This coming Saturday, the Hatchett family will be in a bit of a pickle–and they will try to make pickle juice out of it.
In early August the mother of current Washington offensive lineman Geirean Hatchett and future Husky offensive lineman Landen Hatchett received the exciting news that both of her boys would be playing in the same city on the same day. Her eldest son Geirean and the Huskies will be facing off against the 11th-ranked Michigan State Spartans at Husky Stadium. Six miles away her middle son Landen will be taking on Glacier Peak at Lumen Field.
And that’s where the predicament began.
“I was happy for about 6 seconds,” joked the boy’s mother Jana Hatchett.
Until she looked at the start time of 2:20 pm for the FHS/Glacier Peak game–and therein lies the problem: Geirean’s game against Michigan State is slated to kickoff at 4 later that same afternoon.
“A high school game is usually about 2 hours long, so we can make it work,” Jana said.
And she should know how to make it work because, for the last 9 years, there have been at least 2 but sometimes three Hatchett boys in football uniforms around the Pioneer City.
Ferndale is home to Husky legend Jake Locker and Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pedersen. In this small town 15 minutes south of the US/Canadian border, football reigns supreme. Golden Eagles’ Football is to Ferndale as the Huskies and Seahawks are to Seattle.
After years of shuttling three boys between peewee practices and games for Chance, the youngest, middle school practices and games for Landen, and then high school practices and games for Geirean requires constant communication between Jana and her husband, Bill could teach as a master class.
“Lots of texting and calling during games,” Jana chuckled. “Bill sometimes doesn’t like the level of detail I provide in texts, so he calls to get the extra info.”
Geirean was the first in Ferndale’s Royal Blue and Gold in 2016 and now it’s Landen who is two games into his senior year. Jana and Bill have rarely gotten to see their boys play on the same day, much less in the same city, and only one season (2019) in the same uniform.
Their eldest is rising in the ranks of Washington’s offensive line, seeing time on the team’s second offensive unit. He has played in both of Washington’s games this season.
Likewise, Landen’s stock has been soaring since committing to the Huskies on June 29th of this year. Last winter he was rated as a mid-3 star interior offensive lineman with a composite rating of .8517 which rose to .8747 in the middle of July. He is now rated .8900 and the 30th best interior offensive lineman in the country, according to 247Sports.
Sometimes on game days Jana and Bill have split rooting duties, like last Saturday. Mom Hatchett attended Landen’s home football game that was played up at the Canadian border at Blaine High School while Ferndale’s new stadium is completed. Two hours south, dad Hatchett took in Geirean’s game against Portland State at Husky Stadium.
This coming Saturday they will be faced with a different rooting predicament with both having games going at the same time, in the same city, in venues 6 miles apart.
But that’s not even the start of their football day.
“We are actually starting the day at a 9 am football game for our youngest, Chance’s, 7th grade Junior North Cascade Youth Football League team,” she said. “Then immediately heading down to E1 to tailgate.”
After the tailgate at Husky Stadium they will head over to Lumen Field for Landen’s game at about 2:00. That game is expected to end at around 4:20. From there it’s a couple of minute walk to the light rail station that will take them on a 22-minute ride back to Husky Stadium.
“We will be doing some commuting that’s for sure,” Jana said.
And communicating.
With all that’s going to be happening this weekend, you can bet that the Hatchetts have their best running shoes this coming Saturday—all 5 of them.
