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Nov. 6—West Valley football coach Craig Whitney has had some good teams in his 20 seasons at the helm of the Eagles. He thinks the 2024 edition stacks up with the best of them.
“We talk about the ’09 team that played for the state championship. The 2017 team that played in the semifinals. Each team was a little bit different,” Whitney said. “But this one is as good as those guys. But we have to play well every week, including this one coming up.”
The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in 2A by the state media poll and No. 3 in the RPI system, are undefeated after nine games heading into this weekend’s Round of 32 game against Mark Morris (4-5, RPI No. 30), which they host at 3 p.m. Saturday. The winner will be seeded in the state Round of 16 next week.
West Valley has outscored opponents 370-173 and is averaging 405 yards per game on offense. But always the coach, Whitney won’t let the team get complacent despite the record or prior successes.
“Seems like we talk about cleaning something up, and the next week there’s something else. I guess it makes for job security,” Whitney said. “There’s always stuff to work on. They’re high school kids. We as coaches, we don’t know everything. But we watch film and we’re nitpicky with them.”
He’s always looking for a new wrinkle.
“Our playbook keeps expanding on the players’ abilities, what we think they can do,” Whitney said. “We’ll keep progressing until the very end.”
Tailback Austin Clark garners a lot of attention, as he should. The senior led the Greater Spokane League 2A division in rushing by more than 300 yards with 1,085 yards (9.4 average), and 24 touchdowns on the ground and one through the air.
“He has good vision, has good patience,” Whitney said of Clark. “He’s powerful enough to run through arm tackles, and then he’s got the speed to finish runs.”
Clark scored eight touchdowns,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/high-expectations-tailback-austin-clark-045900087.html
Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Publish date : 2024-11-07 04:59:00
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