Prep football preview | Chiawana needs to put in work

Steve Graff is never happy this time of year.

It’s too early in the football season, and there are plenty of things to work on.

But during the past two seasons, as the campaign wore on, the Chiawana High School coach started liking his team more and more. The Riverhawks played in the final game of both seasons, with the 2013 squad winning the Class 4A state title and the 2014 team losing it.

In early September, even Graff isn’t sure what he has. So don’t ask him what Chiawana will do for an encore in 2015.

“I’m getting old and cranky,” said Graff, 54. “It takes a lot more to please me. As an overall group, they didn’t work hard over the summer. Guys missed a lot of weight training.”

So one day, he held a special workout after the main practice for a long list of athletes who might have missed a workout or two in the offseason.

“Our expectations haven’t changed,” Graff said. “We do the same thing every summer. We just have to find kids who can play.”

That includes a new quarterback, an almost brand-new offensive line — “We’re starting three sophomores and a junior on the offensive line” — and someone to replace running back Austin Urlacher, who rushed for an 11-man state record of 2,877 yards last season and is now at Montana Western.

Top returners

There is a lot of meat still left on the bone here.

Perhaps the team’s best player is junior linebacker Caleb Weber. He is the heart of the defensive unit and will play middle linebacker. But he’ll be needed on the offensive side of the ball, too.

“Caleb is going to have to have more playing time at tight end or running back,” Graff admitted.

Two-way linemen Cameron Silvers and Levi McBride are back on both sides of the line. Receivers Roman Ruiz and Josh Wilson will be weapons once again.

And between Andrew Vargas (415 yards rushing last season) and Corey Bell, sidelined by a knee injury last season, the running back situation should be covered.

Role players

Matt Winn, the team’s kicker the past two seasons, will have that job again. But he might also punt, play tight end and back up at defensive end.

Junior Troy Simpkins will be the quarterback who gets the offense started.

“He has worked really hard this offseason,” Graff said.

He’s still working hard, Ruiz said.

“The quarterbacks and receivers have been coming in to watch film together,” Ruiz said. “It’s helped a lot.”

Anthony Reisch is also back to play on both sides of the line.

Keys to success

“I think they try to work hard at getting better,” Graff said of his players. “We’re trying guys at different positions. But we have to work on some consistency on offense. I think any time that Josh (Wilson) or Corey (Bell) touch the ball, they can score.”

A recent rash of bad practices had Graff and his staff upset with the players. This group of players, he says, needs to step things up.

Winn agrees.

“In my point of view, we haven’t taken advantage of the motivation from that (state-title game loss last year),” Winn said. “And if you’re practicing like crap, you’re going to play like crap.”

And make their own name.

“That’s how we’ve got to look at it,” said Ruiz. “We know we’ve got talent. If we put in the work like the last two teams, we’ll do well.”

Biggest game

Friday, Sept. 18: Chiawana at Richland. Battle between two of the top teams in the MCC.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Prep football preview | Chiawana needs to put in work."