Islanders Seek Wins to Break Even in 2010

Brett Ogata and the Mercer Island High football team are hoping to roll a pair of fives.

In Year 2 of the Islanders head coach's rebuilding project, his team is staring down a legitimate opportunity to finish 5-5. Sitting at 3-5 (2-4 KingCo 3A) with two games remaining, a win Friday night in the regular-season finale at home against Lake Washington (3-5, 2-4 KingCo 3A) and another the following week in a non-playoff crossover game against a to-be-determined opponent from the Metro conference, and Mercer Island would finish .500 for the first time since 2005.

The top four teams from KingCo 3A qualify for the playoffs, and since the winner of the Mercer Island-Lake Washington game will finish fifth, there will be no postseason for the Islanders. Closing out the season with a three-game winning streak, however, would be an important cog in Ogata's plan to field a team that expects to win every Friday night. The Islanders have assembled just one winning season in the past 10 years.           

The Islanders took a big step toward that goal last Friday by routing Sammamish 38-9 for their second conference win of the season. Junior Jeff Lindquist, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound dual-threat quarterback who is being recruited by Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Alabama, Boise State and Nebraska, to name a few, accounted for all five of Mercer Island's touchdowns.

"Before (Friday) night's game, I told the guys we have three very winnable games remaining," said Ogata, a wide receiver for the Islanders in the late 1980s. "By winning them all, I said, 'You guys can be a big part of turning this ship around.' "

Standing in the way of a 5-5 season is a Lake Washington squad that is a mirror image of Mercer Island. The Kangaroos' two conference wins came against the same teams that the Islanders defeated, and by similar margins. Lake Washington beat Sammamish 38-14 and Interlake 34-13; Mercer Island won those games 38-9 and 48-21.            

The Kangs also have a new coach, Steve Supple, attempting to rebuild a program.  Supple took over in July after years as the defensive coordinator at Eastlake. Lake Washington is led by senior Alex Donnelly, who leads the Kangs in rushing yards and tackles.

"We need to know where he's at," Ogata said matter-of-factly.

Ogata is starting to get an idea of where his young team is at and where it could be.  Four of the Islanders' five losses this season came to teams with winning records, including three ranked in the latest Associated Press Class 3A poll (No. 1 Bellevue, No. 4 Juanita and No. 7 Liberty). In a 28-11 loss to Liberty, Mercer Island trailed only 14-11 entering the fourth quarter.

In the win over Sammamish, the Islanders made a mistake right out of the gate that could have been devastating, but they didn't panic. On the first offensive play, the ball was snapped over Lindquist's head and into the end zone. A Sammamish defender pounced on the ball for a touchdown, and just like that, Mercer Island was down 6-0.

"I didn't have to tell them anything, though. They know they messed up," Ogata said. "On the next drive, we drove the length of the field for a touchdown. That was good to see. Their maturity is starting to show."