Junior standouts fuel Olympia’s passing game in return to 4A South Puget Sound League

It’s a blessing Olympia High School coach Nick Mullen has never had before during his 13 seasons as a head coach and one he can’t recall another team having.

During the Bears’ abbreviated spring season, sophomore quarterback Gabe Downing became a star, earning All-Area first team honors in The Olympian. His top two receivers? Sophomores Mason Juergens and Parker Fouts, both first-team All-South Sound Conference and second team All-Area selection.

Having a core of juniors who more than proved themselves as sophomores to build a passing game around, as Olympia does this fall, isn’t common.

“I’ve never seen it,” said Mullen, in his second season leading Olympia’s program after 11 years at Timberline.

Downing, who saw brief action on varsity as a freshman behind senior standout Nathan Hermann in 2019, completed 90 of 157 passes for 1,424 yards and 11 touchdowns this spring. Over the summer, he was ranked No. 5 in the class of 2023 coming out of the three-day quarterback evaluation competition known as the Northwest 9.

“Gabe’s more advanced for his years than any quarterback I’ve ever had,” said Bears’ offensive coordinator John Moorhead, formerly head coach at Rochester and an assistant at Steilacoom, Curtis, Spanaway Lake and Pullman. “He has all the basic skills, but what sets him apart is his processing speed. We run an option offense. His mental ability post-snap is what makes him extremely effective for us.”

Fouts points to Downing’s accuracy as a passer for making their production happen, while Juergens says the quarterback has a strong will to win.

Mullen also ranks Downing high on a list of quarterbacks he’s coached, a group that includes The Olympian’s 2018 player of the year Hunter Campau. He also appreciates Downing having a solid group of receivers – as many as eight may see varsity action this fall – led by Fouts and Juergens.

Juergens caught 407 yards worth of passes in those five spring games, Fouts 302.

“Fouts has gotten bigger and stronger during the off-season. Juergy’s a monster,” Mullen said. Downing said Fouts is the team’s best route runner and praised Juergens as perhaps the most physical receiver in the Bears’ league, even as they transition back from a one-year COVID-19 pandemic forced season in the 3A SSC to the 4A SPSL.

“His physicality off the ball is hard to match,” Downing said.

Again, Moorhead points to the players football IQs.

In Oly’s option offense, receivers read the defense and react, running one of a sequence of patterns the quarterback knows to look for.

“Our receivers pick where they’d going post-snap,” Moorhead said. It works because “they’re very mature. I was impressed with the entire group last year.”

For Downing, Juergens and Fouts, developing the instincts needed to successfully operate with the freedom Olympia’s offense affords them, has been an ongoing process for years. They’ve played together since fifth grade, when Juergens and Downing attended Pioneer Elementary and Fouts went to Centennial.

“We were all excited to see how things worked out last year,” said Fouts. “It’s something we’ve been working towards since freshman year.”

Juergens said the group has always had a good connection and got together to throw four or five times a week during an off-season also packed with other sports – track for Fouts, basketball for Juergens and baseball for Downing – though all three say football is their primary sport.

“We’re always hanging out together, doing everything together,” said Downing. “Throughout the whole summer, we’ve been together.”

“These are the guys we hit up to do things outside of football as well,” Fouts added. “We’re always at each other’s houses, everything is intertwined.”

Downing’s dad, Josh, played quarterback at Marysville-Pilchuck. With Gabe starting on varsity, younger brother Cameron likely to start at QB for Olympia’s freshmen and two other younger brothers playing youth football, a family tradition of Bear signal callers may be in the making.

Gabe, with his high ranking among Northwest quarterbacks, is hopeful of a college career, but hasn’t received any offers yet, perhaps in part because his height, listed between 5’10” and six feet isn’t towering. But Moorhead has a fact he urges recruiters to pay attention to:

“Gabe’s the same height as Drew Brees and Russell Wilson.”

Meanwhile, the Bears also return a pair of All-SSC offensive linemen in 6-3, 290 pound senior Hunter Irish, who has bounced back from a serious illness, and 6-foot, 280-pound junior Dom Teft. Defensively, Juergens will contribute as a two-way player along with junior free safety Kenyatta McNeese and linebackers Max Tuitele, a senior coming off an injury, and junior Logan Matthews.

With some of the state’s best teams residing in the 4A SPSL, Mullen acknowledges the difficulty of his team’s schedule, but isn’t spending much time worrying about it.

“We know Graham-Kapowsin and Puyallup and Sumner are strong. They’ve got great coaches,” he said. “I don’t really care. We’ve got to work on our identity, be who we are and compete.”

OLYMPIA BEARS

Coach: Nick Mullen, 13th year (second at Olympia)

Spring 2021 record: 4-1

Offensive coordinator, base scheme: John Moorhead, pistol triple

Defensive coordinator, base scheme: Nick Mullen, 33 multiple

Top players: QB Gabe Downing, 5-10, 175, jr; WR/DB Mason Juergens 6-2, 180, jr; WR Parker Fouts, 6-4, 190, jr; OT Hunter Irish, 6-3, 290, sr; C Dom Teft, 6-0, 280, jr; FS/RB Kenyatta MkNeese, 5-8, 185, jr; LB/DL Max Tuitele, 5-10, 230, sr.

Outlook: There’s a buzz around Olympia football again since Nick Mullen took the job after leaving Timberline. A dynamic passing game, led by then-sophomores Gabe Downing and receiver Mason Juergens, gave some reasons for optimism during last spring’s shortened season. But that was in a shrunk 3A South Sound Conference. Now, Olympia is back in the 4A South Puget Sound League, and things will get tougher. State title favorite Graham-Kapowsin leads the pack, with Sumner and Puyallup always in contention. A top three finish seems unlikely, but could the Bears finish fourth? That’d be a positive sign of progress.

This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.