Bellevue High School's 2024 home opener was Wolverine Junior Football night at BHS, and the crowd was as full as Bellevue Memorial Stadium has had in recent memory.  

Befitting of the Junior program celebration, the high school Wolverines were playing a familiar foe from their youth football days: the Mount Si Wildcats.  It would be the first conference game in Bellevue's new, 4A-laden KingCo schedule.  If you need a quick catch-up, the new KingCo setup combines all 2A, 3A, and 4A teams into one pool, then divides them into equitable divisions (based on recent success) for the regular season, before sending them to the state tournament bracket for their respective classification.  

Atop this new alignment sits the highest tier -- the five most successful teams in 4A KingCo, and 3A Bellevue High School.  4A KingCo has long been heralded as one of (if not the) strongest conference in the state -- for the teams in this highest tier, the new alignment strips away games against historically weaker opponents, leaving only teams with excellent football pedigree and legitimate state tournament aspirations: Bothell, Eastlake, Woodinville, Skyline, Mount Si, and Bellevue. 

Certainly a new challenge for the Wolverines, after nearly three decades of dominance in the old KingCo 3A.

On a beautiful late September night, wearing their all black uniforms, the Wolverines kicked off this new era of conference play. 

Bellevue wasted little time, getting things moving in the right direction, as Max Jones (stop me if you've heard this one before) broke through the line and raced 58 yards for a Bellevue touchdown.  After the second Mount Si drive stalled, the Bellevue offense went right back to work, culminating in a 31-yard TD pass from sophomore QB Kasen Carta to senior RB Ryken Moon.  

In the second quarter, it was Moon again, this time on a 15-yard run to give the Wolverines a 21-0 lead.  Just before the half, the Wolverine defense forced a fumble to end a Mount Si drive, and BHS took the three score lead to the half. 

After some back-and-forth to start the second half, junior RB Trevin King capped Bellevue's second drive of the quarter with a 10-yard touchdown run.  On the next offense play for Mount Si, a fumbled handoff would find its way into the hands of senior DL Darieon Davis, who took it 21 yards to the house.   

From that point, the Wolverines' stifling defense did their job, and rode out the 34-0 victory. 

On the defensive side of the ball, senior LB Olly Sharp led with 4.5 tackles, and sophomore DL Kaden Kooner had 4. Kooner and junior DB AJ Morton both registered a sack each.  Offensively, Max Jones had 147 on the ground, Bryce Smith had 94 on the ground and another 23 on returns, for 117 all-purpose. Moon caught Carta's only pass of the day, bringing him to 59 all-purpose yards.

The Bellevue JV got a great win on Monday, 29-7 over Mount Si, and the Freshmen continued their dominance Wednesday night with a 61-14 win against the Mt. Si freshmen. 

The varsity visits storied Pop Keeney Stadium this Saturday, to take on the Bothell Cougars.  JV will be at home on Monday, October 7th, and Freshmen will be at Bothell on Wednesday, October 9th. 

Go Blue!

Friday night of Week 2 was the third meeting in as many years for two of the states most dominant football programs. On one side, the Bellevue Wolverines, carrying two of the last three 3A state titles; on the other, the Lake Stevens Vikings, defending back-to-back 4A state title winners.  

From the word go, this rainy September evening was a heavyweight fight between two blue bloods.  Bellevue's first drive stalled, giving way to a Lake Stevens touchdown drive, but the Wolverines took the fight right back to the Vikings on the next drive.  Following a 26-yard run from junior Reylen Witherspoon, junior RB Max Jones pushed his way into the end zone from 4 yards out.       

A Viking 3-&-out to end the first quarter left Bellevue with a short field to start their next drive, which would end 7 plays later with a 13-yard Ryken Moon touchdown run.  A couple solid defensive stands from both teams, a couple untimely penalties on long BHS TD runs, and a TD pass by Lake Stevens would give the Vikings a 14-13 lead at the half.      

The Vikings received the second half kick, but only got two plays into their new drive before junior LB Desmond Lloyd picked off a pass from 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year, Kolton Matson.  Again on a short field, Max Jones found the end zone for his second time, with an 11-yard run (and senior Bryce Smith converted the 2-point try).  The two superpowers traded unsuccessful drives for the rest of Q3, highlighted by two huge plays from the Bellevue defense -- a blocked field goal by senior Johnny O'Connor, and another Kolton Matson interception, this time by junior Keigo Aoyagi.

Four minutes into Q4, Bellevue added a field goal by senior Charlie Miller, before a long Lake Stevens drive cut the Bellevue deficit to 24-21.  With just 1:30 on the clock, and needing a first down to seal it, Max Jones figured a bigger cushion might be nice, and 78-yards later, the Bellevue lead was back to ten.  As time expired, an AJ Morton INT closed the book on another exciting chapter in the BHS/LSHS series.      

Defensively, Bryce Smith led the way, with 8.5 tackles; Lloyd (6.5), Brody Treves (6), and Darieon Davis (5) were also standouts. Jones led the offense with 246 yards on the ground, Moon finished with 71. 

The following Monday, JV took a hard fought, 35-18 loss to Lake Stevens at home, and on Wednesday, the Freshmen kicked off their season with a 27-0 win, at Lake Stevens. 

After their Week 3 bye, Bellevue will have their home opener, 9/27 against Mount Si.

Go Blue!

After two years of tough Week 1 losses, the Bellevue High School football team made its way to historic Art Crate Field, in Spanaway, WA, to try and right that trend. 

The opponent on this warm summer night would be the Bethel Bison, and Rivals' #1 overall player in the state, UW-commit Zaydarius Rainey-Sale.  Of course, Bellevue fans know that the boys in blue have their own Pac-12... I mean, Big 10... commits, Willi Wascher (USC) and Demetri Manning (Oregon). 

In typical Bellevue fashion, the offense started the game off with a methodical 18-play drive, capped with a 2-yard touchdown run from junior fullback Max Jones.  After a quick three-and-out for the Bison offense, the Wolverines looked ready to roll, chunking out several big runs on their next drive; but assignment errors got BHS behind the chains, ending the drive prematurely. Luckily, it was Week 1 for Bethel too, and after a couple miscues of their own, junior cornerback AJ Morton made a great play on a desperate 3rd-&-19 Bison pass, and came up with the interception. 

On the ensuing drive, a Bellevue 4th-&-3 turned into a 45-yard Max Jones breakaway touchdown, putting the Wolverines up 14-0.  Following that, another AJ Morton interception led to a 45-yard TD run, this time by junior RB Bryce Smith.  A two-point conversion from Max Jones made it 22-0 at the half. 

After a long but unsuccessful Bethel drive to start the second half, Bellevue took over and saw senior RB Ryken Moon break a 70-yard run to get the Wolverines in the red zone.  Three plays later, senior RB Matt Reed was in the end zone with a 2-yard TD plunge, making it 28-0. 

Q4 started with Bethel and Bellevue trading short drives, before a coverage miscue led to a long Bethel TD pass. Not to be outdone, on the ensuing kick off, Ryken Moon took the squib 71 yards to the house, to seal the evening, 35-7. 

Defensively, senior linebacker Olly Sharp led the way with 7.5 tackles, and AJ Morton's two INTs were a standout -- sophomore linebacker Asher Cook also added a coup-de-grace INT in the waning minutes of the game. Sophomores Troy Masunu (DT) and Mose Kalepo (Edge) both had sacks in their first official varsity action, and Moon added a sack to his big night. Offensively, Jones led with 144 yards on the ground, followed by Moon with 107, and Smith with 73. 

With both JV and Freshmen games cancelled this week, the next time a Bellevue team is in action will be Friday, September 13th, when they travel to 2-time defending 4A state champion, the Lake Stevens Vikings. 

JV (9/16) and Freshmen (9/18) games vs Lake Stevens are both scheduled for next week. 

Go Blue!

Sixth-seeded Wolverines give up first touchdown, then scored 21 unanswered points in 35-17 Class 3A victory

• HAILEY PALMER - SB Live 

ARLINGTON, Wash. - For the 17th time in program history, Bellevue High School is headed to the WIAA football semifinals.

The sixth-seeded Wolverines handed third-seeded Arlington its first loss of the season in a 35-17 win Saturday afternoon.

Arlington struck first, but Bellevue rattled off 21 unanswered points in response before halftime. The Wolverines took a 21-11 lead to half and tacked on two more scores in the second half.

All five Bellevue touchdowns were scored by different players. Four came on runs by Blake Teets (5 yards), Bryce Smith (42 yards), Max Jones (13 yards) and Carson Rubin (11 yards). Quarterback Lucas Razore connected with Colin Miller for a 34-yard passing score.

Bellevue moves on to next week’s semifinal round where it will play second-seeded O’Dea.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

BELLEVUE FINDS A WAY TO SHUT DOWN ARLINGTON OFFENSE

Coming into the game, Bellevue coach Michael Kneip and the rest of his team knew how electric Arlington's offense could be.

The Eagles had scored at least 35 points in every game coming into their contest with the Wolverines, but outside of Arlington's first touchdown early in the game and a field goal, Bellevue kept the Eagles off the scoreboard until the end of the game.

"We just wanted to play physical – they're a good football team," Kneip said. "They're an awesome football team, they score a lot of points, but our defense is really good."

FIVE DIFFERENT PLAYERS SCORE FOR BELLEVUE

Every time the Wolverines found the end zone, it was a different player than the touchdown before.

Playing with five or six different running backs will allow that to happen, but that kind of depth in the postseason could be what keeps Bellevue chugging right along.

"We're really dynamic and our coaches have always done a great job," he said. "We spread the wealth and were able to play some (more) guys in the backfield."

BELLEVUE PUTS NAIL IN COFFIN...IN THIRD QUARTER?

Up by 16 points late in the third quarter, the Wolverines were facing a fourth-and-one from their own 10-yard line.

After initially lining up to punt, Bellevue opted to put the offense back out on the field and go for it deep in its own territory. The Wolverines picked up the first down and eventually scored on the drive, pushing their lead to three scores and put a grim outlook on the game for Arlington.

"We just trust our o-line and trust our running backs," Kneip said. "We knew what we had and had the look we wanted to get. I think if you can't get one yard you don't deserve to win the football game."

The Bellevue Wolverines entered their tilt with the Mountlake Terrace Hawks with six consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with seven. Bellevue took their game at home on Friday with ease, bagging a 49-7 victory over Mountlake Terrace. Considering Bellevue has won seven matchups by more than 20 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Bellevue's victory was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 7-2. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.8 points per game. As for Mountlake Terrace, they have traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-4 record this season.

Bellevue will be playing in front of their home fans against Monroe at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Washington (Monroe is ranked 33rd, while Bellevue is ranked 24th). Mountlake Terrace does not have any more games scheduled as of now.

https://www.maxpreps.com/wa/bellevue/bellevue-wolverines/football/

With November around the corner, the weather has turned from a temperate Northwest fall to the chillier temperatures of early winter -- or as we like to call it at Bellevue, playoff weather! But before the playoffs can get underway, the Wolverines had one last conference tilt to see to.

As unique a setting as you'll find in the state, the roar of jet engine testing temporarily interrupts warmups to remind you that Renton Memorial Stadium shares a fence with Renton Municipal Airport and a Boeing test facility.  Aside from their senior night festivities, the Highlanders of Hazen had one other special surprise for Bellevue: they'd been running the classic Wing-T all year, and they aimed to beat Bellevue at their own game. 

Unfortunately for the Highlanders, any thoughts of out-Wing-T'ing Bellevue dissolved when senior Cal Zimmerman took the opening kickoff 85 yards for a Wolverine touchdown. The two offenses traded fruitless drives to close out Q1, but Blake Teets scampered 10 yards early in Q2 to extend the Bellevue lead to 14. After that, junior Johnny O'Connor recovered a fumble deep in Highlander territory that turned into a Max Jones TD run, and Lucas Razore completed a 58-yard pass to junior Bryce Smith, making it a 28-0 halftime lead for Bellevue. 

In Q3, junior Matt Reed got in on the action with a 20-yard TD run, and then Hogan Hansen blocked a Hazen punt that Cal Zimmerman recovered in the endzone for another Bellevue score.  Max Jones punched in one more score to start Q4 to put the Wolverines up 49-0 and finish out the game. 

Other top performers for the evening were Leo Ryals and Mathaias Kalepo, who both led the way with 4.5 tackles, Johnny O'Connor with two sacks, and Bryce Smith with 91 yards receiving.  

"Definitely a fun way to end the regular season" said Coach Kneip after the win, "but now the real work starts! One week at a time!"

Congrats to senior QB and three-year starter Lucas Razore on his commitment to play college football at Cal Poly.  

Go Blue!

For the second time in three weeks, the Bellevue Wolverines were active on a Thursday night, this time hosting the Lake Washington Kangs for Senior Night, and the battle for the "Plaid Football".  

What the hell is the "Plaid Football", you ask?  Back in the 1950's, Bellevue business owner Mel Norquist donated a plaid football to the Kirkland-Bellevue Rotary club, to be presented to the winner of the Lake Washington/Bellevue High football game.  The Plaid Football was in service as a trophy for the next two decades, but at some point was lost to time, and is now just a memory to the schools' most tenured alumni. This story comes courtesy of Bruce Bennett (LW, Class of 1960), and seemed appropriate to share in a year celebrating the BHS centennial.

On this particular day, the Kangs would do their alumni proud for approximately one quarter, thanks partially to an exceptional amount of yellow laundry on the field.  But on the first play of Q2, senior JJ Pendergast took an INT to the house, and it was all downhill for the Kangs.  A long drive culminating in a Blake Teets run, a flea flicker from Lucas Razore to Hogan Hansen, and a Lake Washington fumble (recovered by Cal Zimmerman) that turned into another Teets TD, combined for a Q2 onslaught that gave the Wolverines a 28-0 halftime lead. 

In the third, two more quality drives ended in TD runs from Matt Reed and Max Jones, to extend the Bellevue lead to 42.  Some late game heroics from the Kangs (plus a running clock) held Bellevue without a possession in the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach, and the JV squad was in. Final score: Bellevue 42, Lake Washington 21. 

Top performers in this year's Plaid game were Tate Hauser with 7.5 tackles, Mathaias Kalepo with a sack, Teets with 87 yards on the ground, Hansen with 71 yards receiving, and Razore with 94 yards passing.                  

Coach Kneip said in the post-game, "A lot to grow from this week.  We had some challenges early on with penalties, and let things get a little crazy at the end, but we just have to keep fighting.  Love these seniors, great night for them."

Congratulations to all Bellevue football, cheer, drill, and band seniors! Happy Senior Night!

The Wolverines have a Week 8 bye, before closing the season at Hazen on 10/27.  Neither Lake Washington nor Hazen were able to field JV teams this year, so Bellevue JV team's resounding win at Juanita this past Monday will serve as the cap for their season.

Go Blue!

A confident and 5-0 Juanita Ravens team paid a visit to Bellevue Memorial Field on Friday night, to defend their 1st place position in Kingco 3A. 

But the Ravens' dreams of ruining the Bellevue homecoming were short-lived.  Ryken Moon started the scoring with a 37-yard TD, before Juanita completed a long pass to set up the equalizer. That score would be the last time Juanita would touch endzone grass, as the defense went into lockdown mode. 

Offensively, the scoring deluge was led by Moon, who added a second TD on the ground, en route to 105 yards on the ground. Blake Teets added his own TD, including 137 yards on the ground and another 22 receiving. Hogan Hansen, Max Jones, and Matt Reed all found the endzone on the ground, and Lucas Razore hit Bryce Smith and Cal Zimmerman for a receiving TD each. 

On defense, Smith and Colin Miller both had INTs, and senior JJ Pendergast led the way with 6.5 tackles. Hogan Hansen and Johnny O'Connor both registered sacks. 

Final score: 56-7, Bellevue. 

"This was probably the most complete game we've played all season," said Coach Kneip, "we're doing a great job of focusing on the challenge of each week, and battling some adversity to find success."

The Wolverines have another TNF-style game in Week 7, hosting the Lake Washington Kangs on Thursday. JV will visit Juanita on Monday. 

Go Blue!

"Thursday Night Lights" certainly lacks the panache of the Friday variant, but the Wolverines of Bellevue were ready for a brawl nonetheless!  The short drive down Richards Road might have taken more time than it took for BHS to get a comfortable lead. 

Two pass TDs -- one from Lucas Razore to Hogan Hansen, the other from Razore to Bryce Smith -- and a Smith punt return TD had the Wolverines out fast, 21-0 in Q1.  A Blake Teets TD in the second helped Bellevue to a 28-0 halftime lead.   

In the third quarter, Max Jones got his first TD of the night, and Hansen added his own TD on the ground, sealing a 42-14 Bellevue win. 

Other leaders were Ryken Moon with 7.5 tackles (including 3.5 for loss), and junior Demetri Manning with a sack. Offensively, Jones led on the ground with 65 yards, Hansen had 45 receiving, and Razore was a perfect 4 for 4 for 79 yards passing. Bryce Smith led all Wolverines with 100 all-purpose yards. 

Coach Kneip said after the game, "Super proud of these men, they're working hard every week to get better, which is all we can ask.  Our goal every week should be to get the young guys in, in the second half, and we did that tonight."

BHS will host the undefeated Juanita Ravens for homecoming next week, while JV has a week off after last week's 27-14 win at Mount Si.

Go Blue!

A highlight of any sports season at Bellevue High is the annual rivalry game with the school across the East Channel Bridge.  

On a clear night, it was a work of athletic art under the lights, as Bellevue took the field in all black, with Mercer Island wearing head-to-toe white. Unfortunately for our island-dwelling neighbors, the uniform combo would be the only good looks they got all night.  

While the Islanders hung tough for the first quarter, it was short lived, and they ultimately had to hunker down and weather the barrage. Scoring started with a short TD run by Max Jones, then came a 27-yard fleaflicker from Lucas Razore to a wide-open Colin Miller, a 46-yard run by Blake Teets, a 10-yard TD pass from Razore to Jackson Downs, and a 15-yard pass from Razore to Hogan Hansen, giving the Wolverines a 35-7 halftime lead. 

In the third quarter, Teets and Jones both added short TDs, before letting the JV take over and score a TD of their own (a 48-yard run by sophomore Trevin King), finishing off MI 56-21. 

Coach Kneip was short and sweet in the postgame, "Awesome night all around! Love to see the young guys find some success, we can't wait for next week!" 

Stat leaders for the defense were Leo Ryals (5.5 tackles), sophomore Mathaias Kalepo (1 sack), and Colin Miller (1 INT).  For the offense, Teets led the backfield with 166 yards, Hansen led receiving yards with 31, and Razore notched 70 in the air.

In Week 5, BHS heads to Newport for a Thursday night game, while the JV visits Mount Si following their 20-7 win against Liberty. 

Go Blue!

Bellevue kicked off Kingco league play this past Friday night with a trip down to Renton, to visit the Liberty Patriots. 

Hungry for their first win after an intense week of practice, the Wolverines met strong initial resistance from a disciplined Liberty squad.  The two teams went back and forth, stalemating the first quarter of play; but as Q2 was winding down, the Wolverines capped a long drive with an 11-yard Blake Teets TD run, to take a 7-0 lead to half. 

At halftime, it was the seniors who lit a fire under the team, and that was all she wrote.  The Wolverines came out with a fury, and added three rushing scores from sophomore Max Jones, and another from Lucas Razore.  The defense kept the clamps on, and Bellevue chugged to a strong finish, 35-7.  Top performers for the night were Max Jones, with a massive 268-yard night on the ground, complimented by Blake Teets' own 100-yard night, and 7 tackles from Ryken Moon on defense.   

"Tonight was all about the seniors" said Coach Kneip after the game, "we put it all in their hands this week, let them dictate the direction this team would go, and they answered the call." 

The Wolverines will work to get back to .500 in Week 4, when they host the Mercer Island Islanders. 

The JV will get their shot at Liberty this Monday, after opening their season with a 39-28 loss at Eastlake.   

Go Blue!

Following a challenging Week 1 trip to play 6A Oregon powerhouse, Central Catholic, in Portland, the Wolverines hosted the reigning 4A State Champion Lake Stevens Vikings. 

Right out of the gate, the Boys in Blue looked ready to roll, racking up a 28-7 halftime lead on the shoulders of stifling defensive play and three Carson Rubin touchdowns (plus a fourth in the air, from Lucas Razore to Cal Zimmerman).

To quote Don McLean, the halftime air was sweet perfume for the Bellevue faithful, but the visiting Vikings and storied Washington high school coach Tom Tri had plenty of fight left (if only we could blame the marching band).  Lake Stevens scored on their opening drive of the third quarter -- thanks to several drive-extending penalties -- starting a landslide of scoring that would go unchecked for a quarter and a half.  

Despite the flurry of Lake Stevens points, Senior kicker Luke Scoma converted a 28-yard field goal to give Bellevue a 31-26 fourth quarter lead. That drive, however, would be answered with a touchdown from the Vikings, ultimately giving the Vikings a 34-31 win.  

Coach Kneip said of the loss, "We have to learn how to be finishers. We can't go out and put a good half of football together and expect great teams to just lay down. It's a huge improvement from last week, but we had too many penalties and too many small mental mistakes again. It continues to be on us as coaches. The standard has to be the standard."

Stat leaders included senior Tate Hauser with 6.5 tackles and senior Cal Zimmerman with two interceptions, plus freshman Diego Lewis and junior Johnny O'Connor each registered a sack. Offensively, Carson Rubin led the rushing attack with 225 yards, while Lucas Razore surpassed 100 yards in the air, Ryken Moon had 98 all-purpose yards, senior Hogan Hansen led the team with 61 receiving yards, and junior Bryce Smith shimmied and shook his way to 92 return yards. 

Bellevue kicks off Kingco 3A league play next Friday at Liberty, and the JV team will be active this coming Monday when they visit Eastlake.

Go Blue!

With a long offseason of preparation under their belts, Coach Kneip and the Wolverines headed south to Portland, to face the 6A Rams of Central Catholic. 

It wasn't the 95-degrees that was forecast earlier in the week, but when the BHS football team took the field at Hillsboro Stadium for their first game of the season, it was a toasty mid-80s.  The Wolverines started off blazing in the midday heat, capping their opening drive with a TD pass from Lucas Razore to fellow-senior Hogan Hansen, and kicking off an afternoon that would feature almost 1,000 yards of combined offense.

On the Bellevue side, senior Carson Rubin and junior Matt Reed both passed the century mark rushing, with TDs coming from Rubin, senior Jackson Downs, and junior Bryce Smith.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep up with the over 540 yards that the CC offense and their senior QB Cru Newman amassed, and BHS fell 48-27.  Other standouts from the game were senior Leo Ryals who had a sack and 11 tackles, and junior Ryken Moon who collected 163 all-purpose yards between his RB and return duties.     

After the game, Coach Kneip said, "Central Catholic is a really strong team, and we didn't bring our A-game today.  We lost the turnover battle and made too many small mistakes.  This team has to thrive on the details, and we missed the mark today, and that starts with us coaches. We'll learn and get better from it though, I promise you that!"

The Wolverines were minus-3 in the turnover column for the day.

No rest for the weary -- Bellevue will host the defending 4A State Champion Lake Stevens Vikings next Friday. 

Go Blue!

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