DL Harrison all about respect

It’s every football player’s sweetest dream.

You go to your rival’s home field and do something so spectacular that the raucous home crowd falls silent. Because that kind of silence can be topped only by the roar of support a team gets from a home crowd primed to a frenzy.

Terrell Harrison has that dream. And if dreams do indeed come true, he would love to see that happen Friday night in the final game of the regular season, when his Central Valley Bears travel to defending state Class 4A champion Gonzaga Prep for a Greater Spokane League showdown that will decide who wins the league championship and earns the No. 1 seed into the playoffs.

Both teams come into the game with 4-0 league records.

“That would be so cool,” the 6-foot-4, 180-pound tight end/defensive lineman. “CV and Prep have had some real battles the last few years. We have a lot of respect for Prep and for what they’ve accomplished – especially what they accomplished last year.”

Respect is a big part of what drives Terrell Harrison.

On a defense that has done an effective job of keeping opponents out of the end zone, Harrison is an effective member of the Bears defensive line.

Which is an impressive accomplishment for a player who weighs in at 180 pounds in a position that loves to see players push or exceed 300 pounds.

That makes Harrison laugh.

“To me, it’s all about having respect for my teammates,” he explained. “The last thing I want to do is let my teammates down. If that means I have to work that much harder than the next guy, that’s OK.

“I learned how to play on the DL by going against an all-state player every day in practice. I wasn’t about to let him down by not working as hard as I could every day in practice and I’m still that way now.”

Harrison said there have been a good many changes to the way the Bears prepare to play a football game in the first year of the Ryan Butner era.

Butner, a longtime assistant coach at CV, took over as head coach this season after Rick Giampietri – Butner’s coach when he played for the Bears – retired.

“We changed the way we practice and the way we do some things,” Harrison said. “But we still want to win just as much as we always have. Coach G is still around and he still wants to win just as much as he ever did.”

In other words, he said, the more things change, the more they’ve stayed the same.

“We got some attention at the beginning of the season because we have a few guys who are going to go on and play college football on Saturdays,” he said. “I’m really happy for guys like (defensive line mate) Jordan Talafili and I’m excited to see him at Washington State or wherever he decides he wants to play.

“I don’t plan on playing football after this year, so that doesn’t affect me, but it’s been nice to get some recognition.”

Harrison said he would love to keep a hand in the game of football. Or basketball.

“Well, let me put it this way,” he said. “If a college coach sought me out I would be glad to reconsider playing college football. But my plan now is to concentrate on studying sports medicine and maybe being involved with the game from that side.”

Harrison loves to help pass along what he’s learned to his younger teammates – taking them aside and teaching them proper techniques when he can.

“I love doing that, so yeah, I could see myself coaching someday,” he said.

Central Valley heads into its showdown with the Bullpups after having humbled rival University in the annual Greasy Pig game at U-Hi, 55-16.

“There is nothing better than winning the Greasy Pig game, especially when you’re a senior and even more so when you go to their home field and win the way we did,” Harrison said. “I am going to hold the score of that game over the heads of all my U-Hi friends for the rest of my life. That’s just the way it’s going to be – and I’m going to remind them of it every chance I get.”

But Harrison also said he plans to put all that crowing, all that good-natured ribbing, on hold. Celebrating the win was sweet, but it did not last past the weekend. There’s still work to do and he wasn’t about to let his teammates down by taking his eyes off the prize.

“We set out to do a job at the beginning of the season and we aren’t there yet,” he said. “We haven’t accomplished what we set out to accomplish.

“When you win your rivalry game it’s a big deal and we celebrated. But we have to get right back to work on Monday and be focused on our next game. We can’t take our eyes off of beating Gonzaga Prep.”