The Kitsap Athletic Roundtable? That’s the new name of the club that was known for years as the Bremerton Athletic Roundtable, and in recent years as the Kitsap County Bremerton Athletic Roundtable (try putting that in a headline). Interim president Dusty Anchors made the announcement at the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame banquet on Saturday. This non-profit club’s been around 40-plus years and it wants to make sure that everybody knows the club serves people throughout the region, not just Bremerton.
KAR is throwing its first Halloween Pumpkin Bash on Oct. 30 at the Comfort Inn and it’ll cost you just $10 to get in the door. Everybody’s invited to come dressed as a sports figure. You know somebody will show up as Mel Kiper and there’s got to be a Ty Willingham lookalike out there? Or a Dawgfather? Or Gary Payton? All you have to do is find a Sonics’ jersey No. 20, slap on a pair of gloves and trash-talk all night. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best costumes. All of the proceeds will go to youth and amateur athletics in the region.
Old School: Stanford linebacker/fullback (Owen Marecic) scored two touchdowns 13 seconds apart during an impressive 37-14 win over Notre Dame on Saturday. Marecic scored on a 1-yard run and returned an interception 13 seconds later for another TD.
The bigger story is Stanford’s 4-0 and ranked No. 16 in the country. Coach Jim Harbaugh’s turned the Cardinal into the most physical team on the West Coast. Harbaugh’s brought that Big 10 mentality to Stanford. It reminds you a little bit of what Don James did when the former Kent State coach came to Washington.
Playmakers: Lost in the Seahawks strange win over the Chargers on Sunday was the continued emergence of rookie Golden Tate and the two sacks and all-around outstanding play of defensive end Chris Clemons.
Tate caught four passes for 33 yards and had three punt returns for 44 yards. He, like the rest of the Seattle’s offense, disappeared in the second half, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds his way to end zone.
And even though the Seahawks were shredded for 518 yards by the Chargers, Clemons showed some much-needed pass rushing ability off the edge. He’s not got three sacks and four quarterback hits in two home games.
Give Boise credit: All of a sudden Boise State’s gone from the blue-turf darlings to the most-hated college football team in the country. The Broncos beat Virginia Tech, they beat Oregon State, and they get disrespect because of a so-called weak schedule. Sure, the Broncos have some easy games ahead in the Western Athletic Conference, but they’ll be challenged by the likes of Fresno State, and Nevada. The strength-of-schedule stuff doesn’t play out anymore. South Dakota just went toe-to-toe with Nebraska before falling 17-3. I think Boise would be challenging for a league championship if they were in the Pac-10, Big 10, Big 12 and even the SEC. All they do is win. If Boise rolls the table again, they deserve to play for the national championship.
Tony Wroten update: The Garfield basketball star says he’s going to announce his college decision on Oct. 7. It seems he’s narrowed his choices to Louisville and Washington.
COLLEGIANS
North Kitsap senior Nick Benish has committed to George Fox, one of the top NCAA D-3 baseball schools in the country. The Bruins from Newberg, Ore., were 87-41 the past three years. Benish, a catcher, is currently playing for Baseball Northwest’s scout team. (Note: This corrects an earlier post that said Joe Benish was going to George Fox. Joe’s the older brother, also a catcher, who just finished his CC career at Skagit Valley).
This doesn’t surprise me, but Howard McDonald, a sophomore linebacker from Central Kitsap, leads Eastern Oregon in tackles after five games with 47. McDonald’s had 6.5 for loss.
Brandi Hamre, a junior from Central Kitsap, has three goals and four assists for the 7-0-1 Seattle Pacific Falcons, who are ranked No. 8 nationally in the NCAA D-2 polls.
Washington State’s Ruby Roberts, a freshman from Kingston, won the Erik Anderson Cross Country Invitational on Saturday in Spokane. Washington State on Saturday. Roberts covered 5,000 meters in 18:27.71. It was her second varsity victory.
Are you sure it’s not Nick Benish committing to go there, and not older brother Joe?