TUMWATER — For the first time in many moons, there were colors other than kelly green, yellow, and white at Sid Otton Field, as 4A Olympia, 3A Peninsula, and 2A Steilacoom came to play at a Week 0 jamboree on Friday.
“It’s a lot of fun for our kids to finally get to see somebody else after a couple weeks of the grind of two-a-days,” first-year coach William Garrow said.
The T-Birds found the end zone in all three of their offensive sets, and did so by spreading the ball around to a host of backs and receivers.
All told, Tumwater ran 25 plays on offense. Ten different T-Birds carried the ball, and five came down with receptions.
“I would say in the offensive backfield we have nine guys that we’re pretty comfortable with back there, and most of them got a lot of playing time last year as sophomores and juniors,” Garrow said. “We have good depth at the running back spot, and for them to stay healthy and stay fresh, we try to rotate as many of them as we can.”
Mathias Rodriguez got the Thunderbirds in the end zone for the first time, taking a reverse 20 yards to the house against Peninsula for the lone rushing touchdown of the day.
After that, all of Tumwater’s touchdowns came through the air, beginning with a 35-yard strike on third-and-long from Ethan Kastner to Cash Short to cap off the session against the Bears.
Kastner added a 23-yard score to Jacob Dillon against Steilacoom, and finished his evening a perfect 4 for 4 for 88 yards.
“He did a really nice job today,” Garrow said. “Ethan is a really good kid, and he’s really bought into the offense, the system, the philosophy. He makes good reads, he really worked in the offseason on his arm. He’s going to be a really good player for us.”
Jaxon Budd came in for reps under center in the final session against Olympia, and capped the night off with a 7-yard touchdown toss to Beckett Wall.
On defense, Tyler Criss provided the highlight in the night’s final session with an interception that would have gone at least most of the way to the house in a game.
Tumwater will open its season for real at home on Sept. 1, hosting Burlington-Ediston.
