2015 high school football preview

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2 | Friday, August 28, 2015 | Moscow-PullMan Daily news Football 2015

Players hungrier, more unified than ever before

By Tom HagerDaily News staff writer

The Pullman football team enters this season hungry, and eager to rid the very familiar taste of defeat from its mouth.

After going just 3-6 last year, the Greyhounds are back with more determination than

ever before, and it starts with one of the simplest concepts in the game: unity.

“Last year everything was individual-wise — we’d have really good guys here and there that were just playing for themselves, but this year we’re playing as a unit,” line-backer Sovann Robinson said. “This year especially is the best defense I’ve ever been a part of.”

Pullman’s newfound cohe-sion will be put to the test when the Greyhounds are faced with adversity, which they certainly experienced last season. Pullman ended its 2014 campaign on a four-game losing streak, but this year the Greyhounds have the attitude to overcome any hurdles.

“The thing that I notice is different is we’re together as a team. These guys genuinely

Pullman headed for big turnaround

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsThe Pullman football team gathers after completing a climb during a practice Aug. 21 in Pullman. See Pullman, Page 3

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love each other and that makes all the difference in the world,” coach Dan Lucier said. “So the biggest area that we’re working on and trying to improve is play-ing hard and being aggressive and playing with that tenacious attitude that you need to be a great football team.”

It should help the team unity that many of its key offensive weapons are returning this year. Tight end Ben Moos will be a huge asset for quarterback Mason Petrino, but even beyond Moos the team is loaded with experienced players.

“There’s something to say about nine seniors starting for three years,” Petrino said. “Our senior class is really strong and I think we got a bunch of young attitude-passionate line-men coming up so I think that’s really exciting.”

Helping with the running game will be Sam Druffel, one of the speediest players on the team. He’s got a solid offensive line back this season, one that

should help improve upon last year’s average of 19.6 points per game.

“We’re learning how to finish better this year. We’re just a lot more explosive,” Druffel said. “Last year we really struggled in the red zone and I think with the offense we’re putting in, it’s going to help us this year to con-vert in the red zone.”

The players weren’t able to work out in their gym this off-season as it was being reno-vated, but Daunte Ungerer said

the Greyhounds were able to utilize the facilities at Lincoln Middle School to continue to work and improve their skills. Now it comes down to applying the work they put in when no one was looking on full display when the bright lights shine on opening night. And based on what they’ve done over the last few months, the Greyhounds should be headed for success.

“We kind of switched things

up this year and we’re feeling really confident,” senior Will Pitzer said. “Were getting in good shape and we’re just ready to get on the gridiron and actu-ally play.”

The Greyhounds open the season at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 at home against East Valley of Yakima.

Tom Hager can be reached at (208) 883-4633 or by email to [email protected].

Moscow-PullMan Daily news | Friday, August 28, 2015 | 3Football 2015

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsPullman players Will Pitzer, left, and Trey Lopes (9) run sprints during a practice Aug. 21 in Pullman.

Pullmanfrom Page 2

Pullman 2015 schedule

Sept. 4: vs. East Valley (Yakima), 7 p.m.

Sept. 11: at Freeman, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18: at Moscow, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Timberlake, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: at West Valley, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Clarkston, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16: vs. Lakeland, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23: at East Valley, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: vs. Cheney, 7 p.m.

““Our senior class is really strong and I

think we got a bunch of young attitude-passion-ate linemen coming up so I think that’s really

exciting.”Mason Petrino

Pullman quarterback

about the GreyhoundsCoach: Dan Lucier (fourth season)2014 record: 3-6

Key returners: Mason Petrino (QB), Ben Moos

(TE) and Sovann Robinson (LB)

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Helbling installing ‘different brand’ of Moscow football

By Michael-Shawn DugarDaily News staff writer

Although many of the players, and even some of the coaches may be same, the Moscow football will look different this season.

Coach Phil Helbling will still man the sidelines, but alongside him will be a host of new assistants tasked with both improv-ing the on-the-field product and instilling a new mentality in the players.

The Bears have three former Idaho Vandals on the staff. Former center Marcis Fennell (2004-07) will take over the Moscow offensive and defensive lines

while also serving as the defensive coor-dinator. Tre’Shawn Robinson (2008-11) brings his linebacker experience to the Moscow backers and Darryl Murphy will use his former defensive back skills to enhance the secondary and the receiving corps.

“All across the board I got guys that know football and the biggest thing is we’re all on the same page and we’re sharing one common goal, adopting my philosophy and what I want to build here,” Helbling said.

Said senior quarterback Devin Carscallen, “The new coaching staff brought that mentality to us and we’ve really bought in to that. I can see that for sure.”

That mentality, Helbling said, starts with passion, a word he used to describe

all three of his assistants and something he feels was missing from his team last season. Then it comes down to playing with more excitement, physicality and, most importantly, discipline.

“We’re talking about discipline in every-thing we do — discipline and account-ability,” Helbling said. “Take care of your actions when we’re on the field. Let’s be focused, let’s be locked in, let’s be focused on football, not all the other stuff. Put the other stuff away when we’re out here for two hours, we’re all about football, let’s fly around, let’s make plays, let’s learn all of our stuff so that when we’re on the field we just play 100 percent.”

Fans will recognize the players on

Geoff Crimmins/Daily NewsMoscow sophomore Grant Clary (black jersey) and other football players run a drill during a practice on Aug. 17 at Bear Field.

Same faces, new mindset for veteran Bears

See moscow, Page 5

about the bearsCoach: Phil Helbling

(fourth season)

2014 record: 2-7 (0-2 Inland Empire League)

Key players: Devin Carscallen (QB), Noah

Klocke, Collin Niehenke (WR), Bryson Bennett, Wyatt Youngblood, Pat

Coulter, Austin Durham and Adam Wallace.

New additions: assis-tant coaches Tre’Shawn Robinson (LB), Darryl Murphy (DB/WR) and

Marcis Fennell (OL/DL/Defensive coordinator)

moscow 2015 schedule

Aug. 29: vs. Grangeville, 8 p.m. (Kibbie Dome)

Sept. 4: vs. Clarkston, 7 p.m. (Military Appreciation

Night)

Sept. 11: at North Central, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18: vs. Pullman, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: at West Valley, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: at Lewiston, 7 p.m. (Kibbie Dome)

Oct. 9: vs. Cheney, 7 p.m. (Homecoming)

Oct. 16: vs. Sandpoint, 7 p.m. (Senior Parents Night)

Oct. 23: at Lakeland, 7 p.m.

‘TOugh TO beAT’


the field — Carscallen will remain the QB and familiar faces such as running back Chad Robertson and receiv-ers Noah Klocke and Collin Niehenke will provide their contributions. The prod-uct will just look different. Helbling wants his team to play faster and more physi-cal than they have in recent years, which he believes his Bears will be able to do once they become more focused and accountable.

“Defensively, we’re going to show different looks than we have previously. Offensively we have a good coach and you’re going to see a differ-ent front from us,” Helbling said. “You’re going to see us control the front defensively, establish the line of scrim-mage offensively, we’re com-mitting to the run game and all the way around if we get things clicking we’re going to be tough to beat.”

From the moment Moscow takes the field against Grangeville at 8 p.m. tonight at the Kibbie Dome, and then throughout the entire sea-son, Helbling wants his team ready for battle. And regard-less if the Bears do come out victorious, Helbling refuses to let his group be a “keel over” team this season, one that opponents come in perhaps

overconfident against.“People will respect us,”

Helbling said. “They will not walk off that field and say ‘throw it up, we got the (win).’

It’s not happening. If any-thing else, we want to estab-lish that. We want to have that confidence so that when we take the field we know

we’re going to win the game.”

Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at (208) 883-4629 or by email at [email protected].

moscowfrom Page 4

Geoff Crimmins/Daily NewsMoscow defensive back Collin Niehenke, right, catches a pass during a practice Aug. 17 in Moscow. The Bears open their season against Grangeville at 8 p.m. tonight at the Kibbie Dome.

Geoff Crimmins/Daily NewsMoscow football coach Phil Helbling, center, directs a practice Aug. 17 in Moscow.

“People will respect

us. They will not walk off that field and say

‘throw it up, we got the (win).’ It’s not happen-ing. If anything else, we want to establish

that.”Phil Helbling

Moscow football coach

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After three early exits, Deary hoping experience guides team to state


The third time wasn’t the charm last season for the Mustangs.

While Deary’s 2014 cam-paign can, in many ways, be deemed a success, it ended at a point coach Doug Henderson and his Mustangs have become all too familiar with. After a 7-2 run through the regular season, Deary suffered an early, first-round exit in the state tournament for the third straight year.

But Henderson won’t let his team get ahead of itself, since it will be months before it’s time to focus on the playoffs. Still, the idea of bypassing that first-round exit point is on the mind of the fifth-year coach.

“I don’t know, I hope we

figure it out,” Henderson said when asked how his team will get over that hump. “These guys have been there three years so they know what to expect. Of course we gotta take care of business before that comes. A lot of that comes down to what we’re able to work out during the regular season, how polished we’re able to get, how composed we’re able to be and how much we can pay atten-tion to the small details of our game.”

It’s on his players’ minds, too.

“We don’t want to get bounced in the first round this year. We have a lot of expe-rience coming back,” senior Kael Stelck said. “Every day in practice you have to go hard. You can’t allow yourself to get caught up in ‘Oh, I don’t have to go hard because we’re going to win games.’ We’ve got-ten there and we’ve lost so obviously something needs to change.”

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsDeary coach Doug Henderson, right, leads conditioning training during a practice Aug. 12 in Deary. The Mustangs open their season against Potlatch at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kibbie Dome.

Mustangs eyeing continued success, deep playoff run

about the mustanGsCoach: Doug Henderson (fifth season)

2014 record: (7-3, 7-0 1A Division 2), Finished year as regu-lar season champs then lost to Wilder 69-36 in state

quarterfinals

Point differential 2014: +165 (320 for, 155 against)

Key players: Morgan Beyer (QB), Kael Stelck (MLB), Tyler Anderson (RB), Andrew Trueman (OL/DL), Hunter Vallem

(OL/DL), Seth Winter (WR/LB) and Jalen Kirk (DB)

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsDeary football players run sprints during a practice Aug. 12, 2015 in Deary. The Mustangs open their season against Potlatch at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kibbie Dome. See Deary, Page 15


Wildcats hoping last year’s adversity will pay off


Injuries are never easy for a team to deal with, but when it happens to a team like Colton, the impact can be substantial.

That was the case last year for the Wildcats, who suffered injuries early in the season and were forced to insert eighth graders into the starting lineup.

Colton went from a 3-0 start to a 3-6 final record, but now the team can reap the benefits of throwing those newcom-ers into fire so early. Those freshman are coming in with experience and allow the Wildcats to increase their team size from 16 players last season to 19 this year.

“I like what I see,” coach Clark Vining said. “Everyone came back bigger and stronger than last year. That’s always a plus. It’s kind of early to say if we’ll be better or not. I like our effort so far and things look pretty good.”

Parker Druffel, Kyle Daley and Reece Chadwick were all letterwinners last year as eighth graders. Vining will take all the help from his younger players he can get. Colton will have just five upperclassmen this year, with only two seniors. Fortunately for the Wildcats both of those seniors will play huge roles.

Luke Moore is a starter on both the offensive and defensive lines and will be one of six players that could play on both sides of the ball. The other senior is Carter Dahmen, the star quarterback and safety.

“He brings a year of starting experi-ence back at quarterback, which is pretty huge,” Vining said. “Last year he threw for over 2,000 yards and 22 touchdowns so it’s always nice to have a guy with some experience behind center.”

Junior Brady Chadwick is back at linebacker and receiver. Grant Kinzer is also back at receiver and will play safety as well. Along with defensive lineman Pete Schultheis and linebacker Cameron Bean, that group will help solidify a defense that Vining hopes to improve.

“We’ve got to be able to get some stops throughout the game and at times last year we weren’t able to do that a whole lot,” Vining said. “Offensively we aver-aged 329 yards per game so we were able to move the ball, but ball security is definitely something we want to improve on and not turn the ball over. And be able to finish drives.”

Liberty Christian is a favorite to win the Southeast 1B league title, but Vining is in his 10th year at Colton and knows how to get the best out of his players. The Wildcats begin the season at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 at Salmon River.


Nathan Howard/Daily NewsColton coach Clark Vining, center, leads drils during a practice Aug. 21 in Colton.

Colton young, but experienced

about the wildcatsCoach: Clark Vining (10th

season) 2014 point differential:

-822014 overall record: 3-6

Key Players: Carter Dahmen (QB), Luke Moore

(OL/DL)

colton 2015 scheduleSept. 4: at Salmon River,

7 p.m.

Sept. 18: vs. Dayton, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Sunnyside Christian, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: vs. St. John-Endicott, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: Colton at Dayton, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16: vs. Touchet, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: vs. Pomeroy, 7 p.m.

Nov. 5: vs. Gar-Pal, 7 p.m.Nathan Howard/Daily News

Colton football players participate in tackling drills during a practice Aug. 21 in Colton. The Wildcats begin their season Sept. 4 at Salmon River.

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Bulldogs plan to end this season how last year’s started


Colfax looked like a poten-tial state championship after six games last year.

The Bulldogs were 6-0 and seemed poised to make some noise in the playoffs.

Four games later, however, the Colfax football season was suddenly over. The final record? 6-4.

“What we’re emphasizing out here right now is just getting over that hump,” coach Mike Morgan said. “Six wins, there’s a lot of people that would like to have six wins but for us we feel like we’re capable of a little bit more and that’s what we want from our young men is to finish strong.”

To the Bulldogs’ credit, last year’s schedule was backloaded with Davenport, Reardan, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague and Reardan again. LRS is 38-1 over the last three seasons with two state titles, and Colfax took that game down to the wire in a 27-25 loss.

Nevertheless, Colfax has plans to end their season on a differ-ent note this year.

“That’s a key point for us. We’re going to have to start our season strong, but this year something new we’re weight lifting all the way through the season, which last year we just did the summer,” Colfax quar-terback Keith Gfeller said. “We thought our strength kind of died off last year and (we want to) just keep our motor going for the whole season.”

This year’s schedule is back-loaded once again, with Colfax playing Davenport, Reardan and Lind-Ritville/Sprague to end the season. Colfax certainly has the weapons to handle any of those opponents. It starts with Gfeller, who was a running back last year, but played back-up quarterback behind Mark Weber and will bring a run-ning element to the QB position. Cody Fulfs, a member of the track team, is a speedy running

back that Morgan said should get 20 touches a game.

Opening holes for him will be the front line of Tyler Kincaid, Nick McAdams and Kenton Lyman. The receiving unit will be led by Toby Warwick, who

was also a member of the track team. That core of returning players gives Colfax a chance to get through the gauntlet to end


Colfax all about finishing season strong

Cary Wilton/Daily NewsColfax coach Mike Morgan, center, observes his team during a practice Tuesday in Colfax.

Cary Wilton/Daily NewsColfax quarterback Keith Gfeller, center, throws a pass during a drill at a practice Tuesday in Colfax.

about the bulldoGsCoach: Mike Morgan

2014 record: 6-4 overall2014 point differential: +94

Key Players: Keith Gfeller (QB), Cody Fulfs (RB) and Toby Warwick (WR)

“There’s a lot of people that would like to have six wins, but for us we feel like we’re capable of a little bit more and that’s what we want

from our young men is to finish strong.”

Mike MorganColfax football coach

See colfax, Page 15

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Proud supporter of Colfax High School football

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Bulldogs’ Becker ready to take leadership role in sophomore season


In just one season under the Genesee coaching staff, Edward Becker has become the posterchild for the val-ues the Bulldogs hope to exemplify.

Becker, a sophomore, will serve as the team’s renais-sance man this season as he’ll play tight end, running back and linebacker. And he’s posi-tive that he’ll succeed at all three spots.

“I don’t have any doubt in myself, I believe I can excel at any position, offensive line through quarterback,” Becker said.

“The confidence comes from our coaching staff,” he

continued. “We have a really, really great coaching staff. They instill a confident atti-tude in the team just by the type of people that they are. We see them every day and attitudes rub off on people. They’ve definitely rubbed off on us.”

Becker’s confidence extends to the entire team, including quarterback Kyle Moser, who will take over as the Bulldogs’ quarterback. Moser played under center sparingly last season, pri-marily as a cleanup guy, so this will be his first time in the starting role.

Moser said he doesn’t feel the Bulldogs as a team will enter this season as a high-ly-respected group, but with the combination of youth and athleticism, “we’re going to be able to have some success this year with the young guys

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsGenesee quarterback Kyle Moser, center, scrambles under pressure during a practice Aug. 18 in Genesee.

Athleticism, confidence the focus for Genesee

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we have.”“We’re young and people

aren’t going to see us com-ing,” Moser said. “We got some speed, we got some strength and we got some young guys that are going to step up this year and really show us what they got.”

With a primarily young team, Moser believes it’s criti-cal that the Bulldogs make a statement and go full throttle at all times.

“Every game, every play that we have we want to be that team going 100 percent all the time,” he said.

Becker disagrees, again resorting back to the impor-

tance of confidence.“We don’t have to prove

anything to anybody,” he said. “Only thing we have to prove is to our coaches and our players and make sure all our play-ers have confidence in us. If we go out and try out hardest then we got it what it takes

to ‘make a statement’ because it doesn’t matter what people think about us.”

Whether or not the team makes any statements, coach Jason Hanson, like Moser, is banking on the versatility and youth of guys like Becker to carry the Bulldogs through the season. But with only 22 play-ers on the roster, 13th-year coach has to be cautious with how often he places his ath-letes on both sides of the ball.

“It’s going to be important for kids to get out there and contribute, come off the field, get coached up, get right back on the field and get out there and maybe be somewhere else,” Hanson said. “We don’t want to wear out or wear down.”

Becker personifies another quality Hanson and staff want to see in their players: leader-

ship. Becker said his favorite player is middle linebacker Luke Kuechly of the Carolina Panthers, which also explains why he prefers his own line-backer spot over any other posi-tion. His fascination with the former NFC Defensive Player of the Year also explains why he’s prepared to take on a vet-eran role in only his second season.

“He’s a really good lineback-er and he’s really young like me,” Becker said of Kuechly, who’s already a 2-time All-Pro at age 24. “He was a leader as a rookie and I’m looking up to him to be a young guy and be a leader.”

Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at (208) 883-4629, by email to [email protected] or on Twitter to @MikeDugar.


Nathan Howard/Daily NewsGenesee running back Garrett Borth prepares for a play during a practice Aug. 18 in Genesee.

Geneseefrom Page 9

‘100 PerceNT All The TIme’

Genesee 2015 scheduleAug. 27: vs. Kendrick, 7 p.m. (Kibbie Dome)

Sept. 4: at Prairie, 7 p.m.

Sept. 11: at Deary, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18: vs. Potlatch, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: at Troy, 7 p.m.

Oct 2.: at Clearwater Valley, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Lapwai, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16: vs. Kamiah, 7 p.m.

about the bulldoGsCoach: Jason Hanson

(13th year overall, sixth con-secutive season)

2014 season breakdown: 6-4 overall (3-3 league), defeat-

ed Idaho City 46-0 in state play-in game before falling to

Raft River in the state quarterfinals.

Key players: Eddie Becker (TE/LB/RB), Kyle

Moser (QB/DB), Cole Allen (OL/DL), Hayden Woods

(TE/LB), Kade Best (OL/DL) Carson Parkins (RB/LB),

Coy Stout (OL/DL) and Jake DeMeerleer (TE/LB.

Team strength: “Athleticism. We’re a younger

team, mostly made up of sophomores and freshmen but we have a lot of athletes and kids that can play multiple

positions,” coach Jason Hanson said.

“every game, every play that we have we want to be that team going

100 percent all the time.”

Kyle MoserGenesee quarterback


Team banking on youth to upend Deary, make playoffs


No seniors, no problem.The Kendrick Tigers don’t need

to worry about a lack of leadership, experience or any of the other luxu-ries traditionally award to teams with senior direction. Third-year coach Zane Hobart doesn’t have reason to be con-cerned when he has the veteran guid-ance of three juniors: Blake Marker, Mason Hewett and Peter Towne.

Marker, now a three-year starter at middle linebacker and full back, has played every snap of every game for Kendrick, and Hobart expects a standout year from the young two-way player.

“Kids look up to him,” Hobart said. “He’s just a tough-nosed kid.”

While Marker aims for consistency at his regular position, Jones steps in to fill the void at quarterback, and he’s already earned his teammates’ confidence. Hewett, a tight end, said he already feels in sync with his new signal-caller after spending time run-ning routes and catching during the offseason.

“Having no seniors, we’re pret-ty much filling their spot this year,” Towne said. “With the leaders we have already, I feel like the urgency is there and we realize that we’re good enough to make it somewhere this year, but there’s always next year, too. It’s a good balance.”

Towne may have to step into the greatest leadership role since he’s serv-ing as the elder statesmen on the two front lines. But Hobart is confident that Towne, who started all of last after missing his freshman season after suf-fering a broken wrist, is ready for the task.

“He’s going to be a big contributor on the line of scrimmage and just bringing a lot of knowledge to help our young kids because we’re going to have two young kids -- a freshman and a sopho-more -- on either side of him,” Hobart said.

But it’s going to take a collective effort from all eight men on the field if the Tigers are going to achieve their goals this season — compete with upper-tier teams like Genesee, earn

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsKendrick quarterback Hunter Jones runs through a sprinkler while completing a drill during a practice Aug. 12 in Kendrick.

Tigers turning juniors to leaders

KendricK 2015

scheduleAug. 27:

at Genesee, 7 p.m. (Kibbie

Dome)

Sept. 4: at Lakeside, 7

p.m.

Sept. 11: vs. Lewis

County, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: at Lapwai, 7

p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Kootenai, 7

p.m.

Oct. 16: at Clark Fork, 7

p.m.

Oct. 23: vs. Timberline, 7

p.m.

Oct. 30: vs. Deary, 7 p.m.

about the tiGersCoach: Zane Hobart (third season, 9-10 overall record)

2014 record: 6-4 (6-1 in league) Regular season runner-up, lost to Council in state quarterfinals to finish tied for fifth place.

Key returners: Blake Marker (RB/FB/MLB), Peter Towne (OL/DL), Mason Hewett (TE), Hunter Jones (QB)

Key game: Oct. 30 at home against Deary, “It’s a really big game, they’ve always gave us a run for our money,” lineman Peter

Towne said.

Nathan Howard/Daily News Kendrick quarterback Hunter Jones completes passing drills during a practice Aug. 12 in Kendrick.

See KenDricK, Page 15

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KENDRICK OFFICE604 E. Main, Kendrick, Idaho 83537

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athletes success this school year!


Vikings following up stellar year with new players


Last season was nothing short of fan-tastic for the Gar-Pal football team. The Vikings reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament, posting an 8-3 record along the way — the best season for the program since 1988.

Now they are looking to follow up that success with another stellar year.

However, Gar-Pal coach Willy Woltering has his work cut out for him. Superstar tailback Cole Sanderson graduated, as did quarterback Hunter Woltering. They were just two players in a senior class that had five starters on last year’s team.

“But we have a good freshman class so

Nathan Howard/Daily NewsGarfield-Palouse running back Wyatt Griner, left, carries the ball during a practice Aug. 21 in Palouse.

Gar-Pal beginning a new era

ViKinGs 2015 schedule

Sept. 4: at Wallace, 7 p.m.

Sept. 11: vs. Lakeside, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: at Touchet, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: vs. Dayton, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. St. John-Endicott, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16: vs. Liberty Christian, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23: at Pomeroy, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: vs. Sunnyside Christian, 7 p.m.

about the ViKinGsCoach: Willy Woltering

2014 record: 8-3 (best season in school history

since 1988)

Key Departures: Hunter Woltering (QB),

Cole Sanderson (RB)

Key Returners: Ian Neibergs (LB), Wyatt

Griner (RB)

Team strength: Youth. “We’ll be kind of

scrappy. We won’t be quite as dynamic but I think we’ll be a little above average,” coach Willy

Woltering said. Nathan Howard/Daily NewsGar-Pal’s Evan Weagraff (1) catches a snap during a practice Aug. 21 in Palouse. See Gar-Pal, Page 16


Same plan for Potlatch: play harder than the opponent


The recipe for a success-ful Potlatch football season is simple: toss in the usual tough-ness, mix in a large dose of physicality and mix in a new quarterback.

And hold the experience.The Loggers don’t have

much of that, at least not to start the season. Even some of the team’s seniors are tech-nically newcomers. But coach Pat Amos knows that while his team may lack playing experi-ence come Saturday against Deary, his young players will slowly become veterans as the season progresses.

“We’re really going to stick with the concept and we want to get better each week,” Amos said. “We want to be compet-itive within our league and our league is the best eight-man league in the state. The teams that we play week-in and week-out are extremely good so we want to go into each game and be competitive and improve and get better.”

Potlatch’s schedule doesn’t make achieving success any easier. The Loggers have just three home games and five road trips, a result of play-ing five home contests last seasons.

“We’re going to be road war-riors this year,” Amos said, “our kids will have to grow up on the road.”

The Loggers will be led by senior quarterback Cole Wallen, who will step into a somewhat different role for a player that Amos said “brings a wrestling mentality to football.”

Wallen said he’s prepared to be a full-time quarterback, but admits the overhaul of road games is a challenge.

“Our shortest drive is to Deary and that’s 30 minutes [Which has been relocated to he Kibbie Dome due to poor air quality]. Everything else is

pretty close to two hours or an hour,” Wallen said. “We got a long drive so you kind of get a little lackadaisical. It’s a little harder to get motivated. Then when you’re at home you get to relax for a little bit, you don’t have to be on the bus for a long time, you get to just go out and play.”

W a l l e n said he pre-fers his strong safety posi-tion because “you get to hit people,” which speaks to the toughness his coach praises him for.

“He’s physical, he likes to scrap and he likes that physi-cality of football,” Amos said. “He’d rather be hitting some-one but he’s also an extremely smart kid, so he can run our offense. He throws the ball nicely and he can run.”

Levi Weldy, also a senior,

figures to be one of Wallen’s top targets this year at the “X” receiver position. Weldy said he “feels good” about Wallen as the team’s quarterback after

watching his friend enhance his game e a c h year.

“ I ’ v e seen a lot of improve-ments in him as a quar-terback,” W e l d y said. “I h a v e seen an improve-ment in me as an

‘X’ and as an end. The same with the entire team, I’ve seen a lot of improvements.”

Amos singled out sopho-mores Tristen Dudley and Baily Clark as a pair of return-ing players who use their tal-ent to compensate for their lack of experience.

“I see a lot of the time in high school the running back out-running his blocking,” Amos said. “Baily will stick behind his block, read his block, wait for the engagement and then pop out. He’s got a lot of quickness so he’s a lot of fun to watch.”

But regardless of youth or experience, Amos said the team will stick to its primary gun every night: toughness. It’s what the Loggers pride themselves on and something they’ve established a reputa-tion for over the years. Even if the talent level isn’t always elite, Amos and his group make sure to bring physicality to the game.

This year will be no different.

“We may not be the best team on the field but when you walk off the field you’ll know that you played a foot-ball game against us,” Amos said. “That’s always been our strength.”


Nathan Howard/Daily NewsPotlatch football players complete drills during a practice Aug. 12 in Potlatch.

Loggers relying on toughness, physicality

about the loGGersCoach: Pat Amos (35-39

overall record

2014 record: 3-5 (2-4 league)

2014 point differen-tial: -112 (306 for, 416

against)

Key players: Cole Wallen (QB), Levi Weldy (WR/DE), Tristen Dudley

and Baily Clark (RB)

Team strength: tough-ness, physicality

Potlatch 2015 schedule

Aug. 29: at Deary, 2 p.m. (Kibbie Dome)

Sept. 5: at Troy, 7 p.m.

Sept. 11: Bye Week

Sept. 18: at Genesee, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Kamiah, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: at Wallace, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Clearwater Valley

Oct. 16: at Prairie, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23: vs. Lapwai, 7 p.m.

“We may not be the best

team on the field but when you walk off the

field you’ll know that you played a football game

against us.”Pat Amos

Potltach football coach


After questions about the team’s status, Trojans undoubtedly ready to hit the field


Jake Nelson had a case of the but-terflies, he knew the fate of his senior football season at Troy was hanging in the balance.

Chase Blazzard was equally ner-vous, his own Trojan career current-ly uncertain. The junior quarterback said he would have “probably” trans-ferred to another school had the Troy

School District’s levy attempt not been approved Tuesday night.

But fortunately for the two Trojan co-captains, a text from teammate David Blum at about 9:30 p.m. ended all doubt.

“I was on Facebook and saw that my mom shared a post from Renae Bafus saying that it passed,” Blum said Tuesday night before the Trojan’s first official practice of the season. “I liked it, commented on it ‘heck yeah’ and then I texted some of my buddies and then went on Snapchat and put it on my Snapchat story. I said ‘Troy levy passed, be ready.’ ”

His teammates were definitely ready. The players weren’t allowed to contact the coaches or use school facilities until the town’s levy passed

— which it did Tuesday with 73 per-cent of the votes — so many of them gathered at the city park three times a week to hold informal workouts.

Blum said he too had contacted other schools regarding a potential transfer but, “I had to stay here. Nothing wrong with other schools, they’re good people and have very good teams, but I like Troy. I want to stay here.”

And here they are, ready for another strong season.

“This will be my 10th year playing football and it will probably be my last, too,” Nelson said. “I was really pray-ing that it would pass and thank God it did.”

As if the odds weren’t stacked against Troy enough — most Whitepine League teams began practicing Aug. 10 — the

Trojans are also shorthanded. Just 13 players participated in Tuesday night’s practice and it’s unclear whether that number will increase during the season.

Troy coach Rob Bafus said he and his staff have devised a practice plan to ensure the team hits the ground run-ning by the time his group takes the field to host Potlatch on Sept. 5 in the season opener.

“We are behind the eight ball,” Bafus said. “I’m not a deeply religious guy but with what’s going on right now, some things are happening for a reason. Our levy passed by 73 percent tonight, there’s been smoke in the air

Troy transforming summer uncertainty into fall success

Cary Wilton/Daily NewsTroy coach Rob Bafus, second from left, leads the Trojan football team in drills during a practice Tuesday night in Troy after finding out the school district’s levy was approved and the school would have a team this fall.

‘TrOy levy PASSeD, be reADy’

troy 2015 scheduleSept. 5: vs. Potlatch, 7

p.m.

Sept. 11: at St. John-Endicott, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18: at Lapwai, 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Genesee, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: at Kamiah, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Prairie, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23: at Clearwater Valley, 7 p.m.

about the trojansCoach: Rob Bafus (sev-

enth season, 52-11 career record)

2014 record: 8-2 (5-1 league)

Key players: Chase Blazzard (QB), David Blum

(LB/RB), Jonah Lay (RB) and Jake Nelson

See Troy, Page 16


another playoff berth and make a run at the state tournament title.

“We’ve got some players, we’got some athletes and I don’t think we’re far off from being state champions or anything like that,” Towne said. “We have the athleticism to do it, not the matu-rity, yet, but I feel like if we develop throughout the season, we can.”

And of course, Kendrick hopes to end the regular season with a win over rival Deary. In each of Hobart’s first two seasons the Tigers have fallen to their division foe. Last year’s 28-0 loss to Deary in the Whitepine League title game sent Kendrick to unfavor-able matchup down at Council in the state quarterfinals, in which Hobart’s group fell 62-0.

The Tigers preach approach-ing the season with a “game-by-game” mentality, but the mag-nitude of a rivalry game in the regular season finale is a show-down no one can ignore, not even

in August.“We know we can compete all

the way through our season but it all comes down to the last game of the year against Deary and us playing for all of the marbles,” Marker said. “We’ll be able to get them this year, we’re a lot more mature and we’ll be a more sound team all together.”

Marker’s remarks reflect an overall confident Kendrick team that has hopes of building on last year’s six-win season. The Tigers will need that optimism with the expectations Hobart says the com-munity has placed on his group.

“They hear it enough around town from moms, dads, aunts and uncles and I don’t want to be that guy,” Hobart said. “I want to take that pressure off, have a little fun and take that thing game-by-game. We prepare week-by-week to get to the eventual goal of play-ing Deary to see who can play in that first-round playoff game in the Dome.

“We want to play in the Kibbie Dome, we don’t want to go down south.”


Kendrickfrom Page 11

colfax 2015

scheduleSept. 4: at

Liberty, 7 p.m.Sept. 18:

vs. Wilbur-Creston 7 p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Northwest

Christian (at Eastern

Washington), 7 p.m.Oct. 2: at

Springdale, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Kettle Falls, 7

p.m.Oct. 16: at

Davenport, 7 p.m.Oct. 23:

vs. Reardan, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: at Lind-Ritzville/

Sprague, 7 p.m.

the season.“This is a tough league. If you

look back at the history of our league, a couple of us have been in the quarters, the semis and the state championship game, either winning the title or get-

ting second the last eight years,” Morgan said. “... You better bring it every Friday night.”

With Morgan at the helm, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Colfax begins its season at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 at Liberty.

Tom Hager can be reached at (208) 883-4633 or by email to [email protected]

colfaxfrom Page 8

Yep, we have a

www.facebook.com/palousenews

The beauty of this season for Henderson is that he doesn’t need his team to take a quan-tum leap in terms of improvement. He has coached sev-eral talented, cohe-sive groups the past five years and he believes if they con-tinue to build on that then the team will undoubtedly achieve its goals.

In the past the task of passing on those core team val-ues has belonged to the seniors, of which Deary has eight this year. Stelck, a middle linebacker, leads the defense, while fellow seniors such as line-men Hunter Vallem, Andrew Trueman take the reins on

offense along with quarterback Morgan Beyer.

“I expect (Beyer) to completely run the offense, have complete command in the huddle, com-mand over the field, be able to commu-nicate with coach to get the plays that we need, read the defenses and know what he’s doing,” Stelck said. “He’s an accurate quar-terback, he knows what he’s doing so I expect him to make the passes he needs to make.”

Running back Tyler Anderson is expected to play a major role this sea-son as well. Anderson — who Henderson says is about 6-foot-3, 230 pounds — was a dominant force out of the backfield but in a limited role, play-ing on the line most

of the season. Now with Trueman and Vallem holding down the fort up front, last year’s “secret weap-on” has his chance to do plenty more damage to opposing defenses.

“Tyler is a heck of a player and he’s been a heck of a play-er for a long time,” Stelck said. “He’s definitely one of our leaders. We expect a lot from him, being a senior and being one of the guys that the team’s going to look to in big situa-tions to pull us out of stuff and adversity. People are going to be looking to people like him to step up and provide the team with the spark we need.”


Dearyfrom Page 6

deary 2015 schedule

Aug. 29: vs. Potlatch, 2 p.m. (Kibbie Dome)

Sept. 11: vs. Genesee, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18: at Lewis County, 7

p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Timberline, 7 p.m.

Oct. 2: at Joseph (Ore.), 7

p.m.

Oct. 9: vs. Clark Fork, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16: at Kootenai, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23: vs. Lakeside, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: at Kendrick, 7 p.m.

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I think we’ll be alright,” Woltering said. “We’ll be kind of scrappy. We won’t be quite as dynamic but I think we’ll be a little above average.”

This year’s team includes seven freshmen, and despite being young they add some much-needed depth to the roster.

“Last year we only had 15 kids and honestly we were in better shape than everybody,” Woltering said. “That’s why we were as good as we were. That’s what I’m kind of hoping to do again.”

Leading the way for the Vikings this year will be Ian Neibergs, the top tack-ler on last year’s team. He comes into this season with some momentum after seeing success last year.

“It helped us a lot because we got a lot more confident and we saw what we could do,” Neibergs said. “... We should

just keep that level of play up.”Neibergs is also stepping into a lead-

ership role after watching Sanderson and Woltering fill that role last season.

“It’s a big responsibility,” Neibergs said, “but I’m just trying to be the best I can and see if I can help the freshmen get into it and help the underclassmen get involved and see if they can get to the level of play that we played at last year.”

Evan Weagraff will be the starting quarterback this season, while Wyatt

Griner will start at running back. Weagraff is more of a runner than Woltering, giving Gar-Pal two players capable of eating up the yards.

The Vikings are certainly no lock to win the Southeast 1B league title, with Liberty Christian coming in as the favorite, but Gar-Pal should still be a solid team this year. Either way, the future looks bright for Viking football.


Gar-Palfrom Page 12

and nobody has been able to practice outside, I thought we were going to be in the gym tonight and here we are outside under the lights.”

But there’s only so many two-a-days, weight lifting sessions or special practice plans the coach-es can conduct to make up for the lost time. Fortunately over the summer the team’s lead-ers rose to the occasion, which Bafus described as “priceless.”

“We talked about in football camp up back in June up at Whitworth that ‘Hey guys, we don’t know what’s going to hap-pen with the levy but we’re in a situation where we have a chance to do something special and it’s how you guys take the reins,’ ” Bafus recalled. “You guys are going to be steering the ship, to a certain a extent, through a certain portion of the summer and it’s where you guide that ship as to where we’re going to go ultimately throughout this upcoming season.’

“Our leaders David, Chase and Jake have done a good job of getting that done.”

That trio of co-captains plan to get the job done this fall, too. Blazzard enters his second year as the starting quarterback and his peers are more than confi-dent in his ability to guide them to another deep state tourna-ment run.

“He’s got an arm,” Nelson said. “Last year was his first time starting and he did sur-prisingly well. I think he’ll be even better this year.”

Then there’s Blum who, along with fellow running back Jonah Lay, is expected to be a terror out of the Trojan back-field this season.

“They’ve gotten really fast,” Nelson said. “Jonah can run probably as fast Kellen Hoskins can, and David is pretty strong. They fit right in.”

All of Troy’s key pieces will come together on the field Sept.

5, and the team hopes the community, typically lined up along the sidelines to watch the Trojans, unifies as well.

“We’re hitting the ground running tonight with a purpose of restoring the pride in our

community,” Bafus said. “Right now this community is hurt. It’s beat up, it’s gut-punhced, unfor-tunately it hasn’t been the most civil back and forth between the two sides. We have a unique opportunity as a small-town

football program to get to play-ing on Friday nights, get this behind us and learn from this.”

Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at (208) 883-4629 or by email at [email protected].

Cary Wilton/Daily NewsTroy backup quarterback Isaac Stoner, right, throws the ball during a practice Tuesday night in Troy after finding out the school district’s levy was approved and the school would have a team this fall.

Troyfrom Page 14

2015 high school football preview

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