Grand View News

Tahlequah Daily Press

The Grand View Chargers football team has great expectations this year, with almost all starters from a year ago returning.

"COVID pretty much wiped out our 7-8 grade team," Grand View Coach Michael Page said. "Two years ago, we didn't get to play, so all the kids that wanted to play transferred out.

"Last year, our seventh-eighth grade kids, it was all new to them, so it was pretty much a rebuilding year," he said. "Our fifth-sixth grade team had a pretty good year, though.

"I'm really looking forward to those 5-6 graders moving up to 7-8," he said. "I mean, we're about four years removed from making it to a state championship game against Woodall.

"We have numbers, they're just going to be young," Page said. "I'd say, here in about two years, we're going to be super competitive again."

Page said they haven't quite figured out who the quarterback will be, but that Chuja Flute was one possibility. "Chuja is an athlete we could probably put in any one of several positions," he said.

"We have a good running back, Jacob Reasor, and a good receiver in Matthew Vann," he continued, "and we have a pretty good returning eighth grade linebacker, Dylan Parris.

"We have a good lineman, Koal Gritts," Page said. "Another good athlete is Running Wolf Thompson. Caden Murphy, he's a bigger, solid kid, but he's pretty quick, so he could be running fullback, he could be playing line, defensive line, he's just a good solid athlete."

Besides the Cherokee County schools, the Chargers also play Justus-Tiawah in Claremore, Maryetta, Zion, and Dahlonegah.

Page formerly coached at Leach, then at Rocky Mountain, but said Leach has dropped football, as well as some other schools, such as Lowrey, and some others. "It's an expensive sport," he said, "there's all those pads, and they only last so long and have to be trashed. And there's the playing field, too. We don't have a home field here at Grand View, so all our games are somewhere else.

"When we have home games, we have to use local middle school fields when they're not using them," he said.

Page said outside of Woodall, Maryetta, under new head coach Wadie Vann, should be pretty tough, and Justus-Tiawah should be tough, as well. "Briggs is usually solid too, smashmouth, straight at you, and they could be a team to beat, too," he said.

Assistant Coach Ryan McMurray runs the defense for Grand View, and Page runs the offense.

Grand View Coach, Athletic Director, and Vice Principal Doug Thomas will be working together with Page in softball and cross country.

Thomas is extremely busy, not only with his school and coaching duties, but also school shopping for a six-year-old and a 10-year-old. He slowed down long enough to talk about the teams he'll be coaching.

"We usually take our cross country team to three meets," Thomas said. "We usually go to Maryetta, Stilwell, and the ORES meet at North Rock Creek in Shawnee.

"Last year, the ORES meet was moved up to a week before the Cherokee County meet at Cherokee Landing," he said, "and for the first time in quite a while, we didn't go to the Cherokee County meet. It was during Fall Break, and we were out of school. I don't think they had as many participate last year as they've had in the past."

Thomas said the softball team was pretty good last year. "I think the only teams that beat us last year was Woodall, and we lost to Maryetta in the ORES tournament," he said.

"We lost about four to graduation," he said, "but we have a pretty good bunch of players returning. The ones who play tournament ball are all returning.

"We have a couple of girls who play on the Tulsa Elite," he added. "I should have a pretty good team. Laci Shomo is our pitcher, she plays outfield for Elite, but pitches for us, and she's pretty good.

"Overall, I have about six returning players," he said. "Position-wise, we're going to be a work in progress, trying to see where we can plug girls in.

"We have some girls who played sixth grade for us last year who will be seventh graders this year," he continued, "and we'll be trying to figure out where they fit best with our eighth grade group."

He said the Lady Chargers were pretty good hitters, some with power, and "…we'll play some small ball too. And we'll have some speed on the bases, too."

Thomas said the Lady Chargers didn't play any tournaments last year until the ORES tournament. He said the county tournament "…just kinda went away. The smaller schools got tired of playing the bigger schools. The only tournament we went to, at Oktaha, got rained out just as it was supposed to start.

"The whole county schedule is just kinda falling apart," he said. There is a tournament at Maryetta they might try to go to if they can fit it into their schedule, he added.

Outside of the local teams, the Grand View girls also play Maryetta, Zion, and Dahlonegah in Adair County, plus they played at Westville last year, Thomas said.

"I think the strength of our softball team is the camaraderie," he said. "They are very competitive, but very supportive of each other. They're friends both on and off the field."

As with most of the other ORES schools, Grand View doesn't have a boys' cross country team, per se. "Most of our boys are out there playing football," Thomas said. "So, we do girls' cross country only.

"We had 10-12 girls working out every day," he said. "We had two girls finish in the top 20 at the ORES meet last year, but that was it."

He said he lost three eighth grade girls to graduation last year. One girl, Aliya Freeman, will be at Sequoyah this year, playing most sports offered, he said, including softball, cross country, basketball, and track.