EVERETT – While the lure of a potential job will keep Matt Tuiasosopo out of the 2004 East-West All-Star Football Game this weekend, his replacement has quite the opposite dilemma.
Cole Morgan was invited to the game nine days ago after Woodinville’s Tuiasosopo began mulling a professional baseball contract with the Seattle Mariners. Morgan, however, had already applied for a job that was supposed to start Monday.
Instead of taking part in a training session at a downtown Seattle restaurant, Morgan spent Monday taking part in the opening practice of East-West game week.
“Now the job is in question. I’m not sure I’m going to get it,” said Morgan, a recent Ballard High School graduate who applied to be a server’s assistant at Cutter’s. “It’s OK, though. For football, it’s all right.”
Morgan’s financial loss actually resulted in a monetary gain for the annual all-star contest that features the state’s best senior football players from the 2003 season. During the eight days he had between finding out he’d been added to the roster and the first practice, Morgan sold $1,300 worth of tickets and advertising in the game program. The only other player to match that number was Central Valley receiver Derek Nesbitt.
Game officials rely on sales from the players to help pay for hotel and other miscellaneous costs in the week leading up to Saturday’s game.
Morgan joins Kamiak’s Gary Rogers as the only quarterbacks on the West roster. Tuiasosopo, a University of Washington football recruit and third-round pick of the Mariners, will skip the game to avoid the risk of an injury.
When Morgan got the call nine days ago that he had been added as a replacement, he had just arrived home from church.
“Who knows?” Morgan mused Monday while looking toward the sky. “Maybe He did something for me and got me into the game.”
Welcome to Everett: Players from both the East and West squads gathered at Howard Johnson’s in Everett on Monday morning in preparation of a week filled with practices and meetings.
Later in the afternoon, they took part in their first on-field session. Part of the duties of the coaches is to teach the players special all-star game rules, the most notable of which is that blitzing is prohibited. Defenses are required to run a 5-2 front, while offenses can line up in just four formations, all of which are revealed to their opponents well before kickoff.
“This isn’t about deception,” said West head coach Dick Nicholl of Mercer Island High School. “You highlight the skill players and let them make plays. That’s what this week is all about.”
Calling all punters: The oddest sight at Monday’s practice involved 6-foot-4, 270-pound Snohomish lineman Mike Mayer punting footballs, and not just because of his size.
“I’ve never really done it before,” Mayer said. “There was only one other guy out there punting, and there were five long snappers, so I decided to give it a try.”
The annual all-star contest doesn’t invite specialists, so the coaches had to audition punters and field-goal kickers. Based on his performance Monday, Mayer is a longshot to win the job. But he’s willing to give it a try.
“I just like to kick,” the Eastern Washington recruit said. “It would be fun. I’ve never punted in a game.”
Kirton the Seagull? Everett High School coach Paul Lawrence, who is helping organize the week of festivities, couldn’t help but let out a wishful smirk when he saw running back Johnie Kirton in an EHS jersey Monday afternoon.
Kirton, a former Jackson High star and future Washington Husky, did not know that the players would actually take the field Monday, so he left his Timberwolves jersey at home. Lawrence provided him with a white Seagulls jersey.
“It feels different,” Kirton said of his temporary uniform. “But if you’ll notice, I don’t see any of them (Everett High players) around here.”
Quick slants: Although game officials arranged a free McDonald’s lunch for the players Monday, some of the less svelte athletes were less than satisfied. A few hours after eating a chicken sandwich and apple pie, 270-pound Mariner High School lineman Anthony O’Dell said: “I just didn’t feel like anything was in my stomach.” O’Dell, for the record, usually orders a Super-Sized Quarter Pounder meal with an extra hamburger on the side.
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