There was a clear mood shift over the final hour of the first practice for the Centralia High School football team.
For the first two hours on a warm Wednesday afternoon, head coach Tyler Gedney was pacing around and let his assistants run tackle drills, individual defense and their respective position group breakouts.
Once the clock hit 4:15 p.m. and after a water break, Gedney put his presence to the forefront and challenged the Tigers to up the energy.
“The energy is completely different,” junior Alex Frias said. “We have people who are hungry.”
Behind a new rallying call of “one job, full speed” and continuity in the staff, Centralia opens the 2026 campaign with the hope to build off a two-win 2025 and parlay it into success with some newness sprinkled in.
Some new cast of characters are stepping into the lights in the trenches and the running back room in preparation for a Week 1 battle versus South Whidbey.
“We’re way ahead of where we were last year,” Gedney said. “The fact that we were so young last year, and bringing a lot of guys that played on Friday night, we know what to expect.”
Here are three takeaways from the Tigers practice.
Positivity abound when discussing playing in 1A
This fall marks the first of two seasons where Centralia will play in the Class 1A Evergreen League while remaining a 2A independent. Due to the four other EvCo teams locked in with the GSHL teams, it caused a ripple effect for the Tigers.
They’ll now get the opportunity to face stellar foes like powerhouse Montesano, 2024 league champ Rochester and a Tenino bunch that won a playoff game last year.
Gedney and the players kept things in perspective on Wednesday.
“We’re excited and in our scrimmages, we played some 1A teams and we were doing perfectly fine against them,” sophomore quarterback Caden Erickson said.
“It is all about the kids,” Gedney added. “I was supportive of the decision.”
Volavola puts on a show
Gone is all-league tailback Malcom Tukes, who hit 1,100 yards last fall, and the committee to replace the production won’t be small potatoes. Still, Bill Volavola had quite the first day with some highlights.
He was the first running back during team offense – Luis Sanchez rotated in as well – and then in skeleton to close the day, he leaped for a grab on a deep ball by Erickson. He landed hard on the turf, but walked to the bench under his own power.
“As long as we all do our job, we’re gonna be OK,” Erickson said.
No nonsense type of day
Whether it was neck stretches or the break down after a drill wasn’t all together, the Centralia coaches didn’t hesitate to redo everything and have them run around the goalpost.
The aforementioned motto was implemented over the spring and summer. The Tigers in part had their missteps on day one, but Martin Sanchez was vocal through the nearly three-hour session.
“Personally, right now, we’re better than last year already,” Frias said. “And that’s just from the individual people that came to work.”
