LAKE STEVENS — Having a highly ranked national recruit at quarterback never hurts a football team’s playoff chances.
But every quarterback, even the All-American ones, needs a favorite target.
For Lake Stevens quarterback Jacob Eason, that target is senior Riley Krenz. Krenz, one of Eason’s best friends, is a big-play threat every time he touches the football. He led Wesco 4A last season in receptions (49), receiving yards (706) and receiving touchdowns (11).
“Riley is my go-to guy,” Eason said. “When I’m in trouble, I look for him and throw him the ball. He’ll go up and make a play. He’ll truck a guy if he has to. He’s another co-captain and he’s a more vocal leader than me. He can get the troops to rally behind him. It’s just nice to have him on the team to throw to.”
Krenz goes hard every practice and every game. The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder is actually listed as a tight end for Lake Stevens. Vikings head coach Tom Tri said that’s so Lake Stevens can utilize his blocking skills.
“He’s not a traditional tight end, but that’s the position that we have him because he’s the best blocker of the bunch. He gets after it,” Tri said. “But he never complains, ‘Hey, how come I’m not getting the ball?’ You never hear anything like that. He’s all about the team. He’s been one of the best leaders we’ve had in a long time, and we’ve had some great kids, so that’s really saying a lot about Riley.”
But make no mistake, Tri adds, Krenz is an offensive force.
“He is truly a playmaker,” the Lake Stevens coach said. “We have changed part of our offense to include our tight end position more because Riley plays there. Rather than move him to a receiver spot where we might have a few more plays that can go to him, we’ve gone back and changed a formation or two so that we’re actually going to him now. We’ve been running this (offense) since 2008 and we’ve never done that before. Riley just is truly special and we had to get creative and find ways to get him the ball.”
Tri and the Lake Stevens coaches give out their coach’s award each season to a player who embodies the team spirit. The award usually goes to a senior, but Krenz earned the honor the past two seasons, and is the favorite once again this year.
“He also won the most inspirational award as a junior. That’s coming from the teammates, not the coaches,” Tri said. “You can just tell guys buy in to what Riley says and does.”
Krenz has been a first-team All-Wesco selection the past two seasons (as a tight end in 2013 and as a receiver in 2014). Entering his final season at Lake Stevens, Krenz is looking to help the Vikings repeat as Wesco 4A champions and make it past the district playoff round — which is where Lake Stevens has seen its season end the past two years against Newport.
“This year definitely feels different than most,” Krenz said. “It’s senior year. All of us, including Eason, that have started up as sophomores coming up this being our final hurrah. It’s definitely cool. It’s surreal. I think we can feel it in practice that it’s a lot more intense, there’s a lot more urgency and a lot more expectations.”
“I think (the goal has) always been a Wesco championship. But now, we’re back-to-back champs, we’re kind of looking for bigger and better things,” Krenz said. “We haven’t gone as far as we want to in the playoffs, so I think that taking one game at a time and getting farther in the playoffs and getting to the Tacoma Dome — I think our eyes are set on that. That’s what we want to do.”
Eason was a big part of recruiting Krenz to play football in eighth grade. He got his buddy onto the field and the rest, as they say, is history.
“He started playing football in eighth grade, we kind of dragged him out here, and he’s gotten so much better since then,” Eason said. “I’ve been working with him since freshman year. I think, he’s my favorite guy to throw to just because of the fact that we have so much chemistry. I love throwing to all my guys but Riley is the one I’m just most comfortable with.”
Krenz approaches each game — and, even, each snap — like it’s his last, bringing the same intensity to each play.
“You’ve got to approach it the same way you did the first snap and last snap: like it could be your last. Never give up if you’re above 20 or down 20,” Krenz said. “That’s how we’re going to approach this season and that’s how we’re going to win games.”
Like Eason, Krenz is going to be a player the Lake Stevens team really misses next season.
“He is team-first and me-last all the time. It’s been a true pleasure to watch that kid progress into one heck of a high school football player,” Tri said. “He’s going to play on Saturdays. I have no doubts.”
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