Bothell High
loses first league game since 2005
A standing-room-only crowd at Pop Keeney Field was left stunned last Thursday when Issaquah High beat defending 4A Kingco champion Bothell High, 24-13.
The Eagles, who just moved up to 4A this season due to increased enrollment, made very few mistakes and capitalized on their size advantage over Bothell, stifling the Cougar offense in the second half.
The 7 p.m. home opener got off to a promising start for the Bothell Blue, as the Cougars scored on a 12-play drive that lasted most of the first quarter, capped off by a 9-yard pitch by starting quarterback James Korn to star running back Patrick Ottorbech. The 5-foot-7, 187-pound senior displayed his explosive speed, weaving his way into the left corner of the end zone to put Bothell on the board 6-0.
Ottorbech put on a dramatic encore in the second quarter on a 34-yard run before getting stopped at the 1-yard-line, which set up another touchdown to put the Cougs up 13-7. From that point on, however, the Eagles didn’t just stop the Blue Train — they derailed it.
The second half started with a Bothell fumble recovered by Issaquah, and a brilliant 38-yard pass by quarterback Joey Bradley to highly touted running back Grant Gellatly, which put the Eagles in the lead for good.
Ottorbech, who ran for 84 yards in the first half, was held to only one yard on six carries in the game’s final 24 minutes.
“Ottorbech is a tremendous athlete, but he’s going to need some help because teams will focus on him, so we’re going to need to step it up,” Bothell coach Tom Bainter said. “We knew he was going to be great — we just have to work harder in practice.”
A surely nervous Korn, making his starting debut in front of a raucous Pop Keeney crowd, had a shaky game, particularly in the second half when he was sacked four times and intercepted twice. Korn finished 17-for-26 and 153 yards. Bothell fans also received a brief scare early in the second half when team leader and center Jackson Pierce lay on the field for what seemed like an eternity while trainers came out to assist him. The 6-foot, 230-pound lineman left the game with leg cramps.
Although he was handed his first Kingco league loss in more than two seasons, Bainter was happy with the way his team played overall.
“The game plan was to mix it up, spread the ball a little bit, get Patrick Ottorbech involved and play just the way we played,” said the sixth-year coach. “Different sets, different formations, defensively to be quick and aggressive and play coverage.”
As the game winded down and many of Bothell’s faithful were headed toward the exits, however, little doubt was left as to which football team deserved to win that evening.
“We got outcoached and outplayed in every facet of the game,” Bainter admitted after the game. “The better football team won the game tonight. There’s no question about that.”
The tough Kingco schedule doesn’t get any softer next week when the Cougars travel to Bellevue to play another 4A newcomer expected to do well in what many call the state’s toughest league. Foremost on Bainter’s list is to improve his team’s effort during practices to better prepare the Cougars for these tough matchups.
“We need to get to the point where our work ethic equals our expectation,” Bainter said. “When we do that, we’ll be a good football team, and until then, we’ll get beat by good football teams.”
