Football teams get ready for game time

It’s August, and already the high school football season is set to start.

While most people are hoping to squeeze one more weekend out of summer before heading off to class, the Greater Spokane League, Great Northern League and Northeast A League all start the season with a full-slate of games.

Central Valley starts the season today at Joe Albi Stadium, where the Bears will open with a showdown against Lewis and Clark.

East Valley, University and West Valley all open at home Friday. The Knights play host to Rogers at 7 p.m. Friday. University welcomes Coeur d’Alene, a winner last week at Sandpoint, for a nonleague game. West Valley will battle Yakima’s East Valley in a nonleague Class 2A showdown.

Central Valley Bears

Coach Rick Giampietri was hard-pressed to think of a past Central Valley team that had the raw speed this year’s squad promises.

“Maybe 1995,”he said. “I know it’s been awhile. This group is fast, and there is no substitute for that.”

Junior Brad Whitley, a standout sprinter and a second-team All-GSL cornerback a year ago, moves into the backfield, where his speed will be difficult to match.

Giampietri is pleased with the shape of his defense to start the season.

“Defensively, I think we’re going to be pretty tough, and I think that will keep us around until our offensive begins to click,” he said.

Senior Tyler Cochran (6-2/222) is a two-time All-GSL middle linebacker. Patrick Mealy (6-3/224, Sr.) was a second-team All-GSL defensive end, and nose guard Tyler Staples (5-11/190, Jr.) was honorable mention.

Sean Thompson (6-0/174, Sr.) started at strong safety a year ago and moves up to play weak side linebacker next to Cochran.

Speedster Connor Janjunen (5-11/170, Sr.) joins Whitley to give the Bears the league’s fastest cornerbacks. Junior J.C. Agen (6-3/162) will play one safety with Wyoming transfer Taylor Price (6-0/200, Jr.) slotted to play alongside after an eligibility hearing scheduled for this week.

On offense, Montesano transfer Jeff Greenlund takes over at left tackle.

“He’s huge,” Giampietri said. “He’s 6-4 and 280 pounds. He transferred in at the end of the season last year and lifted with us all winter and has been with us the whole summer.”

Junior Blake Bledsoe takes over at quarterback after completing six of 11 passes for a touchdown in four games a year ago.

Last year’s starting quarterback, Luke Clift, did not turn out after undergoing knee surgery.

The Bears open with GSL preseason favorite Lewis and Clark in the 4:30 p.m. game today at Joe Albi Stadium.

“Really good senior leadership this year and the seniors have kind of taken charge of conditioning,” the coach said. “They’ve been doing a pretty good job, and they’ve kind of hit on the theme of being ready for 120 degrees in the opener and that looks like what we may get: It’s supposed to be 90 degrees or more, plus another 30 degrees down on the turf.”

East Valley Knights

The Knights must replace a strong graduating class from a year ago, but Adam Fisher’s philosophy is to groom replacements, so the program should remain strong.

Senior quarterback Lonnie Quirk (6-3/182) saw a good deal of playing time behind last year’s starter, Russell Woodworth.

“Lonnie is the second-fastest player on the team, and he is doing a wonderful job,” Fisher said. “He’s struggling a little bit with an ankle injury at the moment, but he’s doing everything we could possibly ask of him, on the field and off.”

For the first time in six seasons, the Knights will not have one of the Campbell brothers lining up at tail back.

“We’re going to have to do things a little differently there this year,” the coach explained. “With the Campbells, you could count on them to run the ball as many as 30 times a game. We can’t do that this year. We have a group of guys that are going to play back there, and we’re going to rotate them. We need them all to play defense, too, so we have to pace ourselves.”

Part of that tail back rotation will be track standout Case Parker (6-2/174, Sr.), who doubles as a defensive back.

Basketball player Danny Marshall (6-5/180, Sr.) turned out for football for the first time.

“He’s going to play wide receiver for us, and we’re excited about what he can do,” Fisher said.

Nate Guthrie (6-0/200, Sr.) is a returning starter at defensive end. Clete Hanson (6-0/185, Sr.) was a full-time starter as a sophomore, but he broke his ankle in the first half of game three a year ago. He’s healthy and will be joined at linebacker by Dakota Lawson (6-0/179, Jr.), giving the team a strong unit. Hanson will do double duty rotating in at fullback while Lawson will start at wide receiver.

University Titans

A year ago, coach Mike Ganey fielded a junior-dominated squad that finished 4-4 in league.

Tyler Carlson finished 26 yards shy of 1,000 yards rushing a year ago, leading the GSL in that department. His returning offensive line is big and mobile, averaging more than 250 pounds. Seniors Drew Baddeley (6-1/250) and Brock Crawford (6-4/260) make stout bookends at tackle. Tyson Orndorff (5-10/235, Sr.) starts at center and Josh Hopkins (6-5/270, Sr.) and Dylan Peters (6-0/250, Jr.) will start at guard. While the lightest of the group, senior tight end Trevor Wakem still steps in with good size (6-3/215).

Quarterback Dan Jordan (6-1/185, Sr.) is a four-year starter who completed 51 percent of his passes a year ago, amassing more than 700 yards through the air, connecting for four touchdowns while throwing just four interceptions. A first-team All-GSL defensive back a year ago, Ganey said he plans to use Jordan for only offense this year.

Senior Travis Clark (5-10/165) is the leading returning receiver, pulling in 18 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Titans are equally stout along the line. Juniors Jon Nelson (5-10/170) and Marques Johnson (6-1/190) start at defensive end. Dan Kroetch (6-0/250, Jr.) and Brandon Cerenzia (6-0/275, Sr.) will start at defensive tackle.

Senior Codee Allen (6-2/230) was a second-team All-GSL linebacker a year ago and leads one of the league’s top units, joined by Tyler Clifton (6-0/210, Sr.) and Tug Beach (5-7/160, Sr.).

Ganey is pleased with the arrival of Aaron Gleason to take over the placekicking chores.

“He’s got great length,” the coach said. “He’s been consistent and dedicated, and he’s mentally tough. He’s a good one.”

The Titans open up at home against Coeur d’Alene.

“They have a game under their belt already, but we had the chance to scout them last week at Sandpoint,” Ganey said. “We’ll get a pretty good idea of where we are after this one.”

West Valley Eagles

The Eagles were 5-5 overall a year ago, 3-4 in their first year in the Great Northern League.

“Our kids are excited about coming in and improving on that this year,” coach Craig Whitney said. “They’ve committed to making themselves better, and that starts with the senior class.”

Standout linebacker Tim Pring (6-0/190, Sr.), a first-team All-GNL pick a year ago, improved his speed by turning out for track for the first time his past spring, turning himself into a quality sprinter.

Parker Flynn (6-1/175, Sr.,) was a first-team All-GNL wide receiver last year. Quarterback Bryan Peterson (6-3/205, Sr.) was a second team all-league pick, as was defensive end Ryan Rose (6-0/190, Sr.).

“These guys have really set a high standard with this team and it shows,” Whitney said. “We have really good numbers. We have a good freshman class, putting us at 94 players out this year.”

The offensive line is not huge, but it doesn’t have to be in the Great Northern League.

“We found that out last year,” Whitney said. “You don’t have a lot of size to be effective. You have to be athletic and quick, and we have that.”

The line, led by seniors Tony Hall (5-10/200) and Nikko Guzman (6-0/260), will have veterans in the backfield alongside Peterson. Tom Peterson (5-11/235, Sr.) will start at fullback and Andy Vennum (6-0/190, Sr.) at tailback.

Seniors Murphy McIntyre (6-0/175) and Ameer Elaimy (5-7/150) will start at wide receiver.

Defensively, Pring will be joined by Vennum and senior Ben Guttromson (5-10/180) at linebacker.

The Eagles open at home Friday night against East Valley-Yakima and will play at home against Lethbridge, Alberta and Lakeland before opening their league season September 21 at Pullman.

Freeman Scotties

The Scotties won the past four Northeast A League titles.

If a fifth straight is to come, it will take some new faces to bring it home.

“We’ve had some really good kids come through this program,” third-year coach Jim Wood said. “A lot of the guys we have to replace this year were three-year starters. Those are hard guys to replace. Some of them, you can’t replace. You just have to move on.”

Known for crafting fierce, hard-nosed defenses, Wood has two strong players to build around.

Senior linebacker Max Riggs (5-11/192) was an All-NEA selection a year ago. Defensive tackle Ferman Pasold (6-0/250, Sr.) will give the Scotties a building block in the middle of the defensive line.

“If we can get a couple defensive tackles to control the running game, I think we’ll be okay on defense,” Wood said.

On offense, Wood must find a replacement for three-year starter Andrew Dresback at quarterback and all-state running back Chris Davis.

Junior Luke Mathews took a few snaps at quarterback a year ago and Brandon Saikii, a senior who transferred in from Lewis and Clark last year, are battling for the starting quarterback job. Jacob Kitterman (5-8/135, Jr.) takes over at running back.

Freeman has a tough season opener on tap tomorrow – the Scotties travel north to face preseason co-favorite Kettle Falls.