LYNNWOOD — Injuries took their toll on the Meadowdale football team last fall.
By the end of the regular season, the Mavericks were starting about half a dozen underclassmen due to injuries to starters.
Meadowdale nevertheless finished strong, winning three out of its last four regular season contests and just missing out on the playoffs by just one game.
That playing time by underclassmen should prove invaluable for the Mavericks next fall.
“We have a lot of experience this year, more so than we’ve had in the past several years,” said senior quarterback Matt Johnson. “It should turn out well.”
Johnson started last year and is joined in the backfield by running backs Eric Rabon, Hans Peterson and Tonna Njoku.
“Our whole backfield is back so that’s nice,” Meadowdale head coach Mark Stewart said. “We’re pretty good there definitely.”
The offensive line, however, has seen some significant turnover with only one returning starter in senior Dustin Geveshausen.
But some of the projected starters saw action last year, filling in for the players who were sidelined due to injuries.
Stewart is confident the line will shape up all right.
“We’ve got some other guys that have had a lot of offensive line experience, but Dustin is really the only full-time starter back,” Stewart said. “We’ve got some pretty good potential, though.”
Geveshausen also likes what he’s seen of his teammates. Last week, the Mavericks gathered for their annual summer camp and this week the team was scheduled to be in Wenatchee for another team camp.
“I think we’re going to come back pretty solid,” Geveshausen said. “With all these camps we’re going to, (the backfield) is getting comfortable with the new O-line.”
The Meadowdale defense won’t see as much turnover, though the secondary will be completely new.
“We have our front seven returning,” Johnson said. “All of our DBs graduated, so we just have to fill in spots there.”
Key defensive returners include linebackers Jonathan Lambert, Tyler Tallman and Nick Montanari and defensive linemen T.J. Rhodes and Nate Higgens.
The secondary is still being developed, but Stewart sees plenty of talent.
“We’ve got pretty good potential, but we’re going to be new and young there,” Stewart said. “But we’ll be pretty solid with good experience up front.”
Stewart and his staff will have more time to evaluate their talent at this week’s team camp in Wenatchee.
The more inexperienced players will play every day against other teams.
“They’re going to get experience pretty much every day,” Stewart said. “They get game-speed experience and they’re in a really competitive situation. It’s a controlled competitive situation. We kind of learn a lot in terms of where we’re at.”
One place the Mavericks hope to be at the end of the season is in the playoffs. Meadowdale had a string of three straight postseason appearances snapped last year.
“It was pretty hard, missing (the playoffs) by one game,” Geveshausen said. “This year we really want to come back and start our momentum and make it again.”
Meadowdale, a Class 3A school, will continue to play in the Western Conference 4A South Division for the regular season but will opt down to the 3A playoffs.
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