Warriors looks to make fourth straight trip to state
When the topic of conversation is superior 8-man football, it's hard not to get excited about the Almira/Coulee-Hartline (ACH) program.
That's because coach Brandon Walsh, entering his 14th season as head coach, has built ACH into a powerhouse in the 1B Bi-County Northeast Conference that contends for the league, district and state title year after year.
"We are 63-11 since we started playing 8-man football (again)," Walsh said. "We won the state title in 2007, was third in 2010, and second in 2011."
The Warriors made it to the state tournament in 2009 too, but were bounced out of the first round by Tri-Cities Prep.
ACH initially played 8-man football in the mid-80's through the early 90's. But the school's enrollment grew to the point it had to move up a classification and play 11-man from 1993-2004.
"In 2005 our enrollment dropped back to the level where we could play 8-man football again. This was a blessing in terms of our success," Walsh said. "We were the smallest school in the Bi-County 11-man league and didn't have a winning season through that entire stretch of 12 years."
The Warriors have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success since.
ACH averaged 48.5 points per game last year, while giving up 17.The Warriors were undefeated in league play, won the district title and beat Touchet 52-8 in round one of the state playoffs and Pomeroy 46-6 in round two.
Their only defeat came at the hands of Neah Bay in the state title game, which they lost in the waning minutes 36-28.
But this year may present a few challenges.
Walsh and his staff mustto find replacements for a few key players lost to graduation including starting quarterback Derek Isaak who accounted for 1,156 yards passing, 21 TDs and no interceptions and 1,711 yards rushing and 30 touchdowns last season. He also finished second on the team with 73 solo tackles.
"Derek is not the type of player that's ever replaced completely. He was a pretty special athlete,' Walsh said. "However, we will put quality kids on the field in every position. Senior Drew Isaak (Derek's brother) will step in at QB and do a good job. Jordan Ping and Tucker Matthewson will have to be replaced on the offensive line, but we have a couple of pretty good kids coming in there too."
Walsh will also have to find someone to fill running back Colin Deyarmin's shoes. Deyarmin ran for 1,554 yards and 23 touchdowns, and had 324 receiving yards and 6 TDs as well in 2011. Deyarmin transferred to University High School last spring.
The three people Walsh will be counting on to lead the offensive attack are seniors Isaak, Thunder Wellhausen who had 391 receiving yards and 7 TDs, and Cody McCleary, whom he plans to play at the running back position if healthy.
"Cody is recovering from a rodeo injury this summer and his turnout is questionable at this point," Walsh said. "If he's healthy and he plays, he will be our starting tailback and defensive end."
There are some unknowns on his squad this season, but Walsh said he likes the way the team is shaping up, despite having to overcome some glaring obstacles.
"We will be very athletic with a lot of upper classmen, so I think we will be competitive against everyone we play," he said. "It's going to look a bit different than it did last year because of some of the key guys that we lost. But we hope to be peaking when the playoffs start and make another deep run."
Walsh said he expects Odessa-Harrington to be the stiffest competition once again in league play.
The weakness of the team Walsh said is being undersized.
"We won't have any real big kids to speak of this year," he said. "So we'll have to compensate with speed, technique and execution."
Not doubt Walsh will find a way to get it done.
ACH opened its season with a 54-22 road win against the Eagles at Soap Lake Aug. 31.