Trojan News

Truuuue Story! -- 07/01/2009, 12:38 pm

There are times when it is befitting to step back and see how other view a situation in order to get a better grip on the True Story.

Four teams, playing together, in a passing league having their whole games taped. See what happens when teams stop playing Cover 2 and starting getting REAL.

This morning, NVPioneers.com provides just such a view from the Real World, in the context of passing league hosted by Meridian in early June.

The next two games were against rival Meridian and Mount Baker. Both decided to play their LBs back twelve yards from the line of scrimmage and their secondary back to the 20-yard line. While it stopped the long pass plays, the fact is that any team would run crazy in a real game situation.

You see, that’s just such a perspective that alters one’s perception of reality forever. Before, one might think that “passing league” was real, tangible, truth, a known quantity standing before us prima facie. But as we now see, “passing league” is just a fleeting construct, passing perhaps, of language foisted upon us by a totalitarian paradigm. Shame on we who hide behind semantics whilst subverting the Truth of the matter.

….

Or something.

The Pioneers played well despite funny “controversy” regarding the “unlimited” plays the Trojans were given. Coach Myhre was very pleased with the day and the opportunity to implement some parts of the offense against opponents.

People of Troy, repent.

Alumni Update: Fr. Jerry Burns -- 06/24/2009, 3:41 pm

Jerry Burns, team of 1983 and class of 1984, was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest this month.

As the parent of more toddlers than I can count, I’ve spent a lot of time in church ante rooms studying various posters and literature.  I’d noticed Fr. Jerry’s name and picture as a seminarian.  And then this past weekend, Patrick happened to catch what might had been Fr. Jerry’s first Mass in Chehalis, after which he told Patrick that MeridianFootball.com is among his bookmarks.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures from the 1983 team.  Anyone have a picture of Fr. Jerry in the black AND gold?

Meridian Summer Camp Begins -- 06/23/2009, 10:32 am

The joint Meridian/Bellingham/Sehome summer camp began Monday morning.  Mrs. Appel brings us the pictures below.

Plenty more in the full album.

More Skyline 7-on-7 Pictures -- 06/19/2009, 9:23 am

Mrs. Appel went the extra 100-yards and uploaded the pictures directly to the site.

You can view the photo album here.

Meridian Will Wrestle with Lynden -- 06/17/2009, 11:01 am

I had missed that wrestling had been cancelled.  I suppose the good news is that with Lynden’s help, the varsity team will be reconstituted.  The strange news, for an older alum, that it is Lynden.

LYNDEN — Green and gold? Black and gold?
Doesn’t matter.
Lynden High School has been an avenue not only for athletes in Lynden, but from all over north Whatcom County.
Through co-op agreements, the Lions have welcomed kids from Nooksack Valley and Blaine to join their swimming program, kids from Lynden Christian to join their tennis and wrestling programs, and, at one point, Lynden even welcomed golfers from other schools that didn’t have golf programs of their own.
It’s always been a win-win, as athletes gain new opportunities that previously weren’t available to them, and Lynden increases its numbers to a point that justifies the cost of running a program.
On Jan. 23, Meridian High School announced that it was cutting its middle school wrestling program due to financial constraints. A few months later, it was announced that the Trojans wouldn’t sport a varsity wrestling squad, either.
That prompted action from Lynden — and now, the Meridian High School wrestling program will merge with Lynden’s: green and gold mixed with black and gold.
Meridian athletic director Chad Larsen knows his squad will be in great hands.
“We feel really good about the opportunity our kids have in front of them,” he said.  “Lynden has a level of expertise with co-ops.  They have a system in place that works.  We’ve already run a middle school wrestling co-op with them.  In addition, they co-op with other local schools in tennis and swimming.  Also, they have top-notch coaching and they are just up the road. This is a great deal all around.”
The move isn’t a full merge.
Meridian will continue to wear Trojan uniforms and wrestle for Meridian at the 1A district and state tournaments.

I beg to differ that there IS more than a mere chromatic distinction betwixt Black & Gold and green & yellow.

Skyline 7-on-7 Pictures -- 06/16/2009, 3:07 pm

Over the weekend, Meridian partook in the 7-on-7 passing league at Skyline High School. Through the course of the games, some refereed some not, the Trojans beat Eastlake’s varsity team and Bellevue’s varsity team.

Mrs. Appel has been kind enough to share some pictures of the day.

Track’s Done -- 06/01/2009, 4:20 pm

The state track meet finished up over the weekend, as did baseball, which means that fall sports can have their spring practices. Before we move onto that, we ought to recognize Max Crook, who finished 3rd in the shot and 5th in javelin, at the state 1A meet.

Meridian Track Dominates Sub-Districts -- 05/16/2009, 9:07 pm

Both boys & girls track teams won Friday’s sub-district meet.  Congratulations.

Cover 2 Sports Goes Deep on Coach Ames Interview -- 05/13/2009, 12:23 pm

It seems that yesterday’s quote from Coach Bob Ames regarding community sports was just a snippet from a larger interview that was posted this morning. High School Cover 2: Coach Interview – Bob Ames – Head Football Coach, Meridian High School runs today on the High School Cover 2 home page, and later on the counterpart site on the Seattle PI site.

It was after 3:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, when we met up with Head Football Coach Bob Ames. Bob coaches at Meridian High School on the outskirts of Bellingham. He was sitting on a bench in the school courtyard when we arrived. Sporting his trademark Fu Manchu mustache, he welcomed us to Meridian and we introduced ourselves and began the interview.
We had come to interview Coach Ames for a couple of reasons. We still needed a coach from a class 1A school for our panel of coaches. Coach Ames has been at Meridian since 1974 and has won three state titles and been runner up twice. His teams have been undefeated in the league 10 times and state semi-finalists on three occasions. He’s obviously been doing something right. He would be, we decided, perfect for our class 1A coaching representative.
Still, we had come to Meridian not really knowing what to expect. We had this image of him as a gruff, tough guy who would respond to our questions with short grunted replies. We had no basis for thinking that aside from his photo, but boy were we wrong. It turns out that Coach Ames is gregarious and outgoing and, after he decided that we knew a little about football and weren’t simply there looking for dirt or scandal, he regaled us with tales of his life in football that kept us intrigued and smiling long past the deadline we had set for the completion of the interview. It was a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

The interview goes on much longer and is well-worth the read. Furthermore, this appears to be only the latest in a number of coach interviews, including Anthony Allen of Garfield High School and Rob Freise of Willipa Valley. With WashingtonPreps withering to a degree, Kalla and Olsen’s blog looks to be a must-read for high school football fans.