There’s little doubt 2009 was a step in the right direction for the Hazen football team. The challenge for 2010? Continue the journey.

Sitting at 4-3 and fresh off a 56-0 loss, the Highlanders were at a crossroads in the middle of last season. They needed a boost. And they got it in the form of a 28-14 win against Kennedy Catholic, their first win against the Lancers in 18 years.

The win was one of three straight to end the regular season, a run that allowed the Highlanders to finish second in the Seamount League and move into the play-in round of the state playoffs (Hazen lost to Mount Si). Quite the finish for a team that won three games the previous two years, but it’s clear that was last season. It’s time to focus on this season.

“That was a milestone victory for our program,” said Hazen coach Drew Oliver. “But it’s time to turn the page. It was savored last year, but we’re done savoring it. They’re going to be gunning for us now.”

Entering his second season at Hazen, Oliver leads a team high on talent, but short on numbers and experience. Most importantly, the team has had even more time getting used to Oliver’s coaching philosophies.

“We’re getting into his mentality and it’s really important for the whole team to have that,” said senior Jordan Bumgarner. “That working-hard state of mind. This coaching staff really likes to work us hard.”

In the second year of running the Wing-T, the offense should be improved. The Wing-T is an offense that gets more deceptive as players get more comfortable with it, so more time and continued development should help.

“I expect us to compete just like we did last year,” Oliver said. “I’d like to win a couple of games in the playoffs.”

Isaiah Talley, Keith Carlson and Cody Taylor will be the primary ball carriers in the majority of the offensive looks. Senior Travis Johnson returns at quarterback and will be a vital piece to making this misdirection offense work.

The team suffered a couple of big losses on the offensive line with the graduations of Jordan Hjelmaa and Tyler Searles. Searles made the first team all-league, while Hjelmaa was on the second team.

Other key losses are first team all-league running back James Holland, who is playing football at West Point, Anthony Pina and Ryan Martin.

Hazen returns the three starters on the offensive line and Oliver said sophomores will step in to the other two spots.

“There are a lot of sophomores we’re expecting to contribute,” he said. “Hopefully they’re going to pick it up and respond during game situations.”

The team is ahead of where they expected to be after losing so many key players to graduation.

“We lost a bunch of our starters from last year,” Talley said. “We expected to have to start from square one. But we really surprised some people at camp.”

Bumgarner, Talley, Carlson and Taylor will also play big roles on defense. As will sophomore Cody Moorhead, who started on both the offensive and defensive lines as a freshman last season.

As one of the three 3A teams in the Seamount, Hazen will compete with Kennedy Catholic and Highline for one and a half playoff spots. The top 3A team goes in automatically, while the second team plays a crossover game with Bremerton.

Hazen opens the season at Evergreen Sept. 4.

“I just want to come out and play as hard as I can,” Talley said. “Ride it out until the end. I don’t want to leave any doubt on the field.”

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