By Kennedy Dowse

Pullman has graduated quite a few notable alumni, including several professional athletes. Stan Fanning was a lineman in the NFL who played for the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, and Houston Oilers. Pat Beach is a former NFL tight end who played for the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles, and Phoenix (now Arizona) Cardinals. Kirk Triplett is a professional golfer who has competed in the PGA Tour, and the Nationwide tour. Timm Rosebach is a former NFL/CFL Quarterback who played for the Phoenix Cardinals, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and New Orleans Saints. J.C. Sherritt is a former FSC player of the year and CFL Linebacker for the Edmonton Eskimos (now Elks) and their current defensive coordinator. David Ungerer is a former Idaho Vandal and a Grey Cup-winning wide receiver in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts. Young Jean Lee is a playwright who became the first Asian American woman to produce a play on Broadway. John Fabian is a former NASA astronaut who flew two space shuttle missions. John Elway also attended Pullman High School, and although he is not technically an alumnus as he moved to California, he did attend Pullman High during his freshman year.

Pullman finished the season with an 18-3 record in the regular season, and a first place finish in the Greater Spokane League (GSL) 2A circuit. The Rapids and Greyhounds, unlike the teams CR has played so far at state, do not have any common opponents. However, Pullman did play Tumwater in a game the Greyhounds won by a whopping 35 points. R.A. Long (the team that beat River 3 times - by 3, 1, and 8 each time respectively) only beat Tumwater by 6 in their district meeting.

The star of the Greyhounds? Vaughn Cougar Holstad (middle name, fitting for the setting, named after Wazzu, as his family is a long line of Cougs). Holstad averages 16 points a game and 9 rebounds a game – the latter of those stats especially impressive considering his height only sits at 6'1". Even the opposing coaches shout out Holstad’s ability to play ball - Rob Bafus, the Head Football Coach at Moscow HS in Idaho, a rival of the Hounds’, thinks that “[t]his young man will move mountains” referring to Holstad. The Tumwater Thunderbirds shut him down in his only game at State so far, however, holding him to just five points and going 2 for 7 from the field. The Hounds, however, still won by 35, so maybe them working around other players actually helped them to victory. The Hounds’ offense against Tumwater? It ran through the big man, 6’6” junior Gavin Dealy, who has scored in the double figures in every game but two, and even in those games he scored eight in both of them. In nine occasions across this season, Dealy has snagged six or more boards, as Gavin’s a force to be reckoned with in the paint. Fellow Juniors Brandon Brown and Ryan Ha have also scored in the double figures this playoffs (against Tumwater’s T-Birds), and the Rapids will have to stop every junior Pullman has. It’s a tall task for CR this afternoon, but so was beating Selah, and the Rapids did that (although it took 37 minutes).

Columbia River looks to take down Pullman in the quarterfinal today (3/5), and move on to the State semifinals against the winner of Bremerton and Grandview. It’s the Rapids and the Greyhounds, live from the SunDome in Yakima at 3:45, on the NFHS Network. We’ve just met the foe.