The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – A new football season will also see a new team take the field, as Dayton and Waitsburg High Schools are combining forces for the 2016 season. The kids had a chance to pad-up and play with their teammates for the first time during spring practices and camp.

Head Coach Troy Larsen had 53 players sign-up for the team in the spring, showing a great interest from local kids. "Some will disappear and maybe play other sports," said Larsen. The team is made up of a good mixture of kids from both Dayton and Waitsburg.

The late spring workouts started for the team on May 31. "Our first two weeks were practices. We had to introduce our Waitsburg system, the Waitsburg offense and defense to the Dayton kids. We also got to know the kids better, as a lot of the kids already knew each other from competing against each other over the years," said Larsen.

"We also had to introduce the Dayton coaches, as some of them were new to the program as they didn't coach Dayton last year," Larsen went on to say. "After the first two weeks of practice, we had the Tri-Cities Football Camp from the 13th to the 18th of June."

The camp, which saw Dayton-Waitsburg field varsity and junior varsity teams against various schools of different sizes, was highly successful.

"It went very well for JV and for varsity. Our varsity squad didn't lose a game. We had 32 kids go to camp, so we didn't have a full team. Kids couldn't come because they had work, and some were hurt. We played some 2A and 1A schools, along with the normal local rivals such as Tri-Cities Prep and Liberty Christian," explained Larsen. "We beat teams that had been playing together since the fifth grade after only being together for three weeks." Larsen also praised the kids for bringing an "eagerness to learn and to play hard" to camp.

"For being together for three weeks, we really came together well. We were competing and beating teams that always played together, it was fun, and the kids built a lot of camaraderie.

Dayton-Waitsburg will see all-conference players from last year's Cardinal team return, including Jacob Dunn and Travis Crockett. The offense will feature Dunn and Crockett, along with Ben Kleck, Cal Martin, and Tanner Bren from Dayton. On the defensive side of the ball, Larsen and his staff are trying to install a 3-4 defense "to take advantage of our athleticism," according to Larsen.

Spring football provides a good look into a team's upcoming season, and this year was no different for the local boys. They will be seeing many new schools this year, as a new conference has formed with teams that local schools don't usually play becoming league opponents.

"It will be new to us; it's the unknown. The new conference is now the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference, or the EWAC for short. The new schools that we will be seeing are Kittitas, White Swan, Mabton, Lyle-Wishram, and the normal local rivals like Tri-Cities Prep, DeSales, and Liberty Christian is moving up to 2B this year too," said Larsen, when asked about the upcoming campaign.

However, Larsen is hopeful looking ahead. "The schedule will be a tad easier for us. In years past, our preseason was made up of 1A schools, so we will lose some of those games. We will still play Burbank and Mac-Hi (Milton-Freewater) though. Also, Kittitas and White Swan are coming off of tough seasons, and Lyle-Wishrum and Liberty Christian are both moving up a class size this year, so that will be a challenge for them," claimed Larsen.

The schedule is not the only reason that Dayton-Waitsburg is optimistic going ahead, as their strong camp performance also helped.

"A good litmus test from camp was our game against Connell. Connell was 12-2 last year, and lost to Royal in the 1A state semifinals. Both of their losses were to Royal, and they are projected to be one of the top contenders for the 1A title this year since they didn't lose kids from their team last year," said Larsen. "We have great expectations from camp, but things like injuries will play a role, since you can never predict those outside factors."

"I see us competing to win our league title. That is our initial goal; to win league," said Larsen. "It too early to tell about state, but I think we can make it there."

Courtesy Photo

Travis Crockett runs.

At the end of the day, spring was definitely a great success for the new football team, and there is excitement going into the fall.

"The team bonding during camp was priceless, and I am looking forward to see what this team can accomplish once all the new players to the team and the new players to varsity learn the system," said Larsen. "With a strong JV team that played a full schedule at camp, and will play a full schedule this fall, the D-W football program is off to a great start. Waitsburg football has been very successful for over ten years, with a lot of wins and no losing seasons. Now with the new combine with Dayton, we are incorporating Dayton in quickly and treating every player like they have always been in this system. The future of football in our valley is exciting."