We announced this in brief last week, but it’s worth a full mention.

Johnny Murphy and Denver VanderYacht were officially selected for the 2012 Earl Barden All-State Game last Friday.  Denver was selected as offensive/defense linemen and Johnny as running back/linebacker.

The game will take place June 13 in Yakima.

#78 Brett Gunderson

Senior Trojan lineman Brett Gunderson announced yesterday that he will be signing with the Simon Fraser University Clan.

…three other seniors signed their letters to play for Division II schools – Nooksack Valley quarterback Trevon Myhre with Central Washington, Blaine offensive lineman Jesse Antczak with Minot State and Meridian offensive lineman Brett Gunderson with Simon Fraser University.

Like Antczak, Gunderson was a huge, physical presence on Meridian’s line, helping lead the way for the Trojans to gain 4,587 yards of total offense and reach the Class 1A state playoffs.

Gunderson said he had not sent his Letter of Intent in by fax to Simon Fraser on Wednesday, but planned to on Thursday, Feb. 2.

“I’m really excited,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m looking forward to bettering myself and continuing to play the sport that I love.”

Gunderson said he visited the Burnaby, B.C., campus twice and was impressed with the coaching staff and players that he met and the prospects for the program, which also is in its Division II infancy.

A pair of Bellingham defenders just completed their first season with the Clan in defensive lineman Dakota Sam-Sanchez and linebacker Keenan North.

“It’s great to see so many guys moving on from here,” Gunderson said. “I think it’s the small-town environment. Everyone works harder in a community like this – it’s more close-knit.”

Brett was a two-year starter for the Trojans and was named to the Bellingham Herald’s All-Whatcom County team and first team NWC 1A Offensive Line in 2011.  Brett enjoys a good game of hide-n-seek and running screen plays.

Brett Signs his LOI

Meridian coach Bob Ames said, “Brett’s a smart player, I think he’s a really good get for them.”  All this despite being 5-9, 148lbs.

Simon Fraser plays in the Great Northern Athletic Conference against the likes of Central Washington, Eastern Oregon, and Western Oregon.

Meridian head coach Bob Ames was inducted to the Washington Coaches Association Hall of Fame Saturday night at the WSCA’s Hall of Fame dinner in Bellevue.

Patrick Ames served as advocate and introduced Coach Dad.
 

We have a full photo album here and below is the full video of Dad’s portion of the dinner.

Thank you to the people who pushed Coach Ames induction, including Bill Alexander, Patrick Ames and Jesse Bussanich of WF West, among others.

Many of you have left very nice comments over the past week.  Coach Dad isn’t huge on the social media thing, so we’re going to try to pull them together and pass along to him.  Please leave some additional comments to this post.

The terrific service Conduit.com has improved their mobile app platform, and I’ve finally gotten around to updating the MeridianFootball.com app.

Most notably, the Photos module is now actually usable, and every other part of the app looks and works much better.

Access it directly at http://meridianfootball.mobapp.at or this QR code thingie that I don’t really understand. Android and Windows Phone users can download a native app below. Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

1995 Game 7: Meridian 15, Mt. Baker 0

The Trojans faced a must-win scenario heading into their Week 7 match-up with the Mountaineers. A Meridian victory would force a potential 3-way tie for the last postseason berth in the WCL, provided Meridian defeating winless Friday Harbor in Week 9. A Baker win would send the Mountaineers into the postseason. The matchup in Deming proved to be a defensive slugfest all night.

The Trojans drove to the first score of the game, a Shane Stacy field goal on a possession aided by a Stacy run for a first down on a 4th-down option play from punt formation.

The defenses then stymied each other the remainder of the half, with the Trojans “D” particularly rugged, holding the Mounties to just 23 yards through two quarters to preserve a slim 3-0 lead. The Trojans struck for some breathing room on their second possession of the 3rd quarter, with QB Jeb Kratzig finding tight end Brian Paxton from 6 yards out, a score set up with a 24-yard Stacy catch in traffic on the Baker sideline. A failed 2-point conversion attempt left the Trojan lead at 9-0 headed into the fourth quarter. After holding Baker on downs to start the fourth quarter, Kratzig found senior Art Downs in the middle of the field for 28 yards inside the 10, where Gabe Matheson found the end zone on a 6-yard run.

Saturday, Meridian Head Coach Bob Ames will be inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame during a banquet in Bellevue.  The banquet is part of the WSFCA’s Midwinter Clinic.  You can see some of the previous inductees here (PDF).

We’ll have some pictures and notes Monday morning.

Bob Ames with Tumwater's Sid Otton (left, 1996 HoF Inductee) and Pat Alexander (right) at the 2011 Earl Barden Game

2001 Game 8: Meridian 67, Lakewood 13

The 2001 NCC match-up between the Cougars of Lakewood (now 2A) and the Trojans of Laurel turned into a lopsided contest early. The Cougars “new” offense for 2001 was the triple-option wishbone, while the Trojans relied on the all-state backfield tandem of QB Mark Simmons and junior running back Jesse Alderson. Alderson put the Trojans on the board first, with a school-record-long punt return of 89 yards for a 7-0 lead. The Cougars popped a big-play, 46-yard run on their next possession to put them in the Trojans red zone, and then scored on a 15-yard pass to tie the score at 7-7. It was as close as the Cougars would get: Alderson returned the ensuing kick-off 90 yards for his second touchdown then added a 2-point conversion run to give the Trojans a 15-7 first quarter lead. The Trojan defense put the clamps on the Lakewood running attack in the 2nd quarter, holding them to a total of -13 yards and forcing 3 Lakewood turnovers, including an interception by Sean McKinnon. The Trojan offense, then scored 4 touchdowns in a span of less than 6 minutes–a 24-yard Simmons-to-McKinnon pass, a 2-yard Simmons run, a 33-yard Alderson run, and a 24-yard Simmons-to-William Wantz pass–all for a 40-7 halftime lead.

More across the chasm known as the jump.

2005 Game 5:  Meridian 38, Nooksack 0

2005 Trojans Sidelines

Facing Nooksack for the first of two meetings in 2005, the Trojans traveled to the Valley and proceeded to wax the Pioneers in short order.  The Trojans scored just a minute into the game, with Tyler Slesk lobbing a 34-yard bomb to All-Stater Josh Keough for a 7-0 lead after Connor Herman snagged NV QB Chris Mitchell‘s first pass of the game for an interception.

On the ensuing Nooksack possession, linebacker Luke Scott intercepted Mitchell’s second pass of the game, and “housed” the pick untouched on a 40-yard sprint.  After forcing a Nooksack punt, Slesk drove the Trojans quickly down the field and capped the 2nd Meridian possession with a 4-yard scoring flip to Taylor Garcia, followed by a 2-point conversion run by Tyler Culp for 22-0 1st Quarter Meridian lead.  The Trojans added a 4th score in the 2nd Quarter, as Slesk threw his 3rd touchdown pass of the half and his 2nd to Keough from 22 yards out.  The Andrei Lintz conversion gave the Trojans a 29-0 halftime lead.

More after the jump.

2009 Game 9:  Meridian 26, Nooksack 22

In a rematch of the top two teams from the NWC 1A ranks, the Trojans found themselves taking on the Pioneers on a muddy, sloppy, late-October Sid Lambert Field.  The ’09 Pioneers boasted arguably their finest offensive line in school history as well as having the distinction of being the only semi-final team in school history by season’s end, getting the most out of Tony Franklin’s (now head coach at Louisiana Tech’s) “System” of no-huddle, shotgun playbook.

1997 Game 7:  Meridian 41, Mt. Baker 28

Thank you to Coach Patrick for bringing another installment in the Random Recap series, our way of having some quality Trojan content during the long, cruel off-season. This 1997 game current ranks 7th on the Best Games fan poll. —CA

One of the biggest games in the history of this rivalry found 6-0 Meridian in Deming to face the unchallenged 6-0 Mt. Baker squad, which featured runs on nearly every down in their “new” Wing-T offense (they had been an I-formation team in 1996, Ron Lepper’s first season as head coach).  Baker backs Jacob Prince and Joe Schleimer would both finish the season as 1,000-yard rushers, and had, to this point, run roughshod over the newly-formed NCC.  This game would decide the NCC champion and was accompanied by all the hype that late-90′s Baker-Meridian games generated.  Fortunately for the standing-room only crowd at Bob Tisdale field, the game lived up to the preceding excitement.

The Mountaineers, however, looked like they would make the game a laugher, returning the opening kick-off to the Meridian 2-yard line to set up a short Schleimer touchdown run.  Quarterback Chad Hoidal scored on Baker’s second possession for a 13-0 lead.  The Trojans finally answered on their 2nd possession, mixing passes with runs and motion by running backs to ultimately spring senior Craig Jensen for a 24-yard touchdown run, untouched on a trap play to cut the Mountie 1st-quarter lead to 13-7. More after the jump