HOOD RIVER — Football is a numbers game, and a test of attrition. By keeping a healthy number of players, a team has a better chance of avoiding attrition.
Hood River Valley’s (HRV) successful football program knows all about that potential calamity. Coach Caleb Sperry and his staff, in the midst of a four-year state playoff run, have been fortunate to have a number of talented players each season over the past — nearly — two decades. (Sperry is in his 17th season as the head coach.) Some of those players have been starters on both sides of the line of scrimmage — and that’s where avoiding injuries and subsequent attrition is tantamount to success.
Of the keys to the season, first and foremost, we “got to stay healthy,” Coach Sperry said. “Having a good team approach and [we have to] try to stick together,” he added. “Playing it one game at a time — the old cliché — focus where our feet are.”
HRV finished the 2024 regular season at 7-3 and 5-2 in 5A Special District 1, losing in the first round of the state playoffs to Dallas High. The Eagles were missing two, two-way starters in that contest because of injury.
Hood River Valley, which opened its season Aug. 29 in a jamboree against visiting Crook County, Bend and Centennial, will compete in a revamped league (again) this fall. Special District 1 teams from 2024 include Putnam, La Salle Prep, and Centennial. Newcomers are 6A David Douglas and 6A Gresham, along with Milwaukie and Parkrose, which were in the league in past seasons, as well as the “regular” Northwest Oregon Conference.
HRV’s 2024 state playoff football team had 14 players honored for their play by Special District 1 coaches, and eight of those players were underclassmen. They include two-way, all-league first-team player Bam Layna, a senior running back and linebacker; senior first-team offensive lineman Lars Welch; senior first-team defensive back Cooper Wells; junior second-team wide receiver Davin Snyder; and senior second-team offensive lineman Jack Miller. Also back are 2024 honorable mention selection senior H-back Nick Tuttle, senior Miguel Arriola on the defensive line, and senior Bodie Stuben in the secondary.
Missing from practice since drills began Aug. 18 are a solid group of 2025 graduating seniors, who hold the unique distinction of being in the program when it qualified for the state playoffs all four years of their high school careers.
Sperry and his assistant coaches — including Vinnie Schlosser and Jeremy Dyal, who have been with Sperry throughout his head coaching tenure — pride themselves on harnessing the uniqueness of each senior class as it cements its imprint on the program and this season should be no different.
“There are a bunch of different ways to define success,” Sperry said. “I think a lot of success we probably won’t see for years. [Some things players] take forward in their lives and apply to different areas of what they’re doing. Unfortunately, you don’t always get to see that part of it.
“As far as on the field, we always want to be as competitive as possible. I would say we are playing for a league championship and playing as deep as we can in the playoffs.”
HRV will set a school record for successive football state playoff appearances should the Eagles qualify for the postseason in 2025. There’s ample reason to believe another playoff berth is likely.
“Our offensive line looks really good — very experienced,” Sperry said. “I think we have 11 starters back on offense, so we’re excited with the experience that we have.”
Hood River plays its first of two non-league games 7 p.m. on Sept. 5 against Reynolds at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham.
Commented