IVHS Cougar football prepares for run on Skyline Conference
From our weekly issue dated August 05, 2009
I.V. News file photo
“We not me” is the Cougar battle cry for the coming football season, stemming from when the entire coaching staff attended a Nike coaching clinic.
It then continued when 28 Cougars football players (including 11 freshmen) and the coaching staff attended the annual five-day Gold Beach football camp in June. There was one team each from California and Idaho, and six teams from Oregon: Illinois Valley, Hidden Valley, North Valley, Lost River, Bend, and Gold Beach.
The camp, which focused on the basics of offense and defense, had many valuable aspects for the Cougars. They included lineman challenges, weightlifting competition, (T.J. Parker won the bench press event for his weight class), full gear in the morning, and 7-on-7 passing drills in the evening.
Back in Cave Junction, “We had a lot of scrimmages, 10 or so this week,” said second-year head coach Ray Yarbrough. “This camp might just be the turning point of our season. It was a real team builder.”
He also has been impressed with the turnout for the summer workouts, where players have conditioned and lifted weights from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays all summer.
“Some of our players have shown true dedication and commitment this summer,” Yarbrough stated.
Now is the time for the dreadful “Hell Week,” otherwise known as two-a-days, which will start Aug. 24. This is normally a two-week event, but classes will start Aug. 31, a week earlier than normal this year. The Cougars will cram two weeks into one. The focus will be on conditioning and mental mind sets; and expectations and goals will be set for players and coaches.
“This is the time when we come together as a team,” said Yarbrough. “One of the reasons is, last year we relied on Lance Tausaga on offense and defense, and without him we will need more of a team effort. ‘We not me’.”
This season will feature many big games for the Cougars. The first game of the season on Sept. 4 against 3-A Rogue River Chieftains will be a preview of things to come, as Illinois Valley High School will drop to the 3-A classification in 2010, and rightfully so. The Cougars are from the smallest 4-A school in the state, 68 students past the limit for 3-A competition. Then the Skyline Conference opener Sept. 9 against North Valley will prove to be a tough test for the Cougars.
“The Knights are well-coached and their kids are big, but they lost Paul Guzman, which will help,” stated Yarbrough. All games in the Skyline Conference are important to the Cougars, because they will play each school only once. I.V. will have two homecoming games against Phoenix and Hidden Valley on the fields of the latter two.
“Hidden Valley will be strong; they have a lot of returning starters,” commented Yarbrough. However, the Mustangs won’t have Clint Sager due to graduation and will miss Travis Woodrum; their best running back who transferred to Grant Pass High. Then, in the final conference game at Henley the Cougars will be in a play-off atmosphere.
“The Skyline is up for grabs this year, and the team who wants it the most will win the title,” added I.V.’s head coach.
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Last year was a tough transition for the Cougars, coming off of a 10-0 conference season, mainly on the offensive side. They went from a double-wing, which they’ve used forever, to a spread-offensive; from one or two passes a game to a more balanced attack.
“We feel the kids adapted really well on offense toward the end of the season, and with Roger Hults in mid-season form in the preseason, the overall continuity of our offense will be that much further ahead,” said Yarbrough. “The mental aspect of a new offense will be much improved which will also help,” he added.
But the bottom line is that the Cougars will have to just play the game of football the right way, as a team.
Noted Yarbrough, “The Cougar coaching staff is willing to wait for the cream to rise to the top, to get the best players in the program, but most importantly we need great character and coachable kids.
“We will have high expectation for all players and coaches. Our goal is to be a championship and play-off contender each and every year. But we will have to be on the same page. We have high hopes for our skilled positions, our quarterbacks and receiving core will stack up with any in the conference.”
Returnees — sophomore Freddy Hults (WR-DB); juniors Roger Hults (QB-DB), Curtis Paulson (WR-DB), and Augie Duarte (DT-OG); and seniors T.J. Parker (RB-LB-Wild Cat), Jarrod Houston (OT-DE), Mitch VanTassell (OLB), Brandon Foracker (DT-OG), and Tim Mackey (MLB).
Top newcomers for the Cougs: sophomore Josh Free (C-NG); juniors Anthony Becker (WR-DB), Zach Anderson (WR-DB), Greg Crombie-Fujita (OG-OLB), and Brian Biggs (QB-MLB); and senior John Anderson (RB-DB).
Finances are not an issue. If any student athlete wants to participate, they should contact Yarbrough or athletic director Mark Higgins to make arrangements. “We need every athlete available to make our program all it can be,” said Yarbrough.
With hard work and commitment to excellence, the Cougars should have a successful season.
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