Commitment begins for senior Chiefs

Three Moses Lake athletes make collegiate careers final

MOSES LAKE - Family and coaches gathered around a conference table at Moses Lake High School at 10 a.m. Wednesday to witness the signing of three letters of intent.

"This is a momentous occasion for Moses Lake High School," said Moses Lake football coach Greg Kittrell. "The bond passed so we can have a new stadium and more importantly for the first time three athletes are signing letters of intent."

BJ Guerra, Ryan Carpenter and Casey Secrist made their collegiate futures official signing letters to Washington State University, Central Washington University and Weber State University.

"It's a big weight lifted off my shoulders," said Guerra. "Now I just have to worry about my grades and getting in."

Cougar's coach Bill Doba admitted one of the obvious draws for WSU was Guerra's size but said there were other attractive qualities that came through in the recruitment process.

"I had a great home visit with him and he was defensive player of his conference," said Doba. "He's aggressive too and he played through some pain this season. If I remember right it was a high ankle sprain. Coach Rosenbaugh recruits those guys and he got on him early."

Carpenter's future head coach Beau Baldwin of CWU said Carpenter was offered a place on the Wildcats' team for several reasons that ranged from his athleticism to his personality.

"I believe he can start out playing a number of different spots. It's a compliment to Ryan, a lot of players start out playing one spot," said Baldwin. "We'll start him at tailback and see how that goes.

"It was not only Ryan's talent that caught my attention," Baldwin added. "Ryan was one of the first young men I got to meet during my first few days on the job. I think his character and quality as a person are the type of things I want to see in our players."

As the newest member of the Wildcats' roster, Ryan said, "It's awesome. I have an exciting four years of football ahead."

Casey Secrist, the final signee of the day, expressed sentiments similar to those of his classmates saying, "It's exciting to know that I have somewhere to go next."

At the time of publication, coach Jake Cookus of Weber State University was unavailable for comment.