Quick hits
A tale of two titles
A wildlife biologist and track and field collegian, each in their fifth year as head football coaches, guided St. John-Endicott and Asotin, respectively, to their schools’ first state championships.
Joey McCanna is manager for the regional Private Lands Program in the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“When I first moved here in 1995, I talked around about my interest in sports,” McCanna said. “That’s how they found out I’d played college football.”
McCanna, from Chewelah, played three years at Central Washington where he rushed for 1,322 yards in 30 games averaging 6.0 yards per carry.
He became a volunteer at SJE, then an assistant and finally head coach, coming back this year after a two-year hiatus.
Sal Lopez played football in high school, sitting out his junior year with an injury, but was a 1995 conference champion in the hammer, and threw discus and shot put at the University of La Verne in Southern California.
His wife attended WSU and he came to Asotin nine years ago, first as an assistant and then head coach.
“We weren’t looked on as a true football power,” Lopez said. “If you don’t beat teams from the (Northeast B) League, you’re not considered that good.”
This year they carried on the state title tradition of the Northeast 2B and fellow Southeast 2B power DeSales. They started the year 0-3 against Idaho schools, which was cause for hesitation, but things worked out in the end. Asotin did not lose another game, beating then-unbeaten La Salle 28-10 for the 2B title and 10th straight win.
“Two years ago we thought we had a pretty good team and then got dismantled (41-0) by Orcas Island,” Lopez said.
Last year they lost to eventual champion Reardan 28-21 in the quarterfinals, which was encouraging, then hit the weight room harder.
When Asotin “just unloaded on” DeSales this year, Lopez said, “We proved we could compete with the big boys.”
Asotin has inordinate depth for a B-11 program. The Panthers rotated two tailbacks, three fullbacks and played as many as “25 to 28” athletes on defense. Linebacker/quarterback Ryan Witters, defensive end/center Tucker Fitzgerald, strong safety/running back Bryce Heitstuman and defensive end/tight end Wayne Clouse are all-state nominees.
“We took every game as it came,” Lopez said. “Winning the first (football) championship in school history is kind of nice. We’ll let the kids have fun right now, but it’s back to business after Christmas.”
Inland Empire Classic
The annual Inland Empire Classic wrestling tournament begins Friday at Central Valley.
Nineteen schools, including State 4A fourth-place finisher University and 3A third-placer East Valley among nine from the Greater Spokane League, teams from Idaho, including Lakeland and Coeur d’Alene, Moses Lake from the Columbia Basin League, Sentinel in Montana and Hermiston in Oregon will be in the field.
Friday’s two rounds will be at 4:30 and 8:15 p.m. The tourney continues Saturday at 9 a.m. with finals tentatively scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
GSL basketball watch
Girls: Lewis and Clark at Mead, Friday, 7 p.m. University at Gonzaga Prep, Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. Boys: Ferris at Shadle Park, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Newport selected
Inland Empire Football Officials Association selected the Newport Grizzlies for its Team Sportsmanship Award for 2006.
This is the second award given by the IEFOA to a football program that promotes sportsmanship, teamwork and fair play.
The Grizzlies were selected from among nine weekly award winners. They were also a weekly winner last season.