The Tumwater High School football team has heard the noise. The reigning state champion Thunderbirds have heard the doubt. The relatively low rankings, the apparent question marks at key positions, and the growing strength of the 2A Evergreen League.
But that doesn’t mean they have to give it any credence.
“People have been doubting us,” tight end Ryan Otton said. “We really don’t pay attention to any of that. We just focus on ourselves and focus on our team, winning will take care of the rest of that.”
This is somewhat uncharted territory for the periennally-strong Thunderbirds, who must replace key skill position players, four offensive linemen, and a brand new quarterback.
So far, guys have stepped up in practice. Though heaps of praise and hype have surrounded Tumwater’s tight end duo, Otton and Austin Terry, who are both headed to Division-I colleges, the state champs have a big senior class of over 30 who will lead them this fall.
“We have a couple of no name kids,” senior Caleb Sadlemyer said.
Sadlemyer is one of those seniors, and one of those players that will have to step up in a new position. The former running back is playing a completely new position this season at guard, and though the learning curve has been steep, the expectations are as high as ever in Tumwater.
“We don’t worry about what others think, we control our own,” he said. “We control what we can control.
“(A state title has) always been the goal, always will be the goal. We have to accomplish our little goals first, take the little steps and then take the big steps.”
That first step will be a big matchup in the Thunderbirds opener against Enumclaw this Friday, a chance to answer a lot of questions on a new lineup and reassert themselves as the favorites on the 2A Washington gridiron.
With time they weren’t afforded during the spring season, head coach Bill Beattie recognized that if there was any year they would have to break in a lot of new pieces to the puzzle, this is a great year for it.
Keeping it in house, and focusing on only what it can control, Tumwater is solely focused on its first opponent, and will immediately begin focusing on its next opponent after this Friday’s game has been decided. As for the outside noise, well, that hasn’t really changed anything about the way things are run internally.
“The standard around Tumwater for many decades is state, that’s where we hope to be,” Beattie said. “But then again, so does everyone else in the state ... It's great that we had the last few years that we did, but we have to start right back at square one again. We have to start building up our pyramid and we’ll see late in the year if we can put it together.”
