Purdom’s inspiration sparks Vikings

SELAH — Getting them to believe. Simple idea, difficult accomplishment.

Forty-plus years into his coaching gig, Wayne Purdom knows the steep challenge of empowering teenage athletes with belief as well as anyone.

And that’s what makes the first half of the season so immensely satisfying for the defensive coordinator of Selah’s football team, which has posted three shutouts, climbed to eighth in the Class 2A state poll and is 5-0 for the first time in 18 years.

“I’ve always firmly believed that your mental approach is the key to everything,” Purdom says. “It’s an attitude, and right now these kids have found it.”

Opening the season with back-to-back shutouts was the obvious catalyst of confidence, but these Vikings have had a daily example of the power of belief right in front of them. In fact, sometimes in their face.

Purdom has been battling prostate cancer for more than three years and in August he started a fresh round of chemotherapy, which took away his hair and occasionally leaves him so tired he has to take a seat at practice.

“I couldn’t believe I’d ever do that, but sometimes I have to pull up a chair,” he says with his easy, good humor. “But I’m fortunate because I don’t get sick from the chemo, just real tired from time to time. I’m able to keep things under control, so all in all I’m doing OK.”

Head coach Jeff Jamieson didn’t ask the 64-year-old Purdom if he thought it best to sit this season out. He knew whatever energy a new round of treatment drained away would be restored by the excitement of Friday night and his detailed preparation leading up to it.

“We tried to do some things this year to allow Wayne to focus as much on the defense as possible,” Jamieson says. “He still works with our quarterbacks, but defense is his thing and that’s what he loves.”

Take Purdom’s long resume — which, among many other positions, includes 15 years as Yakima Valley Community College’s football coach and eight years as East Valley athletic director — and put it at the head of Jamieson’s impressive defensive staff and it’s not surprising Selah has put together this kind of start. Tim Aberle, who was Selah’s head coach when the Vikings last started 5-0 in 1990, works in the secondary with Lance Barber, former Toppenish coach Mark Mochel and Jamieson oversee the linemen and Purdom specifically handles the linebackers.

This veteran gang had a notion that, with eight starters back from a 6-5 team, the potential was there to create a defensive anchor. And the schedule helped with the CWAC’s four traditional powers — Ellensburg, Prosser, Othello and East Valley — all squeezed into the final month.

“We had a lot of games at home (three of the first four) and we were able to gain some confidence. That was huge,” Jamieson says. “We saw the chance to build some momentum and the kids have gone out and done it.”

The Vikings run a 4-3 Cover 4 defense, which has made its biggest improvement in effective reads and pursuit. Linebackers Jake Richardson, Sheldon Lommers and Travis Luke rank 1-2-3 in tackles, defensive back Tyler Porter has pulled in four interceptions and Casey Reason is a three-year starter on the front line.

At first it all came so easily. Selah’s defense started the season with nine shutout quarters, blanking three of its first four opponents in a romp of a run that saw the Vikings outscore opponents 172-21.

Question was, how would this defense respond when things got tight?

Last Friday provided an answer.

In a soaking rain at Ephrata, which was coming off its own shutout the week before, Selah clung to a 14-13 lead with a minute left. But the Tigers were in Viking territory and getting within range for kicker Eric Hensley, who had already booted two field goals and had kept the Vikings pinned back all night with his long punts.

It was fourth-and-3 on Selah’s 38.

“They were getting close enough to try a 50-yarder and, even in the rain, that kid could’ve come close,” Jamieson recalls. “Another five yards and they had a shot.”

Ephrata came with a zone sweep to the right side and Richardson was the first to make contact behind the line. Then came Ricky Escalera, then Lunceford.

Loss of a yard. Ball game.

“That was too much for this old man. I needed help getting back on the bus,” jokes Purdom. “Give Ephrata credit. They have a helluva kicker and they put field-position pressure on us all night. But when our defense had to make the play, they didn’t give a yard.”

If the Vikings hadn’t taken three shutouts and the accompanying confidence to Ephrata, maybe they wouldn’t make that play. Who knows? The point is, based on its early successes, Selah believes it will make the play.

“We were fortunate enough to get a shutout in the first game and the kids thought, hey, maybe we can be a good defensive team,” Purdoms says. “Then they got the second one and got even more excited. It started to mean something to them and here we are, 5-0.”

And for a senior citizen who would rather absorb these stresses than ease back and conform to his wounds, Selah’s evolution of belief this season has been a blessing. For Purdom, it’s precisely why he’s in the game.

“I look forward to it every day and I’m truly grateful for it,” he says. “I take it day by day. I get up in the morning, breath on the mirror and see if I’m still going. Then, with my doctors, my family, my friends and the kids behind me, I go out and have a great day.”

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