La Pine HS coach, player preview 2019 football season
High school football returns to the High Desert in 10 days. Teams across Central Oregon have been preparing all summer for this moment.
NewsChannel 21 went to La Pine on Tuesday to see how the varsity squad is preparing for the upcoming season.
The Hawks are looking to bounce back after the 2018 season, when it finished 3-6 and missed the playoffs. It was the first time the Hawks missed the playoffs under Head Coach Bo DeForest , who’s entering his fourth season with the team.
The Hawks went 9-0 in 2017, but lost in the first round of the 3-A playoffs to Rainier.
“Starting a young quarterback, a young line, overall we were just a young team,” DeForest said. “I feel like we grew quite a bit, so I expect us to be right back up there, back to where we were two years ago, and taking a run at it.”
DeForest said the team has seven seniors, and is returning all but two starters from last year’s team. He said some players to look out for this season are Adam Plant, a senior running back, Riley Pinckney, a senior quarterback and Cyrus Smith, a junior linebacker.
The Hawks open up the regular season at home on Friday, Sept. 6 against the Douglas Trojans.
“Last year it was a close one, so this year, we’re going to blow them out,” Plant said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
You’ll be able to catch highlights from that game, and many other Central Oregon football games starting next week, when The Big Playback returns Friday nights at 11 p.m. NewsChannel 21’s Max Goldwasser will recap games and top plays each week through the end of the season.
