The past two seasons were an absolute dream for the Eastside Catholic Crusaders football team.
The Crusaders captured the Class 3A state football title in back-to-back seasons (2014, 2015) courtesy of victories in the championship game against the powerhouse Bellevue Wolverines. This past December, the Crusaders overcame a staggering 28-point deficit in the second half, earning a 48-42 overtime victory to claim the title.
This year, the Crusaders are striving for the “three-peat” on the gridiron. Eastside Catholic head coach Jeremy Thielbahr said this year’s team will look vastly different from the 2015 squad. The Crusaders graduated 14 starters this past June. Despite losing players with an a abundance of experience, Thielbahr is confident his team will rise to the occasion this fall.
“We’re just trying to get physically better,” Thielbahr said of spring practice. “We lost a lot of kids last year, a lot of great players that put us at a high trajectory. We’re working every single day to get bigger, faster and stronger. I think we have a great excitement level for kids who haven’t gotten to play as much as they wanted to. We got some guys who really want to fight hard for a position and win a job.”
Eastside Catholic junior Zach Lewis will be the starting quarterback this season. Lewis, who was the backup the past two seasons, replaces the recently graduated Harley Kirsch. Kirsch quarterbacked the Crusaders to four consecutive state championship games and won two state titles. Lewis said he soaked up as much as he could from Kirsch the past two years as the backup.
“It was a great experience because I got to sit behind him two years and watch everything that he did,” Lewis said of Kirsch. “He is really smart and I just tried to pick up on all the great things he did mentally as well as physically. I’m just going to try to implement that into my game.”
Thielbahr has the utmost confidence in Lewis’ ability to run the offense and lead the team.
“Zach is a lot of fun,” Thielbahr said. “He is going to do a great job for us. He has kind of been lying in the weeds just kind of waiting his turn. I think he is ready to strike and put his name on the map.”
Thielbahr and his staff have high expectations for the 2016 season. The Crusaders will face Class 4A defending state champ Gonzaga Prep in the season opener and will face three Class 4A teams in non-league contests.
“This is a senior class that is taking over for a lot of former players and a lot of kids who made their mark on this program,” he said. “It is very hard to win and the hardest thing is to keep winning. For us to do that our kids have to play with a real chip on their shoulder. We have to have the mentality to get after it every single day and learn to be football junkies. They have seen that before and they have seen that success. It is going to be fun to see how our kids compete. I think we have a chance to reload and have a chance to make a run deep in the playoffs.”
