BY CHUCK MINGORI
.....Despite stringing together 13 victories
without a defeat while claiming the Northwest Foot-ball Alliance Championship
in their inaugural season, the Auburn Panthers don't plan to rest
on their laurels in the upcoming season.
.....Granted, the Panthers proved unbeatable
in 1984 under their minor football league coaching legend, Steve Harshman,
whose teams have won championships six out of seven seasons. But a
look back at last year's games reveals an interesting insight.
.....Eight of the Panthers' 13 wins were
by one touchdown or less. Three games were won within the last 20
seconds. One victory was won on a field goal as time expired against
the West Seattle Warhawks.
.....Another win over Snohomish County
came with three seconds remaining. In yet another close finish, Auburn
trailed Bellevue 30-17 midway through the final period before rallying
for two touchdowns and seeing the opponent miss a field goal as time
ran out.
BUT THIS MARKS another year for Harshman's fateful team.
....."It's a different kind of challenge
every year," said Harshman, the nephew of former University of
Washington basketball coach Marv Harshman. "You start all over,
you don't focus on the past year."
.....If they wanted to, the Panthers
could indeed look back on Harshman's coaching record and breathe a
sigh of relief every time they stepped on the field. While coaching
the Pierce County Bengals before leaving that team in 1980, Harshman's
teams won five league titles in six years. His team had the nation's
longest winning streak at 32 games during one of those glory seasons.
His |
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current minor league coaching
mark stands at 77-6-1, which works out to a 92 percent win ratio.
.....Harshman said he decided to get
back into coaching last year when the NFA was committed to a reorganization
of the league, which meant franchises were devoted to improving their
teams by seeking out high quality athletes, many of whom are ex-college
players.
.....HARSHMAN'S NO. 1 task last
season was trying to dig up veteran ballplayers, some who had sat
out a year or two of semi-pro ball.
....."I felt it was important to
get a corps of people who were experienced and had been involved in
a winning program," Harshman explained. "I felt it was real
necessary to get that kind of attitude."
....."We take on the attitude that
we're not here just to play football, we want to prepare championship
caliber athletes and championship caliber teams."
.....About 80 percent of last year's
championship team is back again for the new season, which starts this
Saturday, July 20, in a 7:30 p.m. exhibition game at Troy Field against
the Skagit Valley Raiders.
.....Perhaps the most noticeable returnee
is wide receiver Harry Washington, last year's Most Valuable Player
in the NFA. The talented athlete played on two of Harshrnan's championship
teams with the Bengals. He attended Colorado State State University,
and also played in the National Football League with the Minnesota
Vikings and Chicago Bears.
.....ANOTHER EX-PRO player is
wide receiver Randy Moon, who played at the University of Puget Sound
and then one year with Winnepeg of the Canadian |
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Football League.
.....In addition to the veteran ballplayers,
the Panthers also boast quite a bit of local talent. Thomas Jefferson
High grads Jeff Gart and Otis Embree will wear the Panther colors
along with Evergreen alumni Rich Sando, John Tresch, Toni Bartenetti,
Greg Panula and Steve Kaiser.
.....Newcomer quarterback Craig Maley
attended Mount Rainier, as did Gary Swift. Last year's " signal-caller
throughout most of the season was Highline grad John Peterman, who
led the league in passing. Kaiser was fourth in the league in rushing
a year ago despite missing two games with an ankle injury. Kaiser's
brother, Jerry, who went to Chief Sealth, also is a member of the
team.
.....Another former Highline student
who now is a member of the Panthers is Brian Malo. Fife alumni are
Scott Lazor and Kevin Juma, who played wide receiver for the University
of Idaho. Glacier's John Price also is suited up in Panther pads.
.....PERHAPS THE MOST well-known
member of the Panthers' organization is Glacier grad Craig Puki, who
went to the University of Tennesse and played linebacker on the San
Francisco 49ers' first Super Bowl team. He's now working as an assistant
coach for Harshman.
.....One new player who seems to epitomize
the dedication these semi-pro players show is Dave Hockabout. Hockabout,
an all-league player with the now defunct Peninsula organization,
drives down from Bremerton three days a week for practice after serving
each day in the Navy.
.....He's like many who hold down eight-hour
jobs during the day, but who haven't yet lost their desire to play
football. |