Another year brings another high turnout, and just as high expectations, for the Bothell High football team.

Due to the elimination of junior-high football programs in the Northshore School District, 164 kids in grades 9-12 turned out for football this year, equal to nearly one-tenth of the Cougar student body.

With strength in numbers on his side, head coach Tom Bainter is excited to get the year under way, as he and the rest of the community will soon get to see some talented seniors, as well as whole host of unproven juniors, get their chance to shine under the bright lights at Pop Keeney Stadium.

“Our team chemistry is good, I like the way they interact,” Bainter noted. “Our senior class is not a big class… so we’ll have a good mix of juniors and seniors out on the field. We’re just going to be young in some areas, and inexperienced, because a lot of those kids haven’t played on Friday nights yet. But I like our speed, I like our athleticism and I like the makeup of our team.”

SENIOR POWER

Although his senior class is considerably smaller than in years past, Bainter said that the upperclassmen he does have taking the field this year will be impact players, starting at the quarterback position.

After the graduation of Mitchell Muller, who shared the Kingco Crown Offensive Player of the Year title with teammate Colin Porter, it will be Austen Dahl’s turn to call the shots on offense.

“He’s been a great leader in the offseason in the weight room,” Bainter said of Dahl. “And with his work as a quarterback with Barton and those academies, he’s going to start at quarterback for us.”

Trent Sewell, a speedy track star and highly touted senior wideout, will be looking to haul in some of Dahl’s passes for scores, and the Cougars also have dangerous speed in tailbacks Seymour Ottorbech and Danny Wilson, as well as Caden Burk, who missed nearly the entire 2010 season with a knee injury.

On the lines, the Cougars graduated a couple of big names in Dallas Gosselin (39 tackles in 2010) and Landon Lydig (6-foot-4, 305 pounds), but Bainter isn’t worried about starting a slightly slimmer line than usual. “Our O-line’s pretty good, we should average probably 240 (pounds),” he said. “Our D-line’s not quite as big, but we’re quick. We’ve had those quicker, smaller lines before in the past and been just fine, so I hope this line can follow in that mold.”

COUGAR COMMITMENT

The Cougars’ football league, 4A Kingco, is arguably the deepest and most talented in the state. In fact, a team from Kingco has made it to the state championship game every season since 2003, including Bothell in 2006 and 2007.

And Coach Bainter wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This league makes you better,” he admitted. “You get out of our league and sometimes you have a easier time… but I’d want to play Skyline every year. I’m glad we play Woodinville and Inglemoor every year, and I’d love to play the Issaquahs and Eastlakes every year. It’s tough, yeah, but that’s how you improve.”

The 11th-year coach said that for his team to get over the playoff hump that has eluded the Cougars for the past three seasons, his team will have to stay healthy and get better each week, as some “growing pains” are to be expected with the inexperience and pressure of playing under the Friday night lights in front of thousands of fans.

“It’s a hard-working group, and we have to believe in ourselves, stay within what we can do, and get to our potential. When we do that I think we’ll be fine.”

The athletes themselves, after watching the previous year’s seniors lead the Cougar charge, are anxiously waiting their turn to lay it all on the line for their team.

“We’ve got a good lineup, a good roster,” said junior Will McIntyre, who ran a leg of Bothell’s state championship-winning 400 meter sprint team last spring. “We don’t got a lot of people coming back from varsity last year, but we’ve got a lot of passion, a lot of heart, and I’m feeling like this is going to be a good year.”

SCHEDULE

• Sept. 2 vs. Union

• Sept. 10 vs. Mount Si

• Sept. 16 at Newport

• Sept. 23 at Roosevelt

• Sept. 30 vs. Inglemoor

• Oct. 7 vs. Woodinville

• Oct. 14 at Garfield (Memorial)

• Oct. 21 vs. Ballard

* All games at 7 p.m.