Mount Baker senior has loved the game since the beginning, but he wants more this year
Few, if any, high school players are more devoted to football in Whatcom County than Mount Baker’s Davin Beason. The senior captain says he “loves everything about the game” and has since he first remembers latching onto a ball when he was 3 or 4 years old.
“The first time I touched a football, I knew I would love the game,“ he said.
The 6-foot-1½, 230-pound three-sport athlete is something of a legend for how much time he spends watching film, how hard and enthusiastically he works in practice and how well he plays, especially during tight spots. When Baker needs a key tackle or a big block, Beason is the Mountaineers’ main man. He will lead the Class 1A Mountaineers (1-1) against Class 3A state playoff contender Seattle Prep at 7:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, at Seattle Memorial Stadium (the opponent was originally supposed to be Garfield).
“Davin was all over the field (on Saturday night) against Wenatchee,” Baker coach Ron Lepper said of the Mounties’ 10-0 road loss to the 4A team. “I thought our kids played extremely hard. They played their butts off, but we made too many mistakes on offense (including four turnovers).”
What Beason would love more than anything else would be to say he played for the state’s best 1A team, instead of suffering memorable but frustrating losses to some of the state’s best in his first three seasons.
After earning varsity playing time by the third game as a freshman, he went on to participate in Baker’s 1A state tournament loss to eventual state champion Royal. As a 1A All-Northwest Conference selection on both offense and defensive as a sophomore, he lost to Connell at state. As a junior, for the second season in a row, he endured a conference split with Lynden Christian, in years when NWC 1A teams each met twice.
The Lyncs finished second in the state in 2019 and went 5-0 in the abbreviated 2021 winter season, which might well have produced another state playoff spot for both the Lyncs and Mountaineers had there been playoffs. But Beason is back with a vengeance, working as hard as he can to give Baker its ninth consecutive trip to the playoffs (not counting winter 2021, of course).
He had an interception in Baker’s season-opening 43-8 road win over Life Christian. Beason, of course, has been inspired throughout his life by his father, Kevin Beason, who is in his fifth season as head coach at Sehome and starred for the Mariners in the 1980s.
“I remember also being inspired when I ‘ball-boyed’ for Baker when I was 12, 13 and 14,” he said. “It was a great experience. I was so looking forward to playing for coach Lepper.”
Beason, though, had already played tackle youth football since he was in second grade.
“I was hooked on the game right away,” he said. “I have always loved it. Now I want to play as long as I can. And then I want to coach football.”
“Davin works hard in all aspects of the game,” Lepper said. “He has a true love for the game.”
Beason has already fired off game film to several colleges, hoping to attract scouts to Baker’s games.
“I want to find a college that is the best fit for me,” he said, indicating that if he doesn’t get a Division I offer, he won’t hesitate to play Division II or III. ‘’It’s not about the level.”
Anyone who has seen Beason’s intensity, alertness and leadership on the field figures to be convinced he can find a place in the college game. Fittingly, this season he will play the positions of leaders — middle linebacker and center. He is likely good enough to play anywhere, what with good speed for a player his size. His tackling techniques are already worthy of a college player.
When Western Washington University still had a football team in Beason’s early school years, he loved attending games with his father.
“I really felt for the seniors in the last school year,” he said of not having a shot at the playoffs because COVID-19 limited all three school sports seasons to seven weeks, beginning in February. “Now I feel we have a pretty good shot at the playoffs.”
Ironically, father Kevin will have to see his son mostly on film, due to the conflicting schedules that Baker and Sehome play. But they are accustomed to that, having already spent three seasons doing so.
“I enjoy our conversations because we both love the game,” Kevin said. “Davin is very driven, internally driven.”
