With four straight 3A state championships, nine since 2001 and wins over every marquee name in Washington prep football, the Bellevue Wolverines have been forced to get creative in recent years to gain national recognition and put its powerhouse program on display to those outside of the Pacific Northwest.
It started in 2005 with the streak-busting win over De La Salle and has continued in the years since with wins over Long Beach Poly and most recently Oaks Christian in 2011. Games against other top programs from California and Texas have also helped bolster the reputation of a program that has found itself a mainstay atop national prep polls.
But this year, Bellevue may have accomplished its most impressive feat yet: enticing a Texas prep team to travel outside its state boarders.
Euless-Trinity will be the opponent for the Wolverines on August 30 at Seattle Memorial Stadium and the game will offer a chance for each of the two programs to buck perception or reinforce it.
As for the game itself, there will be no shortage of talent on the field with at least a dozen Division I prospects in action.
For Bellevue, University of Washington commit Sean Constantine and future UCLA Bruin Myles Jack lead a team loaded with speed and one that is no stranger to facing more heralded opponents.
John Nguyen and Dakota Jones also return in the Bellevue backfield and bring big-game experience to a unit that will help break in a new starting quarterback after the graduation of All-State performer Tyler Hasty, now at Oregon State.
Budda Baker, a junior who has already garnered a handful of scholarship offers for his services as a return man and defensive back, is another burner for coach Butch Goncharoff and the Wolverines’ team speed has led the official tagline for the game: “Thunder & Lightening.”
Trinity, which lost the majority of its starters from a year ago, will bring the thunder portion of the equation, countering the Bellevue quicks with Utah commit Sam Tevi, a 6-5, 270 pound defensive tackle who continues the long line of run-stuffers for the Trojans. Gaius Vaenuka, Hafoka Olie and Jason Reese are just a few of the other recognizable names with Division-I offers already on the table.
Facing a host of future collegiate stars is no new feat for Bellevue, which met the likes of Skyline, Oaks Christian and Lakes last year.
All three were supposed to possess far too much skill and firepower for the plodding, Wing-T Wolverines.
But as they have on so many other occasions, Bellevue found ways to limit the impact of current Pac-12 players Ishmael Adams, Jordan Payton, Cedric Dozier, Ma’ne Manaea and Zach Banner, and intercepted USC commit Max Browne twice, winning all three games decisively.
Euless, Tex. is home to more Tongans than any other city in the nation and the cultural mesh at Trinity goes from the hallways- where a flag for every nation that is represented in the student body hangs- to the field, where the Trojans perform the haka, a traditional Maori war cry that is part of a host of Polynesian cultures, including Tongan, before each game.
A win over the three-time Texas 5A champions could provide a boost similar to what the 2011 team experienced after beating Oaks Christian to open the season.
Bellevue returned to in-state competition in dominating fashion the following week with a 31-17 win over eventual 4A state champion Skyline and rolled through the 3A KingCo schedule before surviving game efforts from Lakes, Kamiakin and O’Dea in the state tournament to capture its fourth consecutive 3A state title.
It will again be a 4A KingCo foe circling above for week two, as the Wolverines will travel to Bothell in week two before opening conference play the following Friday against Sammamish.
