TUMWATER — Every Tumwater football practice is clinical.
Players make the walk from the locker room towards the field, line up for stretches, then break into their respective groups and drills. A timer near the sideline keeps track of what period of practice the team is in, and players make the respective trip elsewhere when needed.
“We all love to be back,” senior defensive back Ethan Bello said. “It’s great to be out here playing football again.”
It’s a system and a process that has paid dividends for the Thunderbirds in recent years, specifically the last three seasons, each of which has ended with a trip to Husky Stadium in Seattle.
All three seasons, though, Tumwater has left the University of Washington without the golden ball.
“It’s a process every year,” Tumwater coach William Garrow said. “It works really well, we just gotta find a way to get over the last hump. They know what is required to succeed, it’s just a matter of doing it. As long as we keep working that process, eventually, good things happen.”
The long road back to The Greatest Setting started on Aug. 19, and over the past two-plus weeks, the T-Birds have attacked fall camp with an extra level of intensity and focus.
“This year especially, we’re trying to raise that standard up,” Bello said. “We call it ‘Raise the bar.’ That’s what we’re trying to do this year.”
Bello, a Harvard commit, will lead the defense alongside fellow senior DBs Grady Wall and Tyler Briscoe and linebackers Gavin Kaikkonen and Jayden Hinchcliffe.
It’s a core that was part of the 2025 defense that held its opponents to just 13 points per game and forced 33 turnovers last fall.
Garrow said that depending on the opponent, Wall, Briscoe, and Bello will rotate between corner and safety, which leaves the other two DB spots in nickel packages up for grabs.
“We’re trying to figure out what those other two spots are gonna look like,” Garrow said. “But we’ll piece it together. We’ve got some kids that can play. It’s just a matter of finding the right mix.”
Offensively, the unit will run through the offensive line, which is made up of four returners, including three seniors in Nate Lowery, Konrad Blake, and Landon Anchors.
Anchors will be the left tackle, Blake will sit inside of him as the left guard, and Lowery will be opposite them at right tackle. Junior Ethan Marson is also a returner, and he’ll play at right guard, and Finn Bracy is expected to start at center.
“They could be a special group,” Garrow said. “There’s a ton of experience in that group … They’re the heartbeat of the team.”
They’ll be protecting senior quarterback Jake Reid, who steps into the starting varsity role after starting on the C team his freshman year, the junior varsity team his sophomore year, and being the backup on the varsity team last fall.
“He’s a typical Tumwater kid,” Garrow said. “He’s really savvy and he understands our system and our offense … He’s gonna do a great job.”
Behind Reid will be the usual host of Tumwater backs, this year headlined by Briscoe, who rushed for 842 yards and scored ten total touchdowns in 2025. Wall and Hinchcliffe combined for nearly 700 more yards and 11 more touchdowns on the ground, and Kaikonnen, Logan Budd, and Nick LaPraim will rotate in.
As usual, the Thunderbirds will be tested early and often.
Their original Week 1 matchup against Puyallup is no longer scheduled, but instead, the Thunderbirds will be heading to Renton to face Liberty (Issaquah), a 3A state qualifier last November.
After that, the T-Birds will host Steilacoom and 4A Mount Si before facing three GSHL teams as part of the EvCo and GHSL’s defunct league merger and scheduling agreement.
After that, Tumwater will round out its regular season against Aberdeen, Black Hills, and W.F. West in league play.
If the season goes like it has the last several years, the T-Birds will be prepping for another postseason run come November.
“Everybody’s getting better, and we’re competing,” Bello said. “As a team and as a whole, I feel like we’re gonna do really great this year.”
