The latest Associated Press rankings for football came out with South Kitsap sitting at No. 10 in Class 4A for a second consecutive week. That should change next week as the Wolves play Friday at Olympia, which moved up two spots to seventh. The Bears won 34-3 Friday at Wilson.

Here are the rankings:
1, Skyline (10 first-place votes) 2-1 record, 109 points
2, Bothell (1) 3-0, 100
3, Auburn 3-0, 85
4, Eastlake 3-0, 62
5, Southridge 3-0, 60
6, Jackson 3-0, 53
7, Olympia 3-0, 39
8, Ferris 2-1, 35
9, Gonzaga Prep 2-1, 30
10, South Kitsap 3-0, 14

South Kitsap was ranked in the state’s Associated Press football poll for the first time this season. The Wolves, who improved to 2-0 after last week’s win at Gig Harbor, are 10th in Class 4A. Skyline was first with 99 points, followed by Bothell (91), Gonzaga Prep (73), Auburn (66), Ferris (46), Southridge (43), Jackson (37), Eastlake (34), Olympia (32) and South (11).
Voting is done by a panel of sports writers across the state. The Independent does not have a vote, but we only cover one high school. Reporters at larger papers often follow dozens of teams.
There are certain limitations when it comes to these polls, though. A paper covering the Narrows League obviously doesn’t see what’s happening in Wesco, let alone schools east of the mountains. In other words, never place too much emphasis on these polls.
While the Wolves look like a team that should advance to the state tournament and perhaps even challenge for the Narrows League title, it still is early. After tonight’s game against a rebuilding Shelton squad, the Wolves play next week at Olympia. That game against the Bears, who haven’t lost any league opponent in the regular season since 2004, should give an indication of where South stands among the state’s best.
Winning that game would make the Wolves an instant favorite to capture the Narrows championship. But the challenge won’t end even after that contest. South then hosts Central Kitsap, which lost 31-10 on Thursday at Gig Harbor, but comparing results against similar opponents rarely is sound strategy.
The Cougars still have talent, particularly at wide receiver with Christian Wesley, and are breaking in several new players. It also is a rivalry game that CK has won the last two seasons.
If the Wolves remain undefeated after those games, expectations should be high. For now, it’s little more than paper.

This is a few days late after the holiday weekend, but here’s some perspective on South Kitsap’s 35-14 win Saturday in the season opener against Kennewick.
• Coaching: The Wolves had three turnovers in the first half — two on interceptions — but coach D.J. Sigurdson, who also serves as the offensive coordinator, did a nice job of mixing up the play calling. Sigurdson was pretty even in his distribution of running and passing plays until later when his team was protecting its lead and Kennewick couldn’t find a way to stop running back Robert Issa. South also responded well after falling behind 14-13 at halftime. The Wolves didn’t panic and scored 22 unanswered points in the second half. That’s good coaching.
Grade: A
• Offense: The only troubling sign was the inability to hang onto the football. South recovered two of its own fumbles on the opening touchdown drive, but lost another later and also threw a pair of interceptions. Without those mistakes, the Wolves essentially could’ve put the game away at halftime. Instead, they showed what they could do in the second half. The blocking was terrific, and Issa looked like the school’s next great running back with 242 yards on 27 carries. South also has plenty of talent at wide receiver with Mike Alonzo, Isaiah Davis and Leon La Deaux. All bring different talents that quarterback Gordy Anderson utilized. The whole package showed against Kennewick with 455 yards of total offense.
Grade: A-
Defense: The line, particularly Charlie Murray, seemed to get plenty of pressure on quarterback Travis Brown, who was intercepted once. Only one of the Lions’ two touchdowns could be considered against the defense as one of Anderson’s interceptions gave the Lions first-and-goal at the South 4-yard line and resulted in a touchdown. More than one-third (71) of Kennewick’s total offense came on its opening drive. The Lions had just 131 yards of total offense the rest of the game.
Grade: B+

Schools across the state will begin their seasons tonight, but South Kitsap will wait a little longer as it plays at noon Saturday in the Emerald City Kickoff Classic. We have a game preview, overview on Kennewick and a feature on quarterback Gordy Anderson.
Before any game, particularly openers, there are clichés thrown out such as “every game is a big game,” but I think it especially is true for both teams this year. Kennewick returns a large contingent of players that wants to prove its better than last year’s 2-8 mark. For South, coach D.J. Sigurdson repeatedly has said that his staff and players aren’t satisfied with the results in recent years. The Wolves have averaged 5.8 wins per season since 2003 with just one state appearance. A loss against Kennewick makes it difficult to envision South winning more than six games with opponents such as Gig Harbor, Olympia and Central Kitsap looming in the next month. South is just 1-5 combined against those teams the last two years.
Besides football, we also had previews on the Wolves’ girls soccer and girls swimming teams. Both programs begin their seasons next week.

Went to check out the former South Kitsap star and Seattle Mariners player as he returned to Safeco Field last night. If the return was a big deal to Willie Bloomquist, he kind of downplayed it. The media didn’t, though. There was a lineup of people waiting to talk with him about it, ranging from the Kansas City Star newspaper to the Fox Sports Northwest television crew.
The Independent’s story is posted here, while The Kansas City Star piece looks at his view from the other side.
It’s kind of interesting that Bloomquist was starting at shortstop until Yuniesky Betancourt was acquired from the Mariners in July. Royals general manager Dayton Moore drew national criticism for the trade, which sent minor-league pitchers Dan Cortes and Derrick Saito.
I’m not one that views Bloomquist as an everyday player — he has a .330 slugging percentage in 1,597 career at-bats — but Betancourt isn’t significantly better. And that doesn’t even get into the logic of trading two prospects, Cortes was viewed as Kansas City’s best pitching prospect by at least one source, when your team is in last place. Keeping Bloomquist as the team’s regular shortstop for the rest of the season would’ve made more sense.
Besides that, Kansas City seems like a much better fit for Bloomquist than Seattle, though. With Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez in the outfield in addition to up-and-coming left fielder Michael Saunders, there wouldn’t be much playing time for him there. Bloomquist also was blocked by Adrian Beltre at third base and Jose Lopez at second base. That leaves shortstop, where he now would be sitting behind Jack Wilson.
The Royals are in a different situation and some have suggested they might look to part with some veteran players in the offseason. That could mean Bloomquist sees as much time in 2010 as he did this year.

The Independent moved from publishing on Wednesday and Saturday for several years to just printing on Friday in January. That means we adjusted our football preview coverage this year. We don’t have several issues to preview each position in the past, so there’s a comprehensive preview that’s available now online and will be in the upcoming issue.
Kitsap Sun sports editor Chuck Stark also checked in with his preview on the Wolves.
One interesting word in the headline is mediocrity, which hasn’t been used to describe the football program until recently. But I think it’s a fair characterization. After advancing to the state playoffs every year from 1980-2002, South has missed state five of the last six seasons. And the school’s one appearance in that span resulted in a 41-20 loss in 2007 against Graham-Kapowsin.
The Wolves have averaged 5.8 wins per season since 2003. That’s not enough and it will be interesting to see how the coaching staff adjusts this year. Will they break the traditional 75-25 run-pass preference they’ve shown in the past? After all, it seems the best talent on the roster is at wide receiver and quarterback Gordy Anderson is a returning starter.
I’ve seen before from Steve Gervais when he was at Skyline. Gervais’ system was much different than the one the Wolves use. A former quarterback at Oregon State, he loved to use three- and four-receiver sets.
But in 2005, Gervais recognized his best player, Brett Kaluza, was at running back. Kaluza saw the ball far more often than most running backs at Skyline — he rushed for 1,144 yards and 24 touchdowns — and the Spartans won the Class 4A state championship in 2005.
That doesn’t mean South should entirely move away from what it’s done well throughout the years — coach D.J. Sigurdson has won before with his system and likes running back Robert Issa — but with a possible Division-I recruit in Leon La Deaux and the dynamic Isaiah Davis at wide receiver, it’s worth exploring.

Tony Fein, an Iraqi war veteran, was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges Sunday night in Maryland according to The Baltimore Sun.
Fein, 27, is trying to make the Baltimore Ravens roster as a rookie linebacker. He had a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks during the team’s minicamp in May, but was released the following month.

The sports season is up us, which means coverage of South Kitsap High School will dominate the paper for the next nine months. Our piece on local horse Atta Boy Roy will be one of the few that doesn’t relate to the high school in some sense for the foreseeable future.
Previews for fall sports will begin in this Friday’s paper. I can’t give a definitive answer on which sports will be covered first besides football and soccer.
Football will be in Friday’s paper and I’ll link it as soon as it’s finished. There’s plenty to cover with the opener at Qwest Field, which we’ll tackle the following week in greater depth.
Girls soccer will be one of the last previews simply because there’s a new coach. Julie Cain was hired in July and we ran this story on her. We’ll give Cain some time to assess her talent, which should result in a better preview piece.
We also will have boys tennis, cross country and volleyball stories in the next two weeks.

One of the many aspects I enjoy about the summer is the opportunity to interview a former South Kitsap football player at the semipro level. With the rare exception of someone such as former University of Puget Sound standout Mike Oliphant, these aren’t athletes with the ability to play in the NFL. They either are continuing with the hope of making an impression on a Canadian Football League or Arena team, or simply because they love the game.
Or, in the case of Victor Valle, some of both. Valle was stuck behind running back Ryan Cole at South before starting as a senior in 2002. Despite that, he stuck with the team and was rewarded with a breakout senior season that earned him a partial scholarship to play at Central Washington University. Valle now hopes that his patience will be rewarded again.
Chris Marin feels the same about the project to get the BMX trails at South Kitsap Community Park redone. There’s been plenty of work next to Casey’s Batting Range, but Marin says there still is a lot left to finish.
Central Kitsap Reporter sports editor Wes Remmer also checked in with a season review on the Kitsap Pumas soccer club. Jeff Graham from The Kitsap Sun reports that coach John Wedge was forced out by the team after the 2-1 playoff loss in Texas.

For those who want an early glance at tomorrow’s paper, the sports stories are posted on the Web. I went out to cover the annual Benji Olson/Ed Fisher Scholarships Golf Classic last weekend and caught up with Ed Fisher’s sons and Mac Morrison.
There are so many South Kitsap football alums at this function every year that I try and profile different people each time I go out there. Last year I caught up with Fisher and Benji Olson. Fisher will be inducted into Eastern Washington University’s Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 10.
Brian Olson from the North Kitsap Herald also wrote a story on a local rugby team seeking players.