Waitsburg-Prescott Gridders go to Camp

WAITSBURG - We went to the Tri City Football camp again and have done that this camp six out of the last seven years. It was very positive. As usual, we were missing some kids, but we gave out almost 40 sets of pads and most of those kids did the practices and 31 did the foot­ball camp.

One day was spent at the University of Idaho and their team camp. We went to Idaho on Tuesday and got some work in with their coaches. It was positive. We played McCall and Pullman in scrimmages there.

Chance Leroue injured his knee there and was done for the remainder of camp. It was hard for us, as he is shaping up to be one of our best players this next year. The good news on this injury is that he will be fine and ready to go in August and that his replacements at RB, both Luke Alexenko and Corey Brownlee from Jubi­lee, stepped in and did a very good job. Corey is that big and fast RB that can get you one or two yards. He is kind of a natural. I feel this will be a big help for us as now we really have depth at RB.

Owen Lanning looks to step into the role at QB and is improving. This position now is so vital and Owen is understanding the spot and improving. We feel good about his progress. Lots of kids got looks at varsity positions and we truly have a chance to evaluate all the spots except our kicking game, which we don't usu­ally do in the spring.

Overall, we played a lot of football and got a lot done. We got to see where we stand with some opponents that are on our schedule in 2013, as we played Tri City Prep on Monday and Weston McEwen on Wednesday.

We even stepped away from football on Thurs­day afternoon (after play­ing Stanfield in the morn­ing) and played paintball in Hermiston. This is a thing we have done almost every year here. The kids love it.

But, regarding football, it was good to get the kids back on the field and evaluate their progress. We now have the summer weight lifting as the primary activity over the next 8 weeks. Fall football camp starts on August 21st.

If parents have questions regarding the summer pro­gram or fall football camp, please contact me at 509- 520-3971. I can also be reached via email at jeffbart­low77@gmail.com.