Grid Teams Will Do Their Part For Happy Homecomings

The focus will be on football during homecoming week in the east end of the Valley.

Both East Valley and Central Valley are winding down a week of festivities that culminates with a pair of league games. East Valley meets Riverside in a match of unbeaten Frontier League teams. CV hosts winless Rogers in a Greater Spokane League game.

East Valley’s potent running game will get its first serious test in the 7:30 p.m. game.

“Riverside is a good football team,” said EV coach Jim Clements. “(On defense) they’ll show different fronts, jump into a 4-4 and blitz the heck out of ya.”

The Knights have averaged 244 yards on the ground to date, including 312 rushing against Clarkston during a 37-17 win in last weekend’s Frontier debut, EV’s third straight easy victory.

Most of the team’s 733 rushing yards, 499 to be exact, have been by Jesse Ewell.

But EV hasn’t been exactly one-dimensional. And Clements said they can’t afford to be against Riverside.

“We’ve got to throw and take advantage of man coverage,” he said.

In Clarkston last week, three of the Knight scores were on Brian LaMarche passes, including of 23 and 21 yards to Kyle LeGrant.

The Knights spotted the Bantams a field goal, then rattled off four straight touchdowns to lead 21-3 at half and 28-3 in the third quarter.

Ewell had 187 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and another 40 yards on two pass receptions.

“Our team is playing better,” said Clements following the surprisingly easy win. “One of the things is the way the offensive line has improved week to week.”

Riverside is also 3-0 this year beat Pullman 24-6 in its Frontier League debut after two successive Northeast A League titles and a state championship.

“It will be our toughest game to date,” said Clements.

‘Focus’ is catchword for Bears

After dispatching rival University to move to 3-0 in the GSL, Central Valley’s football team must guard against complacency.

Unbeaten Gonzaga Prep on Oct. 12 would appear to be CV’s last major obstacle, but the players remember last year all-too-well.

“It’s a matter of how focused we stay,” said coach Rick Giampietri. “We just have to work on getting better every week and don’t overlook anybody. We learned a lesson from last year.”

A last-game loss to previously winless North Central essentially kept CV from the playoffs.

Giampietri said total domination by the offensive and defensive lines was the reason CV so easily defeated rival University, 40-14.

CV’s front six, 270-pound Aaron Bauer, 230-pound Jerret Jordin, 215-pound Mike Van Houten, 255-pound Bob Perkes, 298-pound Mike Caruso and 210-pound Jeff Allen were the collective offensive Bear player of the week.

“For three weeks we’ve been over 400 yards of offense and that doesn’t happen often,” said Giampietri.

He also singled out the blocking of fullback Luke Stavros for helping make the running game go.

“He’s had half a dozen ‘pancakes’ as a lead blocker,” said Giampietri. A pancake is when a blocker levels his foe. “That takes the sting out of a linebacker.”

The Bears have talked all year long about staying focused on each game weekly and not succumb to overconfidence, particularly after beating three teams considered among the GSL’s most likely title challengers.

“I was thinking if we were 1-1 after the first two weeks we’d still be in the thick of it,” said Giampietri. “Now, where we are, you have to feel real good.”

Frontier cross country begins

The Frontier League cross country season begins today with a biggie at Bear Lake.

West Valley and Riverside, the two boys favorites, square off at 4 p.m., joined by Pullman.

The Eagles, led by senior Matt Wheeler, last week won the Wenatchee Invitational.

Wheeler, who has become the team’s number one runner, won in Wenatchee in 16:17.

East Valley has a bye this week but the defending state champion girls team has shown no sign of letdown.

The Knights finished fourth at a meet in Oregon, won the Seaport Invitational in Clarkston and last weekend won the Couer d’Alene Invitational at Farragut State Park.

They beat AAA schools, Boise, North Central and Central Valley in the process.

Five Valley individuals finished among the top 10, CV’s Jenni Saling in third and teammates Melissa Sherwood and Peterson taking eighth and 10th.

EV’s Angie Simmers and Ann Marie Adams were sixth and seventh.

In the boys race, EV’s Chris Henderson took third and CV’s Brandon Larson was seventh.

, DataTimes