Eagles ready for replay of Clarkston at home

Every time the topic of Clarkston’s state Class 2A championship is raised, Jay Humphrey wants you to know there is a subtle reference to his 2014-15 West Valley squad.

The Bantams were the Great Northern League champions and finished the year with a 26-1 record after beating Anacortes by 11 points, 59-48, in the state championship.

“Only one team was able to beat Clarkston last year, and that was us,” Humphrey said. “We got ’em at our place.”

A year ago the Eagles had only one shot at Clarkston at home. The Great Northern League schedule had West Valley playing the Bantams twice in Clarkston and once more in the playoffs.

“We had to go to Pullman and Clarkston twice and those were both long road trips,” Humphrey said. “This year they both come to us twice and we play twice at Cheney and East Valley.”

Tuesday was the first of those two home dates with the Bantams.

“We were picked to finish fifth this year,” Humphrey said, laughing. “I’ll be honest, this isn’t the most talented team we’ve ever had, but this is a bunch of great kids and it is a total joy to be able to coach them. These kids work hard and they work together.”

And they’re off to a solid start, heading into the 2016 portion of the season with a 7-2 record after winning both games of their own tournament over the holiday break.

“It was good for us,” the coach said. “We tried to balance things so that our kids could get a little bit of a break and get some time off to spend with with their family. It’s tricky because you get out of game shape so darned fast.

“But we had two good games over the break – not the toughest competition of the year but it was a couple good games.”

The Eagles are a senior dominated team. Brennen Folkins, a 6-foot-3 post, and 6-foot wing Johnny Sage have given the team consistent scoring.

“The cool thing about both of these guys is that neither one is primarily a basketball player,” Humphrey said. “Brennen is a football player who is going to go on and play college football somewhere. He was the middle linebacker on the football team. Johnny Sage enjoys playing hoops, but his first love is baseball. He’s been a catcher but he can play all over the field and he’s going to go on and be a college baseball player.”

But if there were two stereotypical positions a coach would love to bring to the basketball court it would be a catcher and a middle linebacker.

“You gotta love that take-charge attitude these kids bring,” he said. “You love to have that.”

Over the final few weeks of 2015 the Eagles had another senior emerge to help with team scoring: Austin Yoakum.

“Austin is a 6-3 point guard and it’s nice to have a player with size to play that position,” Humphrey said. “His game is coming around really well. He’s a kid who came to basketball later than most other kids. He’s only been playing for the last three or four years, but he’s a real student of the game and that’s all starting to pay off for him right now.”

Over the years West Valley has developed into a tough place for opponents to play, and this year’s Eagles are continuing that trend.

“It’s not an automatic win for us playing at home,” the coach said. “But we work very hard to make it as tough on an opponent to play here. That’s how it should be.”

What has Humphrey concerned looking ahead is just who those opponents will be.

The ranks of Class 2A schools have dwindled over the years. This is a realignment year and administrators and coaches all are paying close attention to school enrollment figures.

This year the Great Northern League features just five teams: East Valley, West Valley, Cheney, Clarkston and Pullman.

Speculation is that Cheney will have sufficient enrollment to return to Class 3A.

“That’s what the thinking is right now – that Cheney will go back to 3A and the Greater Spokane League and that East Valley will go with them,” Humphrey said. “That would leave us with just three teams. There’s been some talk of trying to join with the Central Washington teams – Ephrata and Othello, maybe. I’m not looking forward to the road trips, that’s for sure.”