Soap Lake aims to build on last year’s wins

SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Eagles will be fun to watch this season, head coach Garrett Devine said. Devine says that they have a lot of the same players returning this year and he plans on building on what they learned last year. 

“I am really excited,” Devine said. “I think we are going to be pretty good. We have a solid group, and we have a lot of guys coming back. I am excited to continue to build on what we did at the end of last year.” 

Devine said last year’s season started slow and with good teams at the start, but they won five of their last six games. The Eagles ended with a 5-5 record last year and a three-game win streak.  

“We started to figure it out at the end,” Devine said. “The boys were working better together and that is going to continue this year.”  

Last year's season began with four losses against Wilbur-Creston-Keller, Republic, MLCA/CCS and Waterville-Mansfield. The Eagles began their winning streak with a shutout against Oroville, followed by another win against Bridgeport. Following that, Entiat beat the Eagles, however, Soap Lake returned strong by beating Pateros twice by scores of 50-7 and 58-6. The Eagles ended the season with another win against Mary Walker. 

This will be Devine’s third year as head coach; however, he has been at Soap Lake for six years, starting as an assistant coach. He said with every year he gets better, and so does his team. 

“I think we are getting better and better every year,” Devine said. “I am excited to see what the guys can do this year, as we have gotten to know each other over the past couple of years.”  

According to Devine, The Eagles will have a large senior and freshman class. Devine said that he has a big incoming class and a strong senior class of about six players. He says the junior class will have the lowest numbers.  

“It will be good to have the younger ones learning from the seniors,” Devine said. “They have trained and know how to play well on the field, and they will pass that down to the younger class.”  

Devine said that the game he is looking forward to most is the first one against St. John-Endicott and the home game against Waterville-Mansfield in Week 2.  

“I haven’t really looked past the first few games. I am just really excited to get out and play the first game,” Devine said. “I think we are going to be fun to watch, score a lot of points and play good defense. It is going to be a fun group to watch for sure.”  

Soap Lake Football Schedule 

Sept. 6 – at St. John-Endicott – 7:00 p.m. 

Sept. 13 – vs Waterville-Mansfield – 7:00 p.m. 

Sept. 20 – vs Dayton – 7:00 p.m. 

Oct. 4 – at Pateros –  6:00 p.m. 

Oct. 11 – at Oroville – 7:00 p.m. 

Oct. 18 – vs Entiat – 7:00 p.m.  

Oct. 25 – at Waterville-Mansfield – 7:00 p.m. 

Nov. 1 – vs MLCA/CCS – 7:00 p.m. 

Nov. 8 – vs Bridgeport – 7:00 p.m. 

    The Soap Lake offense lines up against Wellpinit during a scrimmage in Coulee City on June 14.
  

    The Soap Lake football team preparing for last fall’s season. This year’s team is looking to build on the successes the Eagles saw last year.
  

    A Soap Lake defender closes in on a Liberty Christian quarterback during a jamboree in Coulee City.