Timberline High School’s Collin Tate has a firmly established objective for his final season of boys high school soccer.
“My goal here is to leave a mark on the school,” the senior said. “I want this to be the best season we can possibly have.”
This line of thinking is not solely shared by Collin. Ask any of his Blazer teammates and you will learn they are all like-minded.
And while it seems these thoughts would be present in most athletes, this hasn’t always been the case for the Timberline program.
It happened on more than a few occasions during Collin’s freshman and sophomore seasons – even before the Blazers stepped onto the field, they were already beaten.
“Those first two years,” said Collin, “we came into every game expecting a loss.”
A lot is made of the power of believing in the world of sports, and while faith alone will not produce victory, the lack of such thoughts can certainly hinder a team’s chance at being successfully.
The 4A Narrows League boys soccer schedule can be intimidating for opposing teams. And rightfully so as the league is a gauntlet.
Need some proof? The league was home to the state champion for three consecutive years recently with three different programs – Bellarmine Prep (2008), South Kitsap (2009) and Stadium (2010) – claiming titles, while Central Kitsap, which has since jumped down to the 3A classification, played in the 2012 championship match when it was a member.
It doesn’t end there as both Gig Harbor and Olympia joined Bellarmine in the state tournament last year. Take all that into consideration and you are talking depth on a major scale.
“It was a lot more relaxed,” junior Madison Douglas said about the Timberline’s approach during his freshman season. “It’s good to be relaxed, but it was a lot like, ‘Nobody needs to try (in practice). We will come out ready during the game.’ Things have changed a lot around here since then. We’re just a lot more intense now. We still have fun, but at the same time we are focused and working on the stuff we need to work on.”
The spark was ignited last season through the team’s quality play, especially during its two matches against Bellarmine, the league’s platinum standard for nearly two decades.
“I think both times we thought we were going to get killed,” Collin said about the Blazers when they faced the Lions last year, “but when we played we were right there with them. We lost both games, but we learned from them. We just improved every game. Last year we beat a few teams and started to realize we were getting a lot better.”
The improved play led to a respectable 7-7-2 record last year and paved the foundation for this season’s heightened expectations.
“It’s a tough league,” said fourth-year coach Mark Tate, who is also Collin’s father. “What I was happy about last year was we were competitive in every game. I think this year we have a good core of kids coming back. I think we can compete again.”
A year after earning all-league first-team honors, Collin, a midfielder, joins Christian Otero as two of five seniors on the junior-dominated squad.
“We lost some great kids from last year,” Collin said, “but everyone has come together again this year. We’re closer now than what we have been the last few years.”
While Mark has coached his son the past dozen years, he is also very acquainted with the junior class, having coached a large majority of them prior to the group entering high school.
“I’ve actually work with a lot of the junior class since they were in eighth grade,” Mark said. “There’s a big group of them that all play select soccer together so they are familiar with each other. It’s just a really nice group of kids. They are fun to be around.”
Douglas, a defender, serves as the squad’s leader despite his junior status. As a sophomore he was a second-team all-league selection.
“He’s our leader on the field,” Mark said. “He’s played (on varsity) since he was a freshman for me. Last year I thought he played extremely well and we’re expecting him to keep that going.”
In addition to Collin, the Blazers defense will also benefit from the play of junior defender Matt Lamfers, an honorable mention all-league pick in 2015, and 6-foot-7 junior Jaelan Bush, who takes over as the team’s full-time goalkeeper a year after splitting time with Otero.
“Christian asked to be on the field this year. It’s a great problem to have a 6-7 kid in goal for you,” Mark Tate said. “All he really needs to do is get used to playing games again because he hasn’t played since last year. It’s a different story when you’re in the box and people are taking shots at you, but he’s worked extremely hard to improve. He’s a fantastic kid.”
A standout in football and basketball, Bush, who has played soccer since he was 5, did not begin playing goalie until last season.
“They needed a goalie and I had the size. I’ve been training ever since,” Bush said. “The biggest difference (from last season) is I’m not nervous anymore. The first few games of the season last year I was kind of a deer in the headlines having never played goalie before. There’s always room to improve of course, but so far it’s been going great (this year).”
That seems to be the sentiment across the board for the Blazers.
“We’re hoping to improve on last year. We’re going to play against some good teams again this year,” Douglas said. “We will have a couple setbacks, like every team does, but unlike previous years we will bounce back and come back stronger.”
