Unprecedented success
This autumn more than the leaves turned around the newly renovated campus of West Valley High School.
In fact, there’s been a genuine renaissance on Buckeye Avenue.
The Eagles have enjoyed historic athletic success to start the 2007-08 school year, sending all four fall sports teams on to compete in postseason. For the football team, the post-season game was its first since 1987, when West Valley finished first in the now-defunct Frontier League. The Eagles reached the quarterfinals that season, losing to West Valley-Yakima in the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, 42-19.
The volleyball team’s postseason drought stretches back to 1994, when the Eagles reached the state Class 3A tournament. In its only state appearance, West Valley lost all three matches in pool play and did not advance.
“It has us running around, trying to make sure everything gets covered the way it needs to be,” athletic director Wayne McKnight said. “We have girls soccer players who are also cheerleaders who are trying to find a way to make it from their game, which starts at 3 p.m. Tuesday, to Ephrata in time for a 6 p.m. kick off in the football game. They’re not going to make it, but we’ll give it our best shot.”
The girls soccer team, which reached postseason for the first time a year ago, won its opening-round game Tuesday, shutting out Prosser, 1-0, to advance to the state Class 2A quarterfinals. The Eagles will face Great Northern League arch-rival Cheney for the fifth time this season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Karina Carpenter posted back-to-back shutouts – stopping Pullman 2-0 and Cheney 1-0 – to earn the Eagles the right to host the Mustangs. By the time the afternoon sun had died out in a burst of school-color orange behind the Eagles’ goal, Carpenter, sporting a pair of blood-red contact lenses that made her look even more intense than usual, had notched her third-straight blanking.
“I do think our defense is playing its best right now,” she said. “I like to be aggressive in goal. The way my defense is playing now, it gives me even more confidence and allows me to take a few chances back there.”
Junior midfielder Kayla Courchaine scored the game’s only goal 16-minutes into the first half.
“DeeDee (Garbe) passed back to me and I one-timed it on goal,” she said. “That was the longest goal I’ve ever scored.”
The ball soared high, heading toward the upper left corner of the Prosser goal. Mustangs’ goalkeeper Desi Tolcacher tried to fist the ball over the crossbar, but it deflected off the bottom of the stanchion and ricocheted into the upper netting.
The football team reached the postseason – a play-in game to determine a spot in the state playoff bracket. The Eagles traveled to Ephrata Tuesday, where they saw a 14-0 first-half lead evaporate, falling 28-20 to the Tigers.
This year West Valley was 4-3 in the Great Northern League to earn the fourth playoff spot.
“One of my assistant coaches told me that he had his best day as a football coach last weekend,” coach Craig Whitney said. “He told me it was coming to football practice on Sunday, because it meant he was coaching in the postseason for the first time.”
Whitney’s wife brought in cake and the team celebrated after Monday’s final practice under the lights.
“We’re making sure we enjoy what we’ve accomplished,” Whitney said. “We didn’t accomplish everything we set out to do, but this is a big step forward for us.”
West Valley football had its share of post-eason success, reaching state championship games three times since 1975, when coach Greg Gavin led the Eagles into the Class 3A finals for the first time, losing to Sumner, 11-0. The following season the team returned to the title game, knocking off Hoquiam, 30-21 for its one state championship. West Valley lost to Olympia, 28-14, in the 1984 Kingbowl, and reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, 1986-87.
Since that time, the school bounced between a number of leagues before settling into the Greater Spokane League for four seasons beginning in 2001. Last year the school dropped to Class 2A and entered the GNL, the reincarnation of the old Frontier League.
Volleyball opens State 2A play today at noon against Ellensburg at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
“We were one game away from getting there last year,” said coach Drew Wendle, who returns to the state tournament himself after a 10-year absence. “At this point, I think it’s a case of this team just being too good to not make it to state.”
The girls cross country team finished third at last weekend’s state Class 2A meet in Pasco, led by junior Krystal Hughes 13th-place finish. The boys cross country team placed fifth at last weekend’s state meet in Pasco. Senior Richard Keroack placed fourth in a time of 16:29.
“It’s been a lot of fun around here this week,” soccer coach Shelli Totten said. “There’s been a lot of excitement about all the different teams. I think we had the biggest crowd we’ve had all season for this game (Tuesday) – and that includes the people who drove up from Prosser. They had quite a few people here, too.”