Lift from ex-skier
CV has reached the peak with quarterback Bledsoe
While future Greater Spokane League athletes were cutting their teeth on youth football as youngsters, Central Valley’s Blake Bledsoe was on the slopes.
Bledsoe was a regionally ranked junior ski racer which left no time for the game, despite his football lineage.
Today, as CV’s quarterback, he’s a reason they have a 15-3 record over the last two seasons and are on the cusp of a postseason playoff berth.
“My first real year of football was in the seventh grade,” Bledsoe said. “I was a big-time ski racer and baseball player.”
Through age 14, Bledsoe focused on Junior Olympics skiing. He won several J3 titles and said he was ranked in the top 10 nationally for his age group in every event. He spent one week at a national development camp in Utah for top-15 western United States age-group racers and just missed qualifying for an international competition in Italy.
But the grind, expense and unsure future became too much and he gave it up about the time football came calling. Bledsoe played two years of middle-school football at various positions. When he got to CV, he decided to give the quarterback position a whirl.
“Always, me and dad played catch and my arm got better,” Bledsoe said. “My freshman year I figured why not try out for it and if they moved me, OK.”
Bledsoe’s father, Gordon, was a Bears lineman during the first two years of the GSL in 1976 and ’77. After a year spent at Columbia Basin College, he was a three-year letter-winner on defense at the University of Oregon.
He spent 10 years as a Navy pilot – Blake was born in Florida and lived in Texas before the family moved back to the Spokane area – and flies for Federal Express.
CV varsity coach Rick Giampietri saw potential in Blake as either a quarterback or running back. That combination of strong legs and throwing ability has propelled CV into a tie for first place in the GSL heading into tonight’s season finale at home against dangerous Mead.
“He’s matured a bunch this year and is holding the ball instead of throwing into coverage,” Giampietri said. “And he’s scrambling, which is what we wanted him to do a year ago.”
Bledsoe is the fifth-leading passer in the GSL, completing more than 60 percent of his passes for 934 yards. He’s added 148 on the ground, much of it improvised.
“We just knew he had tailback ability,” Giampietri said. “(We told him), if you don’t like what you see, go. If it looks like pea soup, just start running.”
Bledsoe displayed innate quarterbacking ability even as a sophomore when he was thrust into varsity duty in the season opener because of injuries and threw a touchdown pass against Lewis and Clark. He was 9 for 18 that year in limited time.
Last year CV was 8-2 in his first year as a starter. He was 66 for 126, totaled 975 yards and eight touchdowns, but rushed for just 54 yards.
“A year ago if it was second-and-10 he’d throw an incompletion,” Giampietri said. “The biggest thing is now he’s tucking it and getting whatever he runs. I’d rather it was second-and-3 off a scramble than second-and-10 – or second-and-13 off a sack.”
Bledsoe agrees that last year he didn’t use his ability as much as he could have, calling it a learning year. The revelation came in the final game, a crossover victory against Eisenhower when he threw, ran and broke tackles.
“That made me feel that I was understanding what I’m doing,” Bledsoe said. “I think I have a lot more freedom this year.”