Freeman in familiar territory

With essentially a new offensive line and a retooled defense, it was not preordained that last year’s State 1A football finalist Freeman would return to the quarterfinals for a third straight year.

Though it doesn’t surprise first-year head coach Jim Wood that the Scotties have. There were pieces in place at the skill positions and an expectation, the product of four successive playoff appearances.

Wood was defensive coordinator for all those teams and before that for nine years at Okanogan, where the Bulldogs twice made the finals.

The emergence of junior back Chris Davis, doing his best to replace graduated star Kevin Hatch, has solidified things.

Today’s playoff game at Central Valley against unbeaten and top-ranked Royal matches up the same two teams that played in last year’s State 1A final.

“They have a lot of weapons everywhere,” said Wood. “They have good athletes and depth in all spots. They love to spread you out real thin and that poses a lot of stress on the defense.”

The key factor will be how much pressure is put on quarterback Ray Valle, the SCAC offensive MVP and how to somehow contain back Jeff Jack, who has set an all-classification state record for the most career points scored.

“If we get pressure and cover their receivers, I think we’ve got a shot,” said Wood.

Freeman needs Davis to continue his recent rampage. Initially a backup at tailback in Freeman’s I-formation offense, the 5-10, 160-pounder worked his way into the starting lineup and did his best Hatch impersonation.

In the third game of the season, a non-leaguer against Priest River, Wood said he rushed for 200 yards. Since then, he’s had seven touchdown runs of 54 yards and longer. In the Scotties’ Northeast A League title-clinching win over Colfax, Davis ran for 361 yards and scored five touchdowns.

“He’s a north-south kind of guy and once we got that through his head he excelled,” said offensive coordinator Kelly Neely.

Davis rushed for 1,058 yards in seven games, gaining 600 and scoring 10 touchdowns the last three games of the season.

“I don’t know if I expected it so much,” he said. “It was just getting real good blocks, getting into the secondary and juking a couple of guys. As long as you get good blocks, you can make stuff happen.”