Gridiron Preview - Chiawana Riverhawks

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By Keith Leventhal

Story Published: Aug 30, 2010 at 10:19 PM PST

The Chiawana football team played its first season last year without any seniors and without a whole lot of depth.

And all of that showed as the Riverhawks went 1-8.

But the team put up with those growing pains because they knew this year would be much better.

Chiawana returns every single one of those players from last year and they've got a lot of new guys out on the field as well.

The Riverhawks have one of the largest senior classes in the Big Nine and leading that class is arguably the best quarterback in the league, Luc Graff.

While the team was brand new last year, they managed to avoid finishing last in the Big Nine in any stat.

This year, the team is dealing with much higher expectations and the Riverhawks say they're ready for that.

Chiawana head coach Steve Graff says, "All those kids getting to play the whole year under the gun and full speed against good quality teams, it can do nothing but help them. The kids have put those expectations on themselves, they didn't enjoy losing 8 games last year, so, the kids have done a great job of making each other accountable for being in the weight room, being to practice, and doing the things they're supposed to do."

Chiawana has a strange schedule this year.

Their first 3 games, and 4 of their first 5, will be at Edgar Brown Stadium, including their first-ever game with Pasco on September 10th.

Of course, the flip side of that is a lack of home games at the end of the year.

Their last 3 games will be on the road and the regular season wraps up October 29th in Wenatchee.