EPHRATA – The Ephrata Tigers hosted a jamboree Friday afternoon to kick off the football season. The Tigers were joined by the Moses Lake Mavericks, the Royal City Knights and Wenatchee High Panthers. 

“I think it just kind of gives that little taste of competition against that other team, where then you can’t wait to play that next game,” said Tigers head coach Patrick Mitchell. 

The jamboree was played by each participating team’s varsity, JV and C-team squads, with both offense and defense getting 10 plays each against their opponent. This gave each of the teams a good feel of how they stack up against players from different conference levels prior to their first game of the season. 

“I feel like we did pretty good,” said the Tigers’ running back Jacob Reyes. “We’re trying to improve, so this is a good practice for us, the jamboree helps us a lot for the future games.” 

Mitchell said that the jamboree let the Tigers see all their players in action and allowed him to make some final roster adjustments as they prepare for week one. Playing 4A competition also allowed the team to learn against opponents that they don’t always see throughout the regular season. 

“We have to be super strong on defense and then our teamwork is one of the biggest things,” said Tigers’ junior running back Carson Andrus. “If we lock down teamwork, that’s where everything else falls in.” 

Tigers’ quarterback Brady Hendrick said that while the team played with a lot of energy, he saw a lot of room for improvement. 

“We’ll definitely take a look at film and Ephrata football just likes to look at every play, every mishap, every good play and just analyze it,” said Hendrick. “See what you could do better, see what you did wrong, see what you did good, so I think that’s huge for us to get together as a team and watch film and just analyze that.” 

The Mavs also saw room for improvement for themselves at the jamboree. Mavs quarterback Brady Jay said the team will be taking a look at all their attributes at practice this week. 

“We’re not quite yet what we think we are,” said Brady. “We have to play harder.” 

Mavs head coach Brett Jay said the team had some ups and downs at the jamboree, but overall gained some good experience. The key lesson for the team was for each player to avoid trying to do too much. 

“We kind of come out here and forget what it feels like to be in a more intense game and we had some good things happen, had some bad things happen but it was good,” said coach Jay. 

Moses Lake is still working towards a travel-heavy season with their first matchup being on the road against Oak Harbor.  

“We’re really excited,” said the Mavs’ coach. “It’s going to be a huge travel for us and it’ll be good for us to see someone different.” 

Knights players Shea Stevenson, Bryan Larsen, Easton Eilers, and Fischer Livingston were all pleased with the team’s performance at the Jamboree. They said they all came together and worked as a unit on both offense and defense. 

“I think (the jamboree) prepares us pretty well,” said Stevenson. “It kind of gives us a preview of what our team really is, and I think we’re going to excel in our first game.” 

Knights head coach Wiley Allred said he was proud of how the team performed on all three squads against highly skilled teams around the area. He said the jamboree gave the players some confidence that they can compete with some of the best in the state. 

"They’re getting better and better with a bunch of new faces and it’s pretty exciting for us to see the potential, just a lot of learning and good competition,” said Allred. “It’s fun to have the area teams and compete against somebody else besides yourself.” 

The Mavs' week one matchup will be on the road against Oak Harbor on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Tigers and Knights will both be playing Friday at 7 p.m., with the Tigers on the road against Prosser and the Knights at home against Kiona-Benton. 

    A Tigers defender tackles a Mavs running back during Friday’s jamboree. The coaches said the jamboree provided each of their teams an opportunity to test their skills against multiple different teams and show them what they need to work on prior to the start of the season.
  

    The Knights’ Shea Stevenson runs with the ball across the field and attempts to avoid being tackled by a Mav defender. Stevenson said the jamboree allowed the team to come together and gave the team a preview of what they can be this season.
  

    Knights’ quarterback Grant Wardenarr throws the ball to an open teammate during the varsity team’s second jamboree matchup.
  

    Mavs’ receiver Taggart Rathbun makes a catch in the endzone during the team’s jamboree matchup against the Tigers. Mavs’ coach Brett Jay said the team will take what they learned from the jamboree and apply it to their coming week one matchup.
  

    An Ephrata defender tracks the ball during their matchup against Wenatchee High School during the jamboree.