If you haven’t been privileged to watch Hudson’s Bay’s Quadrese Teague play football in his first and only high school season, here’s what you’ve missed:
Nine of his 10 touchdowns this season are five of the past six games on offense, defense and special teams.
So big, yet so small standing at 5 feet 7. The part-strength, part-explosiveness suites his nickname “Baby Hercules” to a (T)eague.
“Like a little turbo engine,” he said. “When I take off, I’m gone.”
Playing high school football for the first time, and his first gridiron season since eighth grade, Teague’s a big reason, the Eagles say, why they’re where they are: 6-3 overall and postseason bound for the first time since 2001 when the program went 8-2 and reached the same stage of the playoffs they’ll be at Saturday when they face Bellevue (8-1) in the 3A state preliminary round. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Bellevue High School.
“That’s my dude,” senior running back Marco Cadiz said. “Without him, the season wouldn’t have gone how it did. That guy is a playmaker, and does everything the right way.”
A basketball and baseball standout, it took some convincing from Cadiz and others to get the speedster Teague out for football for the final time.
And the impact was instantaneous.
His breakout game came in a 38-25 loss to Mountain View on Sept. 29, taking two long kickoffs back for touchdowns. Since then, he’s had multiple-touchdown games in three of Bay’s final four regular-season games, including on defense, returning interceptions back for touchdowns in back-to-back weeks. He also had an 11-yard touchdown reception in Monday’s 3A Greater St. Helens League tiebreaker that gave the Eagles the third and final playoff spot.
The stardom even surprised Teague.
“I didn’t realize how much of an impact I was going to make,” said.
The Eagles face a Bellevue squad Saturday that’s one of the state’s most recognizable programs, winners of 11 state titles and two runner-up finishes between 2001 and 2015 under then-head coach Butch Goncharoff, before sanctions were placed on the program when an investigation uncovered WIAA rules violations. One of those sanctioned included a four-year postseason ban, later reduced to two years.
In September, the WIAA lifted the Wolverines’ two-year ban, making Bellevue eligible for postseason play in 2017.
Hudson’s Bay steadily has made an upward climb. Three years ago, the Eagles were 1-8 overall, and their 6-3 season is the most victories since going 8-2 in 2001. Now, they’re ready for the challenge of Bellevue, and a difference-maker could be Teague.
“I’m going to come ready to play,” Teague said. “I’m going to come and give it my all.”
