Foster: Mariner's Class Act -- Senior Guard Does Everything For Marauders

To an older generation, one that thought trash was something you put on the curb once a week and not something you talked on a basketball court, Jeff Foster would have been called a "Frank Merriwell" or a "Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy."

When many players stick out a hand to point a finger in their opponent's face, the 6-foot-4 senior guard at Mariner High School sticks his out to help a player up.

"That kid is a class act," Edmonds-Woodway Coach Art Snoey said.

Snoey's son, Tony, was a junior-varsity player at Mariner last season before transferring to play for his father at Edmonds-Woodway.

When Mariner went to Edmonds to play the Warriors in a Western AAA Conference game this season, Tony Snoey was sidelined because of illness and watched the game from the bench.

"When we introduced Jeff, he came across to our bench and went down to where Tony was sitting to shake hands with him and tell him, `I'm sorry you won't be playing tonight,' " Snoey said. "He didn't have to do that, but I was touched."

The display was vintage Foster.

So is the honor-roll grade-point average, and the fact that he is the senior class treasurer at Mariner.

"Jeff is just a class kid," Mariner Coach Tom Lowery said. "He's a great kid, a good leader - in the classroom and on the court."

In the classroom, Foster has a grade-point average of 3.9. On the court, he averages 23 points and 10 rebounds. He is his team's leading scorer and second-leading rebounder.

"People always talk about what a great shooter Jeff is," Lowery said. "What they don't realize is that he is a great rebounder, he plays good defense and he passes real well.

"If you have a better shot than Jeff has, he's going to get you the ball. That's unselfish," he said.

Always known as a great outside shooter, Foster has taken his game inside this season in the wake of an injury to starting center Jeff Morris.

"At first, I was concerned for Jeff (Morris)," Foster said. "He and I are really good friends, and I was sad that this would happen to him for his senior year.

"Then I decided that I was going to do whatever I could do to help my team win," he said.

That has meant taking the ball inside against taller teams, crashing the boards to help rebound, and it has meant passing up points for himself in favor of teammates with better shots - all in pursuit of his goal of winning.

"Jeff's done everything we've asked of him and more," Lowery said. "We've had teams come out and try to box-and-one or diamond-and-one us. They've tried to stop Jeff and he still gets his points."

Foster credits teammates for that kind of success.

"When teams come out and try to key on me like that, one of my teammates will step up," Foster said. "(Point guard) Joe Johnson will drill an outside shot or Casey (Johnson, another starting guard) will hit one, and they have to get out of that defense."

The key to Foster's senior season has been his recovery from a serious knee injury last season.

Foster tore a ligament in his knee, and he spent nine months working on weights as part of his recovery.

"I lost a lot of exposure at camps and things like that because of the injury," he said. "But I put on 20 pounds of muscle by lifting weights. The coach told me the other day that it was a blessing in disguise, and I think he was right."

The added strength is what enables Foster to be so effective inside, Lowery said.

But when it comes to raving about his star guard, Lowery is taken aback.

"People watch Jeff play and they come up to me and tell me what a great game he played," Lowery said. "I have to stop and think about it. Yeah, he played a great game, but he plays in a game just the same way he plays in practice.

"I guess I've gotten a little spoiled."

With two games remaining in the regular season, the Marauders are in second place in the WesCo AAA standings and assured of a berth in the Wes-King Bi-District Tournament, where five teams will qualify for the state tournament. Mariner (9-3, 12-6) has two home games left on the WesCo calendar - tonight against first-place Cascade (11-1, 15-3) and Friday against Oak Harbor (7-5, 10-8).