Mike McMahan is looking for a few good players — the bigger, generally, all the better.
A longtime semi-pro football player and coach, McMahan is looking to bring back semi-pro football to the Olympic Peninsula.
The longtime player and coach is seeking players for The Olympic Peninsula Jets, who are slated to kick off their Northwest Football Alliance in May.
McMahan hopes to have at least 25-30 players to take into the season.
“We have the talent on the peninsula,” he says. “It’s getting the word out, getting them to come to practices.”
Currently, the Jets have practices each Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Greywolf Elementary School, 171 Carlsborg Road.
McMahan said he’d add a weekday practice if there is enough interest from local players.
As of now, the Jets have a roster that boasts players from the far Northwest corner of the peninsula to the Bremerton area. It also includes a former Eagle standout in former Clallam Bay High star Eric Johnson Jr.
But McMahan says that the Jets will need some bulk.
“Finding the big guys (is key),” McMahan says. “You really don’t have a team (without them).”
The Olympic Peninsula Eagles saw action from 2006-2012 and found homes in Sequim, Port Angeles and Port Townsend.
McMahan was coach of the Eagles in 2010 and 2011 before stepping away from the team. But the three-time semi-pro Hall of Fame player — McMahan played quarterback in the Northwest Football League for 15 years for teams and has coached for 28 years, 12 of those with semi-pro teams — couldn’t stay away from football for long; last year, he was an offensive coordinator for the Port Angeles High School Roughriders.
Now, McMahan says, it’s time to give those out of high school a chance to fulfill their football dreams.
Where exactly they will do that is not determined, the Jets coach says.
“The biggest problem is finding a field situation,” he says. The Jets are gearing up for at least six games (three home, three away) in 2016, but McMahan hasn’t locked down a site for home games just yet.
Despite having played home games previously at Sequim High School, Port Townsend’s Memorial Field and Port Angeles’ Roosevelt Elementary School, those fields and PA’s Civic Field aren’t options right now, McMahan says, so he’s looking at possibly Quilcene or Chimacum to host games.
Jets team colors are red, white and blue. They’ll take on other teams in the Northwest Football Alliance this spring and summer, including the Snohomish County Thunder, Portland Shine, Seattle Orcas (based in Auburn) and Washington (based in Tacoma).
See www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=nwfootballalliance for more about the league.
For more information, contact McMahan via e-mail at mkmcmhn63@aol.com or call (425) 931-5111.
