Saturday, Jun. 21, 2008

First-ever Tri-City prep football camp a success

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

The inaugural Tri-City Team Football Camp concluded Friday with what Stanfield coach Jay Zwiefelhofer called "a celebration of football" -- 14 teams gathered at Lampson Stadium, scrimmaging one last time before putting the pads away until the start of fall practice Aug. 20.

"I was really impressed," said Sunnyside coach Mark Marro. "None of us knew what this would be like, but all of us knew what we wanted it to be like, and it worked out that way."

The weeklong camp featured morning practices at each high school, then night sessions at Hanford or Walla Walla where teams could scrimmage, set up 7-on-7 drills, or concoct whatever practice plan coaches developed between themselves.

"It went better than anticipated," said Falcons coach Rob Oram, one of the camp directors. "Great competition. We got to work on a lot of stuff. We had minimal injuries. It was awesome. We're already talking about how to improve for next year."

The No. 1 improvement will be adding lifts at the Hanford fields to allow for videotaping practices and scrimmages.

Kamiakin coach Craig Beverlin, another of the camp directors, said the camp will make close to $5,700 after gate receipts for Friday's Championship Night were added in.

Most of the proceeds will be returned to the schools in proportion to the number of athletes brought to the camp, but Beverlin said about $1,000 would be used to rent three or four lifts for next year.

"We're already getting calls from other schools for next year," Beverlin said. "The whole week, the weather was super, and Hanford did a great job with their fields. All the coaches worked together. People are loving it."

Those people included Zwiefelhofer, the second-year Stanfield coach whose program had never attended a team camp until this week, and first-year Richland coach Mike Neidhold, a longtime assistant who's been to numerous camps but especially enjoyed staying home this year.

"It's been a really neat experience," he said. "I hope we can continue to do it."

Friday's finale was broken up into three sessions -- freshmen teams, followed by big-school JVs and small-school varsities such as Grandview (which bid farewell to coach Dustin Lamb after its scrimmages), and, finally, big-school varsities.

No score was kept.

Lamb announced his resignation a month ago and stayed on through the end of team camp. The former Pasco quarterback, 15-26 in four seasons with the Greyhounds, hopes to spend more time at home with his family and eventually find a coaching opportunity closer to his Pasco home.

"I'm 31, and I've been (involved with) football since I was 7," he said. "It'll be interesting to have a fall off."