All it took was one play for Morton-White Pass’ Liam Pelletier to find his way into the backfield. It set the tone for what ended up as a memorable day surrounded by some of the best middle school talent in the state.
The soon-to-be Timberwolves edge and running back in less than a month when fall camp opens will already be coming in with some hardware. He finished the day with two sacks and a fumble recovery for the blue team in the eighth grade game at the Washington All State Game held at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
“Pretty proud,” Pelletier stated. “I played pretty well.”
Pelletier isn’t much of a talker off the field. He prefers to let his game do the yapping.
The legitimate first play of the game is when Pelletier came away with a sack. He added another one later and recovered a fumble.
“It is fun to watch,” Joe Hamre, Pelletier’s step-dad and one of his coaches, said. “Watching him get more confident, understand the game better.”
MWP head coach and athletic director Lee Metcalf reached out to prospective parents to gauge interest to nominate a player. It wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill process where an athlete was nominated and they’re automatically in the game.
The All State game, a first of its kind for middle schoolers, had a committee watch game film and send out invites from that. Pelletier made the cut.
“Go against better people and test my talents,” he admitted.
In baseball this spring, Pelletier was a second team all-C2BL pick for the Timberwolves. His older brother Brecken just wrapped up his prep career for a team that made a 2B crossover game in 2024.
Hamre feels the two siblings are unique players within themselves.
“Liam is competitive, more of a football guy,” Hamre said.
Throughout middle school, Hamre has gotten a first-hand look at the growth of Pelletier. He could potentially go both ways on varsity as early as Week 1 on the road against Highland.
“(The) 2B league is tough,” Hamre said. “Coach side of me, stuff he’s gotten away with (before) won’t happen. It’ll be nice to see him play more competition.”
Pelletier will only get one year of 11-on-11 football at MWP.
The 2025 season will be the final one before Morton and White Pass go their separate ways and return to eight-man football. Morton will reclaim its old nickname as the Huskies.
Pelletier has been around football much of his life and started playing it in second grade. He’s not taking any opportunity for granted, starting with a tradition of a midnight practice when camp opens on August 20.
“(I just like) hitting people,” Pelletier said. “I’m very excited.”
