Surprising Roosevelt Shows It Can Keep Up In AAA Competition

Expectations were modest at best. Only true believers held onto hopes of a state football playoff berth in Roosevelt's inaugural season in the Class AAA Olympic League.

Still, the Roughriders came within a victory of making their first postseason appearance in 10 years.

Much of the credit, Olympic League coaches believe, goes to Roosevelt head coach D.R. Clawson. He and Mark Greenleaf of Port Angeles were named co-coaches of the year.

"It's an honor and I appreciate it, but I still feel the game is about the kids," Clawson said. "We could have all of the other postseason honors and just as well keep the coaches out. That would be fine by me."

The Roughriders finished with a 5-5 record, only one win better than the previous year. However, their circumstances were dramatically different this season.

They moved from Class AA Metro League to AAA-sized Olympic. They won two mini-playoff games to finish second in the league.

"To be in the AAA and have the kids respond the way they did, we thought we had a great season," Clawson said. "It was a unique experience for us to be playing and traveling as much as we did.

"It was truly one of those ideal high-school experiences when you're playing to your potential. Playing teams of equal caliber. Anyone could win on any given night. It was a lot of fun, something I'll never forget."

Despite it's finish in the league, Roosevelt had just nine players selected to the first, second and honorable mention teams. Garfield (2-6) also had nine players and Franklin (2-7) had 12.

Three Roughriders were named to the first team: Running back JoJo Stone, punter Nick Pietsch and offensive lineman Kiyoshi Imanaka. Stone ran for 705 yards in eight games. Pietsch is perhaps the top recruited punter in the state.

Three Franklin players were selected to the first team: quarterback LaVonta Howard, center Bryan Lawrance and receiver Robert Edwards. Two Garfield players were chosen: linebacker Robert Jeffcoat and defensive lineman DeJon Jones.

League champion North Kitsap was awarded 20 all-star spots.

-------------------------------------------------------------. . Olympic League football all-stars. . FIRST TEAM OFFENSE. . . Pos Player School Yr. Ht. Wt.. . QB LaVonta Howard Franklin Jr. 6-0 175. . RB Rico Jones North Kitsap Sr. 5-9 215. . RB Anthony Tenner Olympic Jr. 6-0 180. . RB JoJo Stone Roosevelt Sr. 5-10 185. . WR Keaton Gaines Port Angeles Jr. 6-2 185. . WR Robert Edwards Franklin Jr. 5-10 180. . TE Mike Foreman North Kitsap Sr. 6-3 200. . C Bryan Lawrance Franklin Sr. 6-2 245. . OL Kiyoshi Imanaka Roosevelt Sr. 5-10 230. . OL Scott Lesure Port Angeles So. 6-4 275. . OL Richard Mudge Olympic Sr. 6-0 190. . OL Josh Goyette North Kitsap Sr. 5-10 225. . K Mario Covarrubias Bremerton Sr.. . . FIRST TEAM DEFENSE. . . Pos Player School Yr. Ht. Wt.. . DL Scott Lesure Port Angeles So. 6-4 275. . DL Richard Mudge Olympic Sr. 6-0 190. . DL DeJon Jones Garfield Jr. 6-2 270. . DL Carl Arnold North Kitsap Sr. 6-1 200. . OLB Forrest Schindler Bremerton Sr. 5-10 190. . OLB Lonnie Singelton North Kitsap Sr. 5-11 193. . ILB Brian Anders Port Angeles Sr. 5-10 180. . ILB Rob Jeffcoat Garfield Sr. 6-2 190. . DB Keaton Gaines Port Angeles Jr. 6-2 185. . DB Brian Pinson Olympic Sr. 5-7 165. . DB Josh Parrish Bremerton Sr. 5-11 175. . P Nick Pietsch Roosevelt Sr. 6-0 180. . . Player of the Year - Rico Jones, North Kitsap. Co-coach of the Year - D.R. Clawson, Roosevelt, and Mark Greeleaf, Port Angeles.

. SECOND TEAM OFFENSE. QB - Matt Nelsen, Roosevelt, 6-0, 185, Sr. RB - J.R. McBride, Port Angeles, 6-0, 175, Jr.; Forrest Schindler, Bremerton, 5-10, 190, Sr.; John Lalor, Bremerton, 5-10, 235, Jr.; Brad Hilse, North Kitsap, 5-9, 185, So. WR - Tim Schaaf, Olympic, 5-10, 155, Jr.; Josh Parrish, Bremerton, 5-11, 175, Sr. TE - Brian Anders, Port Angeles, 5-10, 180, Sr. OL - Shawn McLane, Port Angeles, 5-11, 190, Sr.; Torey Heidelberg, Olympic, 5-11, 220, Sr.; Andy Noble, Franklin, 6-2, 215, Sr.; Joe Wlodarchak, Central Kitsap, 6-0, 220, Sr.; Randy Heistand, Central Kitsap, 5-9, 185, Jr. C - Mark Arneson, Olympic, 5-8, 250, Sr. K - Tristan Knutson, Port Angeles, Sr.

. SECOND TEAM DEFENSE. DL - Ben Colson, Olympic, 6-3, 210, Sr.; Troy Cook, Bremerton, 6-0, 205, Sr.; Andy Noble, Franklin, 6-2, 215, Sr.; Matt Flesher, Central Kitsap, 5-11, 270, Sr. ILB - Alika Larsen, Olympic, 5-10, 180, Jr.; Josh Goyette, North Kitsap, 5-10, 225, Sr. OLB - Marcus Webb, Garfield, 5-10, 170, Sr.; Rob Hampton, Garfield, 6-1, 185, Sr.; Jesse Chatman, 5-10, 200, So. DB - Mike Anderson, Central Kitsap, 5-10, 160, Sr.; Mike Foreman, North Kitsap, 6-3, 200, Sr.; Chris Madayag, North Kitsap, 5-8, 158, Sr.; Ryan Montgomery, Roosevelt, 5-11, 170, Sr. P - Josh Ellis, Central Kitsap, Sr.

. HONORABLE MENTION. Garfield - Maurice Fields, OL-DL, Sr.; Kevin Beard, C, Sr.; Shawn Altheimer, P, Sr.; Walter Jones, ILB, Sr. Franklin - Andy Beyer, OL, Sr.; Larry Fowler, OL, Sr.; Bill Wilder, WR, Jr.; Doug Simms, WR, Sr.; Bryan Lawrance, ILB, Sr.; Jeremy Benson, ILB, Sr. Roosevelt - Kalin Dumlao, R, Sr.; Tyler Weigel, DB, Sr.; Bo Swanson, ILB, Sr.; Nick Pietsch, K, Sr. .

. ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM. FIRST TEAM (3.5 GPA or better) # . Garfield - Colin Cramer and Tom Heberlein. Franklin - Andy Beyer. Roosevelt - Kiyoshi Imanaka, Emory Lui, Ryan Montgomery, Matt Nelsen, Nick Pietsch, Casey Sixkiller, Casey Sowell and Nate Russo. HONORABLE MENTION (3.25 - 3.49 GPA). Franklin - Kris Daniels and Roger Nelson. Roosevelt - Mike Baylor, Jon Bennion, Farzine Betzani, Anthony Brown, Jon Ficca, Bo Swanson and Noah Pinegar. Note: # - Cumulative grade-point average for 1995 spring semester.