"Warriors battle injuries...Rochester regroups, looks for big plays and big season" -- August 31, 2006

BY CALEB BREAKEY
THE OLYMPIAN

ROCHESTER -- Two Rochester High School senior football players hobbled toward the royal blue regiment of Warriors who were lunging, one leg at a time, across midfield during pre-practice stretching drills last week.

Defensive back Justin Eastman and fullback Mike George -- both stocky, weighing about 175 pounds each and standing almost 5-foot-9 -- approached on crutches from a white truck parked several yards behind one of the field's goalposts.

The two injury-stricken players settled alongside the field, both favoring their right leg.

"Your foot getting tired yet, the one that you walk on?" George said, repositioning his left crutch.

Eastman just nodded his head with squinted eyes as George plopped down on the grass. "We should have drove the truck over here."

Eastman suffered a torn ACL that head coach Vince Tarsi said would likely steal the all-league player's season. George's doctor suspects either a hairline fracture or pulled ligaments in his ankle.

Still, senior lineman Nick Hinkle said the Warriors morale grows stronger even after injuries punched the team in the gut.

Hinkle and the Warriors' other seniors called a team leadership meeting the day Eastman went down. Half of the team's juniors joined the 11 seniors at the gathering, which happens only about three times each season.

Senior halfback Devon Willadsen said the team talked about staying focused because the upperclassmen's downbeat body language and actions seep into the Warriors' sophomores and freshmen, disrupting the team from one end to the other.

After that, the 6-4, 170-pound Hinkle closed the meeting with a reminder.

"We know our plays, we know our stuff," he said. "We can make the playoffs."

This season marks Tarsi's second year at the helm of Rochester's football program. Before him, the team had three coaches in three years, and the players struggled to keep pace with the changing offensive and defensive schemes.

Under Tarsi, the team and its playbook finally are stable for a second straight season. This is the first time the Warriors' seniors have been in one system for more than one year.

"It's hard to get tradition," senior halfback Tor Benson said. "We're starting to get it back now."

Even so, vacations and other absences shot one of the Warriors' summer goals -- lifting weights for 80 percent of the two-and-a-half months -- and set back the team's conditioning schedule. Tarsi countered that by implementing extra running before team practices, which Benson said is preparing the team to ignite, not fizzle, in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors' underclassmen outdid their junior and senior teammates, reaching the 80-percent plateau, but the team tripped short of Tarsi's expectations.

"We didn't get the results that we wanted, which was pretty disappointing," he said.

With only three players from last season having graduated, Tarsi said the Warriors remain young but have a heightened, more comfortable ceiling of experience. The team will start eight seniors in Friday's season-opening game at Aberdeen.

Hinkle remembers 2005 as a season of opportunity for him and the other juniors of that year.

"We were playing all the time. We know how to take a hit, we know how to give a hit, we know how to run a ball," he said. "You don't have to worry about people getting spooked out there. The little jitters of playing in a varsity game are gone."

The Warriors' offensive attack begins with the team's pair of halfbacks, Benson and Willadsen, whom Hinkle described as "dodgy guys who can move quick and catch a ball."

Running a spread-T, junior quarterback Jarin Ruiz fronts the two backs and has their trust when he fires the ball, Willadsen said.

The team's playbook includes plays that have the backs running downfield. During such routes, Ruiz routinely unleashes deep, accurate passes to the Warriors' receivers, Hinkle said. But the team's offense still expects to favor the ground slightly this season.

"We just take what the defense gives us," Tarsi said. "It's really a mix. We'll run first, but if the pass is there, we're going to take advantage of it."

The defensive line is inexperienced but not a weakness. A lack of depth -- forcing the team to swing starters between offense and defense during games -- could cripple the team by exhaustion, Tarsi said.

The loss of Eastman and George made matters worse, but the Warriors are coping with the injuries and still are having fun. As did junior linebacker Luke Steelhammer near the end of practice as Eastman trudged toward his truck and George picked himself up to go watch last
season's game film.

"You look like cute little twins (with) your crutches," Steelhammer said.

COACH: Vince Tarsi (second year with Warriors, 12th overall)
LAST YEAR: 2-3, fifth in league
RETURNING STARTERS: Nine offense, six defense
OFFENSIVE/DEFENSIVE SETS: Spread-T/3-3
KEY RETURNERS: Nick Hinkle, OL-DL, 6-4, 170, sr.; Devon Willadsen, RB-FS, 6-3, 175, sr.; Tor Benson, RB-LB, 6-0, 175, sr.; Jarin Ruiz, QB, 6-0, 157, jr.
STRENGTH: Skill positions
WEAKNESS: Depth. Injuries to Justin Eastman and Mike George have thinned an already small squad of 44 players.
NOTABLE: The team has a "Warrior Counsel," comprised of three seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. The goal of the counsel is to build leadership in the football program and school at every level.
COACH'S OUTLOOK: "Playing together, working together. We always talk about finishing strong," Tarsi said. "No matter what the outcome is, if we're up three or four touchdowns or down three or four touchdowns, you're always going to see the same demeanor. We talk about playing with quiet confidence -- respecting the opponent, respecting each other."

Schedule
Date Opponent Time
Sept. 1 at Aberdeen 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 8 Woodland 7 p.m.
Sept. 15 Ilwaco 7 p.m.
Sept. 22 at LaCenter 7 p.m.
Sept. 29 White Salmon 7 p.m.
Oct. 6 at Castle Rock 7 p.m.
Oct. 13 Kalama 7 p.m.
Oct. 20 at Stevenson 7 p.m.
Oct. 27 Toledo 7 p.m.