STANFIELD - After 12 years away, Jay Zwiefelhofer has returned to Stanfield High School as head football coach and he sees promise for the season ahead.
For the Stanfield Tigers this year, there's no place to look but up. The team finished last season 1-8. Its lone victory was a league contest, so the team finished league play 1-6.
"Last year's history and we need to move forward," Zwiefelhofer said. "We have a couple of returning seniors who have been in the program four years."
His key players are Casey Irving, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound running back and slot receiver, and Matt Ellis, a 6-foot, 170-pound quarterback and free safety. On the line, Zwiefelhofer is counting on a returning two-way lineman, Omar Ibarra, who achieved second team all league honors last year at offensive guard.
Zwiefelhofer said he has a positive outlook for the coming season. Fall football camp attracted 29 players and 34 have turned out for the team. The Tigers will field varsity and JV teams this year.
"We have a whole group of kids who are excited to play football," he said. "We're going to have a lot of kids stepping in and stepping up."
Zwiefelhofer, who is entering his 24th year of coaching high school football, also teaches physical education at Stanfield Elementary School. He last coached football at Stanfield from 1991-1995, then coached at Hermiston High School for 11 years.
"I kinda coached all over the place," he said, listing freshmen, junior varsity and varsity coaching roles. In 2001, he was the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator when the program won a co-championship with Redmond and Pendleton, Hermiston's first.
Joining Zwiefelhofer on the coaching staff are offensive coordinator Steve Sheller and assistants Brad Rogers, Scott Morris and Vic Baros.
The Tigers' first game is today at White Pass, Wash., which Zwiefelhofer said is ranked fifth in Washington among schools in its classification. The school is about Umatilla's size, he said.
Stanfield, which is in Class 2A, will play nine games this year. After playing at White Pass, the Tigers will travel to Umatilla for a second pre-league game Sept. 7. They then have a bye week before opening league play at Heppner Sept. 21. The Tigers' first home game is Sept. 28 against Weston-McEwen.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sign up to receive news directly to your desktop. Click the bell icon in the nav bar, at any time to change your settings.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Thank you. Your purchase was successful.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Ends: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.