The Mount Rainier Rams sit atop the heap in boys soccer for the Seamount League after the first-half of the season was nearly completed with a 3-0 win over their Kennedy Lancer rivals Thursday at Starfire in Tukwila.

The Rams' first-place mark is 6-0, 6-0-1. Their only tie? That was 2-2 against Thomas Jefferson of Federal Way, a top South Puget Sound League 4A team this season, maybe a to-be state champ in their respective classification. So, yeah, the Rams are pretty good so far.

So is Jerry Capodanno's team going in a good direction once again?

"Hopefully, we'll see what happens," he said. "It's a long season, and, then the playoffs, which are almost a half a season, too."

Hopefully, for the Rams, the playoffs will be a half season. Because that means the Rams will have gotten back where they were three years ago, through 3-4 state 'round' games and then to the state title game . Ironically enough, head coach Dave Hanson, who now coaches the TJ Raiders, was the coach of that team then.

So, looking at the Seamount first half of the season, the Rams look like the team to beat so far. Hazen, as of this writing, was the only team left to play to complete the first half of the season. And Hazen won state last year. So, things are good now for the Rams, but what about their predicted placement at the end of the season in a Seamount that should be a blood-fest for first place before it's through?

"First," said A.J. Nitzel, captain and sweeper for the Rams.

"Undefeated," said co-captain Jeremy Lugo, who made seven saves in the game versus the Lancers.

OK, so they're a little but biased, but so far so good. And no one can argue thus far with what they've done.

The Rams were almost not undefeated anymore after this game versus the Lancers, however. The first half was evenly played, a 50-50 of play controlling the ball. The Lancers outshot the Rams, 5-4, in the first half. The Rams keeper made five saves to the Lancers' goalie three.

But the second half was where change nearly took place, and not in the Rams favor.

"We were very fortunate when they hit the two crossbar shots in the second half, they could have changed the game," said Capodanno.

Sure, take away a Darwin Jones left-footed, well-placed, shot that Lancers keeper Sean Miller, did a diving save on, one minute into the first half, and take out a near-header goal from Rams forward Jones in the penalty box 10 minutes later that Miller saved, too. You have what could have been a very different game just a couple, three minutes into the second half. The two biggest threats of the game were from the Lancers, talking of actual shots on-goal that hit the goal itself.

Just two minutes into the 40-minute second half, the Lancers' Rudishi Muschett shot a bullet from the top of the 18-yard-box that kicked off the top of the crossbar, going straight up almost. Then Lugo came out and jumped high, with a knee out to save it. Seconds later, Lancers senior captain Tony Armitage blasted the Tango netward. His shot also hit the crossbar, the underside this time, so the ball bounced pretty much straight down. Again, Lugo came up with the loose ball.

Let's not forget, before all that happened, with six minutes left in the first half, the Rams put together a nice touch-and-go play of sophomore Kyle Danielson to, running into the 18-yard box for the ball, senior captain, Dalton Rockwell, blasted it far-post past a diving Miller, for a 1-0 Rams lead.

Then came halftime and then came those two rocket shots from 20 yards out from Muschett and Armitage.

Then came a nice ball from Danielson to Jones, who was shadowed well by Lancers senior defender Ryan Monson, who got the ball away inside the 18-yard box five minutes into the second half.

Kennedy and the Rams played pretty even the next 15 minutes before a good kick into the middle from the Rams' Danielson. The ball found Jones after ricocheting inside the penalty box. And Jones, with the ball near him, went down. "Tripped" was Capodanno's retake on it after the game. He explained what should not be done where.

"Don't trip him in the box," said Capodanno, adding, "He got hit over harder in box more times that weren't called. Sometimes they call them and sometimes they let them play."

On this occassion, play was stopped and the Rams were awared a penalty kick and Jones got to take it and he made it to up the lead to 2-0.

The Rams scored one more goal in the 72nd minute of play. Rockwell, again, from Arnoldo Jose Orozco, which was more from a defensive breakdown than anything else. The game was over, the will to win was far removed from Kennedy by then.

"It was a good game and it will be a good game next time, too," said Capodanno.

The Rams are good. Talking to the captains, it is well learned.

"We have an all-around, rock-solid team," said Nitzel. "We have a bunch of quick guys."

"Darwin is exceptionally fast," added Rockwell. "But we all are pretty quick."

Nitzel chimed in, "Dalton is slow."

That's not true is it? You run OK don't you, Dalton?

"Yeah, you could say that," he said, laughing a little, as all three teased around afterward on each other.

Nitzel then said, "We have a smart team."

"Yeah, we have a smart bunch of captains," said Rockwell.

And don't forget their coach, Capodanno.

"He's a good coach," said Nitzel.

"He's impassioned. He cares about you," added Lugo.

"Yeah, sometimes he cares too much," said Nitzel.

Lugo was right there, joking, "You can never care too much."

It looks like this team cares about each other and will be there at the end. Time will tell just how much they care (to win). Kennedy will be a good game the next time these two play, per Capodanno. And the good fight for first place would not be complete without mentioning Highline who has a stellar cast returning in senior playmaker Evan Richter, speedster striker, Mowlid Hersi, steady Marshall Kosaka and defender Andres Suazo-Ramirez. That's a team, that if they play together and fight right, will be there at the end, too.

"The top four are all really tough," said Tim Crawley, the Highline head boys coach for 28 years with a state 3A title back in 1995 for the Pirates. Crawley was in attendance at the Rams-Lancers game at Starfire. His Highline team is 4-2 in the Seamount, but that's very deceptive because they lost to Kennedy and Mount Rainier with top players missing. They just handed last year's state champ Hazen a 2-1 loss (Wednesday), the Highlanders' first of the season. So, watch out for the Pirates, too.

Kennedy has a 4-2 record this season.

Hazen, Kennedy, Highline, Mount Rainier.

Who will win it?

With state berths on the line from the Seamount postseason league playoffs with not enough seeds for all four to get in to the state tournament likely -- depending on just how many seeds qualify from here. It will come down to one thing for who makes it in and who gets left out: Who cares the most.