They Stalk The Line EV Pair Have Played Together Since 7th Grade

CORRECTION: 10-11-97: V8 The cutlines on the sports page in Thursday’s Valley Voice were inadvertantly switched, resulting in two East Valley players being misidentified.

A pair of East Valley High School linemen, the heart of the Knight football team, are still awaiting their definitive triumph.

Together since middle school, Ryan Stengle and T.J. Horgan won but two games in the seventh and eighth grades combined.

As Knight freshmen they lost to unbeaten Evergreen Junior High.

For the past three years they’ve started for the varsity which has gone 13-9-1 and last year reached the state playoffs.

But a Frontier League championship remains elusive, as demonstrated by Friday’s 25-12 loss to Cheney.

Their story, however, has been one of personal successes.

“Their sophomore year, how do I say this, the offensive line was very average,” said coach Jim Clements. “They were programmed to be two of our better athletes.”

Clements said he felt the then 220-pound Stengle, who had played fullback, tight end and quarterback during his formative years, would be the team’s best tackle. Horgan, a 235-pounder, started next to him at guard.

They played on the left, or blind side of the line, such was the confidence of their coach that they could protect the quarterback.

Since that first year, when the Knights fed off battering-ram fullback Jesse Ewell for a 6-2-1 record, EV has relied more and more on the Stengle-Horgan combination up front.

“We are evolving to take advantage of our size and strength, epitomized by those two kids,” said Clements.

Stengle is now a 6-foot-3 245 pounder and Horgan has actually slimmed down, to about 225 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame.

They still play on the left side of the offensive line and also start at defensive tackle in this, their third varsity season.

Stengle remembers back on their years at East Valley Middle School.

“We were a really horrible team,” he said. “In the eighth grade our quarterback was gone, they put me in and it was the only game we won all year.”

As ninth graders, when East Valley Middle School students were combined with those from Mountain View Middle School, both athletes found it a relief to have better teammates.

Stengle was shifted to the offensive line as a sophomore, admitting he preferred getting the ball.

“Everybody does,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how it would work at first. I just wanted to play.”

Horgan, because of his bulk, was always a lineman. He said he liked switching from a tackle to guard.

“I liked it a lot better because I got to hit people,” he said.

Horgan, a national Silver Gloves boxing runnerup, credited that sport with helping him shed excess weight.

Last year, EV fumbled away a league championship in the second half of the Knights’ final league game against Pullman. As the Frontier League’s second state playoff entrant, they nearly upset state power Prosser.

Because of Stengle and Horgan, the Knights were picked to win this year’s league title. EV participated in the Golden state Wing T camp on the Coast this summer and won the perfect play award for precise execution. Both linemen had been similarly recognized.

After EV won two straight non-league games, Clements said this is the best line he’s coached at the school.

Friday’s loss to Cheney, however, was a setback.

But there’s still time for a league championship, since Frontier teams play each other twice this year.

“We really want it in football,” said Stengle. “And we have more of a chance than teams in the past.”

Particularly knowing that a pair of three-year starting linemen are leading the charge.

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