Interlake finding renewed confidence under new coach Myers | 2013 Reporter Prep Football Preview

The Saints had a rough 2012 campaign with the move back to Class 3A, and will welcome a new head coach in former Garfield leader Dave Myers.

By Josh Suman • August 29, 2013 12:53 pm

For the past several years, the identity of the Interlake football team has never been in doubt.

For the past two seasons it was pint-sized dynamo Jordan Todd slicing through defenses on his way to setting the single-season rushing record and leading his team to the 2A state playoffs and a wide-open passing attack led by quarterback Trevor Lyon last season. Before that, it was Matt Malos and Brett Kirschner creating mismatches in the running game and keeping defensive coordinators around the conference up at night.

But in 2013, with its third head coach in five seasons and an untested quarterback, a new crop of playmakers will need to emerge.

“We got a glimpse in the spring and we’ve got a couple really good football players,” head coach Dave Myers said on his team’s first day of fall camp. “But we’ve got to see what happens.”

Finding a replacement for Lyon at quarterback is one of the most important tasks, with senior Jason Sass looking like the front-runner at signal-caller. He said Myers, who took over in the spring for Jason Rimkus after spending time at Garfield and Lincoln, has already done wonders for his confidence, and believes his team has plenty of weapons to make some noise a year after missing the playoffs for the first time in four seasons in 2012 after the move back to Class 3A.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Sass said. “He’s made me enjoy the game a lot more and made me feel a lot better about my playing.”

The Saints managed only three wins in 2012, dropping Redmond and Lakeside in non-conference games and beating their Crossroads Cup rivals from Sammamish 28-0, the sixth straight win in the series. But with a new regime in place and the optimism and excitement that come with, Interlake players and coaches are hoping to become a perennial threat to the league’s blue bloods.

“We have the talent to win some games,” Sass said. “We just want to get to the season.”

When the season does arrive September 6 against Issaquah, Myers will have to hope the offense can gain more traction than it did last year, when Interlake scored fewer than 14 points on six occasions.

After the opener against Issaquah, it will be their former head coach and his new squad at Redmond coming for a visit, a game the Saints won 29-15 under Rimkus a year ago and one they certainly have in mind this time around.

“We’re all drooling for Week 2 against Redmond,” Sass said.