[12] September 30, 2011 www.bellevuereporter.com

Contact and submissions:Josh Suman

jsuman@bellevuereporter.com or 425.453.5045SPORTS

B E L L E V U E

Dr. Stephen Hughes is a specialist in head injuries at Overlake Medical Center and a team doctor at Mt. Si. CHAD COLEMAN, Bellevue Reporter

BY JOSH SUMAN

jsuman@bellevuereporter.com

At Eastside Catholic School in Sammaish, there were 37 documented concussions at the high school level and 18 more in middle school youths during the 2010-2011 school year. Twenty-one of the 55 came in football.

In its � rst year of playing football, Bellevue Christian School has already seen a rash of concussions including one that may keep a player from participating in basket-ball as well. � e numbers were lower at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, where there were 25 documented con-cussions across all sports. But one of those involved spinal complications and ended a player’s career and three other student-atheletes saw their football season come to an end. Two Totems’ football players have already been concussed in the opening weeks of this season.

Both Bellevue High School and Eastside Catholic employs the ImPACT testing system, which is used by a bevy of NCAA athletic programs, over half of the NFL and much of MLB and MLS. � e 20-minute test, which was de-veloped in the early 1990s by Drs. Mark Lovell and Joseph Maroon, measures verbal and visual memory, processing speed and reaction time, attention span, working memory and other factors that are then compared to baseline results to determine whether or not a player is suited to return to action.

“I’m really happy with it,” EC athletic trainer Kristen Slonksy said. “Nothing is full-proof, but what we do makes me feel safe about putting those kids back out on the � eld.”

Slonsky emphasized that she does not use ImPACT to decide whether or not an athlete has su� ered a concus-sion, but rather as another tool to measure recovery once symptoms have begun to subside. Slonksy also uses a daily checklist where athletes can detail the scale of their symp-toms to measure the rate at which recovery is taking place.

While ImPACT is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, scienti� cally reliable system available for testing athletes who have been concussed, it has drawbacks as well, namely price.

ImPACT o� ers three yearly packages for schools or orga-nizations that gives access to the testing system. � e most a� ordable includes 75 baseline tests and 30 post injury tests at a cost of $350. A mid-range package priced at $500 allows for 300 baseline tests and 120 post injury tests and the most inclusive package o� ers 600 baseline tests and 240 post injury tests for a price of $750. Each of the packages are good for one calendar year and additional baseline and post injury tests can be purchased in an a la carte fashion in increments of 50.

At Sammamish High School, players are baseline tested before the season, but not using ImPACT so� ware.

Totems’ athletic trainer Cheryl Reed, who spent six years at Skyline High School in the same capacity, has developed

her own system of baseline testing using parts of the SCAT 2 (sports concussion assessment tool) test combined with other methods. SCAT 2 tests memory, coordination, bal-ance and delayed recall. She believes her system is more practical and more e� ciently executed at the high school level than ImPACT.

“In my professional assessment of the ImPACT so� ware, I don’t think it’s a usable tool at the high school level,” Reed said. “Without neurologists who can read the results, it’s not going to be terribly helpful. I know my athletes better than a piece of so� ware.”

Reed’s replacement at Skyline, Lian Yuen, also uses a modi� ed SCAT 2 testing system and performs baseline tests for Spartans’ athletes by request. Yuen said there simply is not enough time to baseline test each and every athlete. 60% of Skyline’s 1,395.68 (2010 WIAA average full-time enrollment � gure) students participate in one or more varsity sports.

Unlike her predecessor, however, Yuen believes ImPACT is a viable system at the high school level.

“I would love to do ImPACT testing,” Yuen said, adding that the system allows baseline tests to be taken by athletes on any computer, meaning they could complete the time-consuming and detail oriented process at home. Yuen also believes the ImPACT model, which varies the memory portion of the testing each time it is taken, would be useful in deterring overzealous athletes from cheating the test by memorizing responses.

Other schools such as Newport and Interlake do not

BY JOSH SUMAN

jsuman@bellevuereporter.com

It’s no secret that New-port and Bellevue have two of the most dangerous o� enses in the area, led by a pair of dual-threat mae-stros in Isaac Dotson and Tyler Hasty. But when the Knights welcome unbeaten Eastlake and the Wolver-ines travel to 3-1 Mercer Island tonight, it will be the defenses that hold the key to victory.

Facing a top-� ight quarterback is nothing new for the Bellevue defense in 2011.

First, it was Lucas Falk, an Oaks Christian transfer from Logan, Utah who is widely considered one of the top prospects at his position in the country for the class of 2013. Next up was Max Browne, a junior

from Skyline who holds scholarship o� ers from California, Clemson, Utah, Wisconsin and the home-town Washington Huskies. Neither could crack the Wolverines.

But those inside the Bel-levue program are looking at tonight’s test against UW commit and Elite-11 par-ticipant Je� Lindquist as the most di� cult of the three.

“Je� is probably a little more mobile than the other two and that creates some problems,” Bellevue head coach Butch Goncharo� said. “He’s a little harder to prep for.”

Bellevue senior defensive back Devin Murphy will be part of the unit charged with slowing Lindquist.

“� e key is that he can run the ball really well and has good size,” Murphy said of the 6’3, 225 pound

Mercer Island senior. “We’re going to need to rally to the ball when he’s running and be disciplined in our coverage.”

Despite Lindquist’s ability to create with both his arm and legs, the Wolverines are con� dent they will be able to matchup with Mercer Island at the line of scrim-mage, keeping the lineback-

ing corps free to attack if he takes o� running and close down passing windows when the Islanders take to the air.

Bellevue will also again have the services of running back Myles Jack tonight. Jack, who moved to Geor-gia during the o� season, is back living in Bellevue and will be eligible to play a� er

practicing for the past two weeks.

Knights hopeto reverse trend

Newport surrendered its lowest point total of the season last week in a 49-6 win over Cascade (Everett) a� er allowing 24 to Bothell and 34 to both Interlake and Mercer Island, which handed the Knights their only loss of the year.

� e Wolves, meanwhile, have scored more than 40 points in each of their previous three games a� er opening with a 35-14 win over Central Kitsap.

“� ey [Eastlake] are really good at running,” Newport senior and leading tackler Nathan Kubej said. “We’re going to need to be physical and real quick o� the ball.”

Eastlake boasts two of the top eight rushers in the conference, including Ryan Lewis, who has tallied 660 rushing yards through the � rst four games of the season to go with eight touchdowns on the ground.

While Lewis has set the pace in the running game, quarterback Keegan Kemp has thrown for 558 yards and six scores and is also a threat as a runner, going in for four touchdowns this season.

“We’re going to have to pressure him and make sure we break down,” Kubej said. “We see he likes to scramble sometimes.”

Since Newport rejoined 4A in 2008, the Wolves have had their number, winning each of the four meetings between the two, including a mini-playo� victory in 2009.

Bellevue, Newport hope to get defensive tonight[more HEAD GAMES page 13]

Je� Lindquist has Bellevue’s attention. CHAD COLEMAN, Bellevue Reporter

Head GamesPart two of our look at how local high schools are dealing with head injuries to young athletes