SOAP LAKE — Austin Herrera isn’t ready to just play out the string on his high school career.

The league-wide chatter may have Soap Lake pegged as a lower tier team and about 90 percent of the offensive output from last season graduated, but Herrera still believes in his team’s will.

A mindset that carried Soap Lake to consecutive winning seasons in 2015 and 2016

“He (Herrera) said we know how to win,” head coach Tony Blankenship said. “A lot of us have been used to winning and I’m hoping that group that we had through here will really carry over to this year’s group and maybe close some games that are close.”

Blankenship will have to fill holes left by 15 graduated seniors, a pretty hefty amount for a Class 2B school. However, Soap Lake had an equally nice turnout of 34 bodies this season.

With the departure of quarterback Brayden Winters and workhorse running back Ruvim Turchik, Blankenship is looking for fresh faces to step into leadership roles.

“That’s going to be a big thing for us: who can lead us? And especially who can lead us with a young group when things aren’t going well,” Blankenship said. It’s easy to lead when you’re up 45-50 to nothing, but it’s hard to lead when you’re not. We’re going to find out this year a lot about who we are and what we can do.

“I’m stoked with the numbers. Now it’s just our job to keep getting them better.”

Key returners include Herrera and sophomore receiver Deezy Bentley; Eliseo Meija will slide from the offensive line to fullback. Klayten Northup is the starting quarterback and Joey Babak is another ball carrier Blankenship can employ out of the backfield.

“He’s (Babak) ready to roll and he looks good too,” Blankenship said. “So I mean between Herrera and him and Bentley and Klayten we’ve got some good skill guys. Our line’s going to be a big question mark.”

Soap Lake could rely somewhat on it’s talent last season when things broke down. Now, with several new players, preparation has to be meticulous.

“We want five seconds of rage each play and we want to be detailed. Last year we got away with a lot because Ruvim was so good.”

Blankenship expects Tonasket and Lake Roosevelt to be the teams to beat in the Central Washington 2B league, while the other seven teams compete for the final three playoff spots.

The top five teams reach a crossover game. Soap Lake hopes to be there at the end, again.

“I kind of like that underdog roll a little bit and let’s crawl up on people,” Blankenship said.

2017 schedule (all games at 7 p.m.)

Sept. 1: Soap Lake vs. Tonasket

Sept. 8: Soap Lake at Waterville

Sept. 15: Soap Lake vs. Manson

Sept. 22: Soap Lake at Liberty Bell

Sept. 29: Soap Lake vs. Brewster

Oct. 6: Soap Lake at Oroville

Oct. 13: Soap Lake vs. Lake Roosevelt

Oct. 27: Soap Lake at Bridgeport