Trevor Tharp Pullman Year: Junior Sport: Soccer Position: Midfielder

Trevor Tharp started playing soccer so long ago he didn’t know soccer players weren’t supposed to come out of Palouse.

“My dad got me into soccer,” he said. “I’ve been playing and watching since I was 3 or 4. I love the game.”

So much so that a 15-mile drive to practice is easy and a trip to the state finals is a great reward.

The team going to state, however, is Pullman. The Greyhounds are headed to the 2A final four in Yakima and a Friday night matchup with East Valley-Yakima.

The Greyhounds are 15-2-1 after going 2-12-1 last year.

“We had a lot of returning players,” said Tharp, who plays left-outside midfielder. “The team plays together, we have a good team atmosphere and unity.”

Tharp was second in goals with 13, five behind George Souza and led the Greyhounds in assists with 15 during the regular season.

Pullman has a nine-match winning streak. They lost to Moscow 1-0 early and 3A Frontier League champion Cheney 3-2 and tied 2-2 with Riverside.

Tharp, the team MVP, played youth soccer in Palouse through fifth grade. In eighth grade, when it came time to move up to select, he joined a Pullman-Moscow team.

“I get a little (teasing) for not playing baseball or doing track,” he said, “but we’re still playing.”