The Salmon River Savages are building numbers
Salmon River now has 11 players on the roster
For a small school, numbers are everything.
For Class 5A schools, a roster change or two is no big deal. For fifth-year head coach Ty Medley and Salmon River of Riggins, it can change the outlook on a season.
Last year, the Savages had just nine players on the roster; they come into the 2023 season with 11. The roster size increase gives Salmon River a chance to take a breath and not worry about a single injury creating havoc on whether the team could even participate or not.
The amount of kids joining the team was not the only size increase for the Savages in the offseason.
“I feel like we’re a little bit bigger than we’ve been in the past,” Medley said. “We’re still maybe missing that guy that can break the game wide open, but we’re pretty consistent as far as skill level and size, maybe more so than we’ve been in the past.”
The Savages finished the 2022 season with a 2-7 record. The defense struggled all year, allowing 40 or more points in every loss. The only wins were a 26-16 victory at home against Cascade and a win against winless Meadows Valley in a 66-0 rout in the penultimate game of the season. The increase in size, especially up front, should help shore up the defense.
“If I were to say right now what we’re better at, I would probably say we’re big up front,” Medley said. “We’re going to be a decent size.”
Offensively, the Savages will once again be led by quarterback Gabe Zavala, entering his senior season.
“(Zavala is) looking good. Having a good camp. He brings back a lot of experience,” Medley said. “He’s been our quarterback since his freshman year. So, he knows our offense.”
Salmon River has struggled over the past several years in the Class 1A DII Long Pin Conference, failing to win more than two games in a season since going 3-5 in 2019. The Savages made it to the semifinals of the 2018 state tournament. Medley hopes this is the year things start to turn around for his team.
“I think it will be (a turn-around year) from a coaching perspective. You hope to improve, and I think that’s going to happen for us this year,” Medley said. “As far as the league, it changes so much when these teams get a lot of turnovers. I’m predicting that we’re going to do better.”
Salmon River opens the season against Lewis County at 1 p.m. on Saturday in a rematch of last season’s opening game where the Savages were bested 58-14.
“We’ve been playing them every year for quite a few years now,” Medley said. “You know, early on in that matchup we were able to get a few wins on them, but this last few years it’s been a dry spell for us. So, we’re excited to get down there and try to flip it.”
The schedule allows the Savages to spend most of September at home, playing all three home games in the month. Salmon River will finish the season with three straight road contests.
3 things to watch
Gabe Zavala will start at the quarterback position for the fourth straight year for the Savages. Medley has been able to open the playbook more and more as Zavala continues to grow.
Salmon River loves to spread out the field and try to create space. One missed tackle can turn into a big play for an offense that might be missing that go-to guy.
The extra size brought into the team should help the line on both sides of the ball. Will it help the defense keep as many points from being scored will be the question.
