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Walla Walla football coach doesn't buy into Lampson jinx When head coach Marc Yonts looks back on Walla Walla's season so far, there are two games he would rather forget. Both happened at Lampson Stadium, that piece of artificial turf in east Kennewick where so many November playoff games are contested. Yonts isn't ready to call it a jinx, but he's heard about how his team has played at Lampson this season more than once this week. Away from Lampson, Walla Walla has looked nearly unbeatable while compiling a 7-0 record. At Lampson, the Blue Devils are 0-2. Guess where the Blue Devils play today? By virtue of being the Big Nine Conference champion, Kamiakin has the home-field advantage today in the 4A state playoff game that will be played at Lampson at 1 p.m. The Braves are 6-0 at Lampson this year and 4-0 away from the friendly confines of their home stadium. Yonts has a little more history he'd like to share. "Over the years, we've been really successful at Lampson Stadium, so what's happened this year really doesn't mean too much," Yonts said. "If you look for the common denominator for our two games there, it is that we played two of our poorest games against two very good football teams." Walla Walla dropped its season opener to Kamiakin 24-14 and then, even more surprisingly, the last game of the regular season to Southridge 20-19. Against Kamiakin, Yonts said the Blue Devils ran into a team with too much speed. "I actually think we match up well with Kamiakin," Yonts said. "They are very fast, but we have some quick kids, too." The film of the Southridge game has been banned in Walla Walla because of the graphic nature of the missed tackles and poor passing attack. "If we had been on the same page, we could have broken a few," Yonts said. "But Southridge is a playoff-caliber team and you can't play like that against good teams." If there's a silver lining in the two losses, it's the way the Walla Walla players responded to the setbacks. After dropping the opener to Kamiakin, Walla Walla won seven straight. After Southridge, Walla Walla manhandled Gonzaga Prep 34-12 in Spokane to open the playoffs Tuesday. Yonts is excited about the redemption available in playing Kamiakin again, a team coach Craig Beverlin said is hurting. "I think both teams are banged up," Beverlin said. "I'm nervous about it, but our kids have shown a lot of grit." Both Nick Genatone, Kamiakin's leading tackler and best blocking back, and two-starter Nick Castilleja are questionable for today's game. "If we got to pick our opponent it would be Kamiakin," Yonts said. "We wished we would have played better the last time we played them. All you can ask for in life is an opportunity. We're excited about it. Kamiakin is the top team in our region and we're looking forward to playing them." Yonts is a former Kamiakin player, but it's been more than two decades since he played for Beverlin. "I'm starting to get old," Yonts said, "but the neat thing is a lot of their coaches are the same and I know their coaches so well. Craig loves new wrinkles so we know there will be something new." Beverlin is happy to confirm that his former linebacker has learned well. The Braves playbook has been padded just for this occasion. "We always try to have something for our old buddy," Beverlin said. "We'll have something for him." n Jim Riley can be reached at 582-1506 or via e-mail at jriley@tri-cityherald.com. | ||||||||||
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