EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers will start the season with strong senior leadership and up-and-coming players according to head coach Patrick Mitchell. Last year the team had a 6-4 season and Ephrata were the first in its district.  

“Last season, I think it went really well,” Mitchell said. “We had a younger team that fought and battled all year long, and we brought home a league title for the first time in a long time. It was great. Great group of kids. Great going back to the state playoffs for the second year in a row.”  

After opening the season with a road loss to Moses Lake, the Tigers responded with three consecutive wins over Quincy, Othello and East Valley (Yakima). Following a setback against Cashmere, Ephrata closed out the regular season winning three of their final four games, defeating Selah, Grandview and Ellensburg while suffering a loss to Prosser. They ended the season with a loss against North Kitsap in the 2A State Football Tournament. 

Mitchell said that he had high hopes for his team this year. The team will be made up of 12 returning starters – six on offense and six on defense — and a handful of new players. There will be a handful of seniors, sophomores and freshmen, but the majority of the team is made up of juniors.  

“We have some good, good senior leadership coming back this year. We have some good young players as well, ones I think will get a lot better this year,” Mitchell said. “We are setting our goals high this year. Our biggest goal is to go out every single game and play some good old Ephrata football and do the best to the best of our abilities and we want to get back into that State Football playoff bracket and make a run at that.”  

Mitchell said he has been working with the older players to improve the terminology and skills they have been working on in previous years. He hopes to see more efficiency in general, better offense on third down and cutting down on turnovers this season. He added that he wants the younger players to learn from his older ones.

“I think that we're just going to build off of that momentum that we've kind of got going for ourselves the last couple years,” Mitchell said.  

Mitchell said there is not one game in particular he is most excited for, but instead all of them. He said that each game presents a different challenge for his team. He is excited to see how they handle those challenges. 

“It’s a long season, and it’s a tough season and it’s a good league,” Mitchell said. “I think the league is going to be pretty tough this year, and so I think it’s going to be very exciting football.”  

Ephrata Football Schedule

Sept. 6 – vs Prosser – 7:00 p.m. 

Sept. 13 – vs Quincy – 7:00 p.m. 

Sept. 20 – at Ellensburg – 7:00 p.m.  

Sept. 27 – at East Valley (Yakima) – 7:00 p.m. 

Oct. 4 – vs Davis – 7:00 p.m. 

Oct. 11 – vs Othello – 7:00 p.m. 

Oct. 18 – at Toppenish – 7:00 p.m. 

Oct. 25 – vs Selah – 7:00 p.m. 

Nov. 1 – at Grandview – 7:00 p.m. 

    The Ephrata offensive line gets set before a play against Prosser last season.
  

    The Ephrata Tigers won the Battle of the Basin against Quincy with a final score of 35-12.