Kamiakin football: Athletes abound again for defending champs

In the end, the Kamiakin High School football team had too many athletes to contain last year, at least for Class 3A defenses, and it won them the first state championship in school history.

In their title defense campaign, it looks like the Braves will again be creating nightmarish matchups on the edge.

“It feels good to get back out there with all the guys for our senior year,” wide receiver/cornerback Colten Chelin said. “Hopefully we can recreate a little bit of what we did last year.”

Added fellow senior wide receiver/DB Benson Smith: “This year we’ve got a great group of skill players and DBs, and I think we seniors can do our best while helping other guys do their best too.”

As talented as Kamiakin was across the board last season, it seemed like everything started with that overwhelming rotation of wide receivers and defensive backs. Graduated quarterback Zach Borisch — first team All-MCC and All-Area in 2016, now at Idaho — threw to three of the top five wide receivers in the MCC during the regular season — Isaiah Brimmer (41 catches, 602 yards, 11 touchdowns through first 10 games), Darreon Moore (26, 496, 8) and Smith (36, 474, 6) — and the unit only got more dangerous when Champ Grayson returned from injury for the playoff push.

Defensively, the Braves held opponents to an MCC-best 104.2 yards per game through the air.

With the 6-foot-5 Brimmer playing receiver at Idaho State University, and Moore a cornerback at Eastern Washington, Smith and Grayson will be the go-to guys on both sides of the ball this season.

“Champ and Benson have really stepped up in their whole leadership role,” Kamiakin coach Scott Biglin said. “Last year they didn’t have to be leaders, although Champ was a pretty dang good one. Bens was more quiet. This year, they’re the seniors now, and guys are looking at them.”

Talented pass catchers are always at a premium in Biglin’s offense, and the seventh-year coach said that, in addition to Grayson and Smith, he’s excited for the program’s more inexperienced guys to step up under the Friday night lights.

“A guy like Colten Chelin, he’s a senior, he played a lot of DB for us last year but just a little bit of receiver, he’s stepped up this year, put on some good weight,” Biglin said. “He’s bulked up and worked hard, and I think he’s going to have a breakout year for us on offense.

“Guys like (seniors) Thane Thomas and (junior) Jaxton Nichols, who played basketball last year but not football, he came out and he’s a really good athlete and we’re happy to have him.”

Dealing the cards for the Braves this season will be senior signal caller Payton Flynn, who has signed to play baseball at Washington State after he graduates. He pushed Borisch for the starting job last year, Biglin said, and that bit of healthy competition allowed him to become a potentially dynamic player this season.

“He’s outstanding; he’s really worked at his craft,” Biglin said. “When he came in as a freshman, we just weren’t sure if he was going to make it as a quarterback because he was very weak in what he was doing. But his growth from his freshman to sophomore year, it clicked, and we really thought he could be the guy for us.

“He makes a lot of great throws. He can make all the throws that we want him to. He’s got a few things that he knows we want him to work on — he’s not perfect yet, as I’m sure any high school quarterback probably isn’t — but I’m happy to have him because he slings it really well.”

JACOBSON TAKES OVER AT TAILBACK

Senior Talmage Jacobson has spent his varsity career waiting in the wings behind two-time All-MCC running back Jethro Questad. Now, it’s his time to shine.

“We’ll see what I can do, but I’m just excited to play on both sides of the ball this year,” Jacobson said. “I’m definitely excited to be a part of what the offense is doing.”

While Kamiakin had a deadly aerial assault last year, Borisch and Questad still managed to lead the No. 4 ground attack in the MCC, averaging 177.3 yards per game. Hopeful that the team will be able to sustain offensive balance once again, Biglin said he’s confident in Jacobson’s ability to keep defenses honest and make some big plays.

“I think he’s ready, he’s itching,” Biglin said. “I think last year, he could have been a starter for most of the teams that we played, but unfortunately he was behind a really good running back in Jethro.

“I think he’s anxious to take over the reigns and be the starting guy.”

Because Jacobson will also start at linebacker, Biglin said the Braves will be a bit more liberal with their running back rotation this year, doling out carries to junior Tyler Gourley and senior George Ramirez, as well as freshman Tuna Altahir, who will also return kicks.

STILL HUNTING FOR MCC TITLE

With their 14-7 victory over O’Dea on Dec. 2 at the Tacoma Dome, Kamiakin accomplished the rare feat of winning a state championship after failing to capture a league title — the Braves fell to 4A schools Chiawana and eventual MCC champ Richland during the regular season.

“Would I trade last season for a league title and lose a state title? Absolutely not,” Biglin said. “But it’s definitely something that’s in our pocket that we want to do. We want to win every game, we want to win the league, and then eventually we want to win state.

“But, and it’s a cliche line, you’ve gotta take it one game at a time, because if you look ahead or you look past someone in this league, you’re in trouble. It’s a tough league, and everyone brings it.”

Kamiakin hasn’t won a league title since the MCC formed in 2012, but won back-to-back Big 9 3A championships in ’10 and ’11.

“We can get the same outcome as last year (a state title), because if we think we can do it, we can do it,” Smith said. “I think this team has enough talent, and we just need to put in the work and the effort to finish it off.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Kamiakin football: Athletes abound again for defending champs."