Eight-man teams will start season on the road

First game adventures for three of the county’s veteran eight-man teams will be varied this year. The Colton Wildcats, LW Tigercats and SJE Eagles will all be on the road to distant destinations. All will play in non-league battles and expect to get some idea of how they will do when the expanded SE Eight league campaign launches.

Garfield/Palouse, now sanctioned for eight-man ball, will start their season next week at Selkirk.

Wildcats will start against TCP champs

Coach Clark Vining and the Colton Wildcats, who battled into the quarter-final round of the state eights last year, will open the season with an eight-man matchup against Tri-Cities Prep, the defending state champions.

Tri-Cities has been bumped up to 2B this year, but they will start the season against some eight-man foes. TCP and Cusick, the team which stopped the Wildcats in the rain and fog at Newport in the quarter-final round, were the lone clubs to defeat Colton last year.

The Wildcats graduated six seniors off last year’s club. Key missing ingredient is Sam Robertson, the veteran back who set state records last year to conclude his long career at Colton. Also gone are Nate Jacobs, Bernie Druffel, Chase Druffel, Chad Ryle and Pat Lutskas.

Coach Vining has 20 recruits on the field.

Key returnee for the Wildcats will be quarterback Josh Straughan, a three-year starter as a junior. He will have many of his receivers back, but the Wildcats need to rework another part of the passing game, the line, Coach Vining noted.

Receivers back as seniors are Steve Eacker and Taylor Spence. Holdan Druffel will also be back as a senior receiver and a linebacker.

Druffel and Eacker can be expected to take some of the running assignments.

Jacob Reidner, starting center last year, returns as a junior. Travis Hoyle, a senior, and Tim Tilton, a junior, are working into the line slots vacated by Bernie Druffel at Lutskas.

Taylor Jackson, also a senior, returns as a defensive end.

Matt Becker, a junior, and Nick Robertson, a sophomore, will be defensive backs. Robertson could also get work as a running back and Becker could draw receiver assignments.

Vining expects to see a lot of parity in the league this year. Return of the Garfield/Palouse Vikings to eight man, and the entry this year for the Pomeroy Pirates and Sunnyside Christian are new factors.

He expects Touchet, with a large turnout, could have the edge on the league action at the outset.

Tigercats will open with long road trip

LaCrosse/Washtucna Tigercats Friday will open the season with the Salmon River experience. The ‘cats will board their team bus at about noon and start a 190-mile trip down to Riggins to play Salmon River, a team they defeated in early non-league action last year.

Coach Charlie Shepherd’s Savages won the Idaho 1A title last year and will have six of their starters back. They sustained a 20-48 loss to Notus in their Idaho opener last week.

LaCrosse/Washtucna graduated three seniors off last year’s team. Garrett Blauert, who was injured last year after a strong season as running back as a junior, receiver Justin Aldrich and lineman Gary Marmes from Kahlotus have all graduated.

Also gone from last year’s 4-5 team is Garrett Whitney, who logged more running yards after Blauert was knocked out of action. Whitney has moved to Kiona-Benton.

Coach Nelson again has three seniors on the club this year in Jeff Zimmer, Jake Blankenship and Chris Wargo.

Four juniors back in action are Caleb Hannas, Jake Aune, Jason Hulett and Taylor Martin.

Aune will return to the QB slot with Zimmer and Sam Harder, a sophomore, as top receivers.

A newcomer for the blue club this year is John Holdren, a sophomore from Cheney who could play as a defensive end and running back.

The Tigercats have experience back in the line with Wargo, Blankenship, sophomore Austin Summer and freshman James Hopkins, who made the roster last year as an eighth grader.

Caleb Hannas, who missed his sophomore year because of injuries, will be back as running back. Sophomores Sawyer Hostetler and Matt Stubbs are also expected to be part of the Tigercats revamped running game.

Coach Nelson believes the SE Eights title race will be up for grabs this year with a lot of changes in the lineup. Departure of Tri-Cities Prep and the addition of Pomeroy, Garfield/Palouse and Sunnyside Christian point to a new era for the league.

Like Coach Vining, Coach Nelson believes Touchet’s large turnout could by an indicator of a strong campaign this year from the southern end of the league.

SJE play new combo team on Odessa grid

St. John/Endicott Eagles Friday will travel to Odessa to play the new area combo team on the eight-man scene. The Tigers this year have linked up with Harrington in a merger which left Sprague and Lamont players, their former long-time combo partners, on a limb.

Coach Bob Clements has 19 gridders out for action this year with four seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and six freshmen on the grid.

The Eagles graduated six seniors off last year’s club with a lot of the diploma departures off the line. J.C. West, Steve Bowen and Trevor Johnson, a lot of the Eagles’ inside power game, have all departed.

Other grads were QB Dylan Schmick, who was hurt last year, Jesse Nichols and Miguel Rice.

Kyle Raynor, who moved into the QB slot last year, will be back as a senior. Evan Raynor, end and linebacker last year and Ben Harrison, running back and linebacker, are other returning seniors. Also back as a senior is Dakota Hallenius, end and linebacker.

Cole McCanna, running back and linebacker, returns as a junior. Mason Howell, Lee Perrill and Gus Bailey are other juniors on the squad.

Two juniors who turned out for the first time this year, Josh Hudson and Bryce Bennett, could fill those line positions. Both top 200 pounds, but they need to learn some of the skills, Coach Clements said.

Two sophomores back this year are Thomas Newton and Samuel Raynor. The Eagles have also picked up sophomore transfer Gabe Davis.

Coach Clements said he expects the Eagles could encounter depth problems as the season advances, particularly if they run into injury problems like they did last year.

After this week’s trip to Odessa for the non-leaguer, the Eagles will have a bye next week and then face another long road trip when they travel to Harrison Flats in Idaho and play Kootenai.