LEBAM — Two years ago, it was an emotional high. Last fall, a heartbreaking end.

Much of the senior class on the Pe Ell/Willapa Valley football team have been on both ends of the spectrum once November approaches.

As sophomores, the Titans ran through the playoffs and reached the Class 2B semifinals only to get smacked by traditional power Okanogan 42-14. Expecting to build off that, they were humbled with a 6-5 season and a crossover loss to Kalama.

In their last go-round, they don’t want any stones unturned.

“I feel we can go really deep into the playoffs if we run the ball, pass (the ball) right,” linebacker/running back Cody Strozyk said.

PWV returns plenty of starters on both sides of the ball in Coach Nate Smith’s second season at the helm in trying to recapture the string of wins from 2022.

One of the factors that aided its deep playoff push was a high-powered offense that ran all over opponents early. Gone is all-area tailback Blake Howard, but a veteran offensive line is back.

All-league honoree Conner Keeton is the headliner of the unit that has three additional seniors and a junior.

“We have a little bit of size, for us, and we’re older,” assistant coach Dave Strozyk said.

Last fall featured a quarterback competition between three guys – Tyson Portmann, Nate Fluke and Brody Ritzeman. It was a constant tug-and-pull effect between Portmann and Fluke all season.

There is no competition for 2024. Fluke has earned the trust of the coaching staff and teammates to enter Week 1 hosting Winlock as the starter.

“His confidence this year is everything,” Coach Strozyk said. “For him, he gets to take it by the horns and go with it.”

All-area wideout Blaine King and speedster Eli Mason anchor the pass-catching group. It is a unit that doesn’t plan on being one-dimensional.

“Nate is going to put it right there for (us) to go,” King mentioned.

Cody Strozyk is back at linebacker after notching 84 total tackles. Coach Strozyk, who calls the defense, believes the linebacker corps is set with three-to-four guys, as well as the front-four and the secondary.

Yet health is always a priority for a team that has numbers in the low-to-mid 30s.

“We try to change the way we do things so that we can keep them (healthy) late in the season,” Coach Strozyk said.

PWV will get tested immediately. After facing the Cardinals in Week 1, it faces perennial playoff teams Onalaska and Toledo in back-to-back weeks. Then it travels east to Ellensburg to battle Lake Roosevelt on a Saturday afternoon.

The Titans close the regular season hosting Napavine and at Adna.

“They’re all going to be good games, right to the end,” King said. “We’re going to go hit them and make them not want to be there anymore.”

There’s a bitter taste still lingering for PWV. It had a couple plays go awry against Kalama that pushed the final score into double digits.

For this rendition of the Titans, they believe the standard is to be a consistent presence closer to Thanksgiving.

“We’re going to work harder than anyone else,” Cody Strozyk said. “I don’t see a problem with us making it to the semis.”