Tigers big up front, long at receiver this season
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald The Ephrata receiving corps averages over 6-feet and is expected to create matchup issues. They include, from left, Chris Walker, Logan Vaughan, quarterback Zac Berryman, Jake Oxos and Josh Benthem.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldAt 6-foot-3, Ephrata wide receiver Chris Walker (7) is expected to create some mismatches against smaller defenders.
Playing with swag isn’t something that’s taught, it comes from winning and that’s been the missing ingredient with Ephrata football the past couple of seasons.
“First you hope (you win), then you think you can and finally you know. We have to get to that know part and that’s what we’re working on,” Tigers head coach Jay Mills said.
The staff is going to shake things up a little bit to see if they can get to the know part. They are moving senior Zac Berryman (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) to quarterback and lining up last year’s starter Chris Walker (6-foot-3, 195 pounds) at wide out along with Jake Oxos (6-foot-2, 190 pounds). The receiving tandem could be could be one of the tallest in the Central Washington Athletic Conference. It certainly is one of the strong suits of the Tigers’ offense.
“We talked over the winter as a staff to give Zac a chance (at quarterback) and move Chris to wide receiver,” Mills said. “We will be over 6-foot at every wide out position. Hunter James (6-foot-4, 180 pounds), the basketball player, is out. We also have Josh Benthem (6-foot-3, 180 pounds). Blake Larkin (5-foot-10, 155 pounds) does a really nice job as an inside receiver. That’s probably our strongest position group right now.”
Mills smiled with the topic of his offensive line came up.
“We’re big up front. We are senior-dominant in our offensive line and we’re at a point where we have some depth,” he said. “We’ll start six seniors. They can move in the open field and have been really effective in our screen game.”
They’ll go with Cody Follett (6-foot-5, 247 pounds) and Efrain Bedolla (6-foot-4, 250 pounds) at the tackles. Landon Davis (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) and Gavan Allen (6-foot, 260 pounds) at the guards. Robert Lybbert (6-foot, 220 pounds) is the center. They are also expected to play on the defensive side, but Mills likes what he sees offensively.
“Our size is as big as we’ve been in awhile,” he said. “They move well and I’ve been pleased. We’re going to spread the ball around the best we can.”
Where the passing game is about size and Berryman’s big arm, the running game will showcase the speed of Leland Burleson (6-foot, 190 pounds). Burleson showed break-away speed last year and Mills is expecting to see a balanced attack behind a big offensive line.
The Tigers return a core group on defense, including Larkin at cornerback and Walker at safety in the defensive backfield. They have the same size on the defensive front with Allen, Davis and Follett and others.
“Those guys have played a lot of football and they do a nice job up front,” Mills said.
As for the CWAC, it’s Ellensburg’s title until someone takes it away. The Bulldogs went undefeated in the league and lost just twice before losing to Liberty of Issaquah in the 2A state semifinals.
“It’s that simple, to be a contender you have to knock out the champion and we have to beat those guys,” Mills said. “But the most important game for us is Cashmere (in the opener). Coming off of last year (1-6, 1-5 CWAC), we just want to start in a good way. The one thing we can control is that mindset and competitiveness.
“It’s about how hard we work in practice, and that’s where it has to start.”
Prosser and Othello lost just one league game and are expected to challenge for the title again this year. Selah won five games and the rest of the CWAC was well below .500.