East Valley cleans up in Auburn

East Valley volleyball coach Jim Dorr got his fill of Hawaiian cuisine and his players feasted as well, winning last weekend’s Puget Sound Adidas Invitational Tournament in Auburn, Wash.

This was the Knights’ third trip to the PNW, put on by Auburn Mountainview coach Momi Bowles, and first title. Dorr became friends with Bowles when she coached at University and North Central before moving west.

“Momi’s mom liked me and she makes special meals for me when I go over there,” Dorr said. “She dragged me out of the gym to eat her chicken teriyaki.”

Dorr said he’d been doing well with his diet, but it all went downhill during the weekend.

However, he said, the Knights were sky high after winning 15 of 16 games in eight matches, beating Kamiak in the semifinals and the hosts in the finals for the championship. Kamiak was fourth in state 4A a year ago.

Fifteen of 24 entrants were state qualifiers last year and eight were ranked in the top 10 of their classifications.

The title came on the heels of learning that veteran middle blocker Brie Schau would be sidelined with a stress fracture. The idea of winning the tournament, Dorr said, wasn’t even a consideration.

Then, “things were going well, we went for it and it went good for us,” he said. “Our defense was extraordinary. Our intensity had been lacking a bit, but it didn’t lack at all there.”

Kirsten Kelly and Justine Simpson in the back row, he said, “were just outstanding,” with their ability to read, play and pass the ball. Amanda Hiebert was strong defensively at the net.

The Knights finished 4-4 in league last year and were a win away from state. They graduated but two players from that team. After winning the tournament they were ranked No. 1 in this week’s coaches’ poll.

But as usual, there’s a tough Greater Spokane League to negotiate. Mead and Lewis and Clark are first and third in the 4A poll and Shadle Park is third in 3A.

“The GSL is not a friendly league,” Dorr said. “It’s always been this way and you’ve just got to survive it. If you get to go to state you know you’ll do well because you’ve played against the best all fall long.”

The Highlanders lost in the semifinals of the Puget Sound tournament, just missing a title match with EV and finished fourth.

In Idaho during the weekend, Mead beat Ferris for third and fourth behind LaJolla, Calif., and Coeur d’Alene during the Lakeland tournament.

Liberty lanced

News from a football program with a proud history was shocking. The Liberty Lancers don’t have the numbers to field a varsity team this year.

“It’s very, very sad,” said Rod Fletcher, who coached Liberty football for 22 years through 2003.

He made nine state trips, winning two state titles and finishing second once. His successor, Rick Johnson, won two-thirds of his games and made a couple state playoffs before resigning after four years.

A combination of circumstances conspired against the Lancers.

“(Johnson) resigned last spring or early summer,” said interim principal Duane Gottschalk, who was hired five days before school began. “They hired the new coach (Chris Carlson) in July, as I understand it.”

When turnouts started there were fewer than 20 players and few seniors or juniors. The numbers have gotten smaller. For the good of the program, Gottschalk said, Liberty appealed to play junior varsity.

“The league has been absolutely marvelous,” he said. “Principals have bent over backward for us.”

The Lancers have scheduled five of their games for Friday nights.

“We’re trying to make it as good a situation as we possibly can,” Gottschalk said. “But it doesn’t quite replace varsity.”

CV Wall of Fame

Five former Central Valley coaches will be honored as members of the school’s Wall of Fame during ceremonies at halftime of Friday’s football game against Lewis and Clark.

Among them are Charlie Dean, football coach from 1964-1974 who compiled an 82-11-2 record with seven undefeated seasons and 10 Border League championships, and late basketball coach Ray Thacker, who coached from 1942-71 and was also athletic director from 1954-71. He won more than 400 games and placed in eight state tournaments including a state title in 1968 and second in 1960.

Joining them are Anton Rasmussen, football and track coach from 1954-61, who spent 20 years as assistant principal and for whom the Rasmussen Football Scholarship award is named; Dave Braucht, a 1947 CV graduate and three-sport athlete who taught at his alma mater and was Thacker’s longtime basketball assistant; and Jay Rydell, wrestling hall of fame coach who in 10 years compiled a 151-42 record at CV, spent 16 years as athletic director and remains involved in running area tournaments.

Eglet update

Tests taken following the helmet-to-helmet collision involving Lewis and Clark quarterback Taylor Eglet and two Mead football players Friday night proved negative. There was no swelling, bleeding or fracture, said Eglet’s dad, Steve.

But those who witnessed it can attest to the spectacular nature of the concussive, neck-snapping blow.

“He had no clue where he was,” Steve Eglet said. “He was staggering around, his mouth guard kept falling out and I don’t know how he ran two more plays. But the end zone conversion was the best pass he threw all night.”

Eglet’s status for Friday’s showdown between unbeatens LC and Central Valley won’t be known until later this week.

The past two meetings between the teams, won by the Tigers, have been nailbiters. Last year’s was decided in the final five seconds.