Herath’S Having Fun Just Playing The Game

East Valley senior running back Aaron Herath is remarkably candid, whether talking about the ill fortune of his winless football team or about his own successes.

Herath has led the Knights in rushing for two years. Yet he entered this season without bravado.

“I was sure I would forget how to run,” said Herath. “Last year I seemed to have a sort of instinct about where to go. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do that again.”

Instead he has taken up where he left off, a wing T rusher with an innate ability to find daylight.

“Sometimes I’ll go outside and coaches will yell at me,” Herath said. “I say, `Sorry coach.’ Then they look at the film and say, `Wow! That’s all you could have done.”’

Last year, he led East Valley with nearly 1,100 yards rushing in the Knights’ final Frontier League season.

This year, the Knights have moved up into the Greater Spokane League. Herath, after gaining 180 yards last week, is the GSL’s second leading rusher with 522 yards in four games. Still, hard-luck East Valley is 0-4.

Although Herath is willing to venture an opinion why, he also says that losing doesn’t bother him perhaps as much as it should.

“Sometimes the team becomes really upset after losing,” he said. “I feel bad because I don’t have the same feelings. I just love to go out and play the game.”

Three of EV’s losses have been by a total of 11 points.

In Herath’s mind, however, the Knights have been winners. The team has simply been unable to make plays when on the verge of success, to score or deny a touchdown.

The first week, a four-point loss to Rogers, they were inside the 20 when a clip wiped out an opportunity. The third week, in another four-point loss, this against Central Valley, the Knights were inches away from a first down that likely would have secured victory before the Bears drove for a winning score.

Last week, against Mt. Spokane, runs of 83 and 73 yards by Josh Wilson denied the team again in a three-point 31-28 decision.

“We have to commit ourselves to staying dug in and come out and play as hard as we can,” said Knight coach Jim Clements, “That’s all we can do.”

Both Herath and Clements are satisfied with the change of league.

“I’m stoked because we get to play all the big schools,” said Herath. “Last year you knew by the first quarter which guy was tough. This year they all seem to be the tough guy. It’s still fun, though.”

Fun everywhere but on the scoreboard, added Clements.

“The competition’s great,” he said. “The schedule has some meat on the bones, instead of the carcass we were nibbling on the last few years.”

Herath began playing football at Mountain View Middle School and has always had success in the sport.

Still, he says, he has never really kept track of rushing statistics and since he’s run nothing but a wing T, isn’t sure if it’s him or the offense that has contributed most to it.

“It’s not like I’m a genius when it comes to how football goes,” he said. “I just get the ball and things seem to take care of themselves.”

Instinct has a way of creating genius on the football field.