SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – The echo of three-peat rings through all of West Valley’s football offseason prep. The Eagles have history on the line.
Three straight GSL titles would be a school-first, and the first two chips featured unbeaten league seasons.
“That would be awesome,” quarterback Nathan Zettle said. “I think that’s the legacy I want to leave here, and especially my whole senior class. I think that’s what we want to do. All we do for, like, my senior class, we’ve just been winning since freshman year. So, we want to keep that going.”
“It’s all about brotherhood, honestly,” running back Elijah Newman said. “That’s all I got. It’s a brotherhood, connection. Get out and do stuff with your team.”
The Eagles return starting QB Zettle, the reigning GSL 2A MVP, and his strong core of seniors.
“I’m not really worried about the awards or whatever comes with that,” Zettle said. “I couldn’t do without my teammates, my coaches, my family.”
“Football is about how good you can be as a team,” head coach Craig Whitney said. “You can have the best quarterback and, if you don’t move guys and do the right stuff in other positions, he’s not going to shine. So, really, really strong team last year which helped those guys achieve what they did.”
The team looked unbeatable heading through last year’s playoffs, outscoring their opponents 345-59 across their nine wins, and plenty of defensive experience returns.
“I think we’re just like, we have a good community,” linebacker Connor Dunfield said. “And the older kids really teach the younger kids, and everybody just keeps building. Like, the seniors, when I was a freshman, sophomore, really taught me up, and I just continue with the younger kids.”
West Valley starts the season against Ridgeline, a tough 3A side in their second-ever meeting, first in five years, and it will test the Eagles’ grit and strength early on.
“Yeah, we kind of want to see how we stack up,” Coach Whitney said. “Going against the bigger team, we’ll have our work cut out for us. You know, though, if we have five good linemen, they probably got ten. So, you know, you double every position. So we’re going to have to work really hard and play smart.”
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