Season is heating up
There comes a time in every fall season when high school football players just need to go out on a field and hit someone in an unfamiliar color.
For some teams, that begins tonight. For the rest, it’s Friday night as the 2004-05 football season gets underway.
There’s a long road from the end of one season to the beginning of the next. For most players there have been long months spent in the weight room, adding muscle to their growing frames. For many, the summer months have included conditioning workouts, summer camps and two-a-day practices in the heat of August — none of which counts in the standings but could spell the difference between success and failure under the Friday night lights.
The opening week’s schedule is nonleague: Sandpoint is at Central Valley; Coeur d’Alene is at East Valley; University travels to Lake City; and Mt. Spokane is at West Valley.
Central Valley Bears
The Bears are healing up at just the right time.
“We had a good summer camp and I was real pleased with how that came out,” coach Rick Giampietri explained. “We had a couple injuries. A couple of them were just before the season started. One of them was a hamstring injury to one of our cornerbacks, Blake Trimmer, but he should be back in time for (Friday’s game with) Sandpoint. The other was to Cameron Severns (also a defensive back). He cut his foot in the river and probably won’t be back for another two weeks. We had our center (senior Bryce Morrison) break his hand about a week ago, so we’re rebuilding there a little bit. He’ll be able to play in about a week.”
Aside from the injuries, Central Valley returns an experienced defense, led by the league’s most experienced linebacking corps. Two-year starter Kyle Renz (6-foot, 177 pounds) starts alongside three-year starter Tommy Kadoya (6-foot, 211).
“That core is solid as long as we keep them healthy and moving in the right direction,” Giampietri said.
The offensive and defensive line has plenty of potential — and plenty of beef.
Both tackles started a year ago. Senior Steve Walsh, a 6-foot-4, 254-pound left tackle; junior C.E. Kaiser (6-5, 256) at right tackle. Senior Kameron Kempe starts at right guard and stands in at 6-foot and 293; junior Chase Schmidt starts at left guard at 6-1, 265.
“Our line should be pretty good,” the coach said. “There’s some good size there, and if we can get their pad level lower, we should be pretty competitive.”
East Valley Knights
The Knights return eight starters from a year ago, when the team went 7-3, and coach Adam Fisher welcomed back 30 players who earned varsity letters.
East Valley drops down to once again play as a Class 3A school in the GSL, which means the Knights will compete for a state playoff berth with Cheney, Clarkston, North Central and West Valley.
Gone is tackle Andy Roof, now at Washington State, but the players who remain are young and athletic.
Junior Jye Lanphere (6-foot, 160) was a first-team All-GSL defensive back a year ago and could make a dazzling quarterback for the Knights — a triple threat out of the backfield.
Junior Austin Wardsworth (6-foot-1, 245) was an honorable mention offensive lineman last season. Newcomer Tony Ellis (5-10, 185, Jr.) steps into the offensive line and will double as a linebacker. Cody Irby (6-2, 210, Sr.) will start at tight end and double on the defensive line.
Senior Spencer Shaw (6-foot, 200) will see time at running back and linebacker, where he was a second-team All-GSL selection last year.
University Titans
The Titans were hit hard by the injury bug last year en route to a 3-6 record.
“The last five years I’d never seen anything like the way it went last year,” coach Mike Ganey said. “We lost five starters to injury.”
“Vince Lombardi had a saying: ‘For every rookie I start, I lose one game.’ The flip-side of last year is that we have more kids with experience.”
Another factor working in the Titans’ favor is the fact that itsjunior class enters its third season in the program — the first freshman class at U-Hi.
“Before we’d be sending our junior varsity kids out to play against GSL teams that had their players in the system for a year, and we were playing kids who were from three different middle schools and were still learning our system,” he said. “The fact that these kids already have two years in our system is huge.”
Starting quarterback J.D. Peterson is one of those beneficiaries, beginning his third season in the University system.
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Reveivers include returnee Mike Conrad, a second-team all-league pick a year ago, Alex Yerges and Brady Kenworthy.
“We’ll use a variety of formations and look for match-ups we think are good for us,” Ganey said.
The Titans are looking for their offensive line to gel. Senior Nate Thompson is the lone returning starter.
“We have good balance on both sides of the ball,” Ganey said. “And we have some strong senior leadership. We should be okay.”
West Valley Eagles
Craig Whitney begins his first season as a head football coach and is ready to get under way.
“We are about as healthy as we can be and we’re anxious to get started,” he said. “We’re the smallest school in the GSL, so we cannot be outworked. We have to put in the time. It’s pretty exciting to see it all come together.”
Football fortunes have not smiled on the Eagles since joining the Greater Spokane League, where being the smallest school in the league has its most serious consequences. Whitney is well aware of those challenges, however, after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant.
A year ago the team was 1-9, and 14 starters were lost to graduation.
Junior Tyler Hobbs (6-foot4, 220) returns at tight end and defensive end, where he was a second-team All-GSL pick a year ago.
Junior Phillip Gannon (5-9, 175) returns at running back, with a pair of returning offensive linemen to run behind: senior A.J. Loehding (6-1, 205) and junior Jim Warren (6-1, 245).
Junior Cam Wieber (6-1, 185) gets the start at quarterback. Junior Mitch Phillips (5-9, 170) will play both at running back and at linebacker, and sophomore Corey Lewis (6-1, 190) will see action both at tight end and linebacker.
“We had a pretty good scrimmage the other night, and we sat the kids down and went over the film,” Whitney said. “We worked on what we could correct, and it was exciting to see the kids make that kind of improvement.”
Freeman Scotties
The Scotties went all the way to the state Class 1A quarterfinals before losing their first game a year ago, chalking up a school-best record of 11-1 and a Northeast A League championship.
This year the team looks to reach the postseason for the fourth consecutive year.
The starting quarterback job has been a battle between sophomore Andrew Dresback, younger brother of last year’s starter Jon, and junior Dylan Mohandro, who played for the Scotties junior varsity.
Whoever starts at quarterback, the primary task will be to get the ball into the hands of all-league running back Kevin Hatch (5-foot-9, 175, Sr.), an electrifying runner from scrimmage and a breakaway threat as a receiver.
Senior Nate Altmeyer (5-8, 165) will team with Hatch in both the offensive and defensive backfields. Newcomer Slade Maul (6-3, 180) will see time at defensive back and give whoever starts at quarterback a big target from scrimmage.
The line will be a strength on both sides of the ball.
Jacob Broili (6-3, 300, Sr.), Kenny Fredrickson (5-9, 190, Sr.) and David Takisaki (5-9, 185, Sr.) all started on both offense and defense last year. Dan Sanders (6-3, 220, Sr.) and Rory Malloy (6-1, 195, Sr.) started on the offensive line and doubled as linebackers a year ago. Sanders was an all-league pick as an offensive lineman and Takisaki on defense. Senior Bryan Riggs (6-foot, 180) was an all-league linebacker and doubled at tight end.
“I think we’ll be a title contender, absolutely,” sixth-year coach Jeff Smith said. “Colfax is the same every year,and I figure we’ll both be right there. I think Newport has to gain confidence dropping down a league … and Kettle Falls is a big question mark. (The Bulldogs) were young and one of the better teams we saw and have a whole lot of potential.”