting them and plowing running lanes.
Even with a 6-0 record and within reach of its first playoff appearance since 2001, Arlington is still an underdog, Gunter said. And he likes it that way. “We still want respect.”
The Eagles make it clear they never look beyond the game at hand, but every once in a while it’s okay to reflect on how far they have come. Clearly, it’s been a memorable surprise party.
“It feels real good,” Brown said. “It’s great being on top. All the work and dedication you put into it is paying off.”
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