Earlier this summer, a good chunk of the Sunnyside football team got an eyeful of what it takes to be a top team and where those teams end up.

As part of the University of Washington’s Passing and Lineman Camp, the Grizzlies were camping with the likes of Graham-Kapowsin and Puyallup, both Class 4A contenders, at Husky Stadium, where the WIAA recently announced it will again play its state championships this fall.

“It was a humbling moment for the kids,” he said. “It gives our guys a really good challenge, and it raised the bar and the standard.”

The camp also served as a homecoming of sorts for first-year Sunnyside football coach Lavon Coleman, a former standout running back for the Huskies during the late 2010s under Hall of Fame coach Chris Petersen.

Coleman rushed for 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns at UW, and helped the Huskies advance to the College Football Playoff to cap the 2016 season. He also had stints with a few NFL teams, including the Seahawks.

He and wife Yanitta made Othello home for them and their four children. She is from the Central Washington town.

His pro career over, the Lompoc, Calif., native turned to coaching, eventually taking the head position at Bellevue’s Interlake High School during the 2024 season, and commuting back and forth.

After not coaching last fall to help after the birth of the couple’s fourth child, his wife encouraged him to check out openings on the WIAA website. He found the Sunnyside gig, which became open after Marshall Lobbestael, a former Washington State quarterback, stepped away to focus on his own young family.

Coleman was quickly welcomed.

“The staff have been amazing, and the other coaches are good,” he said.

Coleman is one of three new coaches in the CBBN, all of them for the teams who occupied the top three spots in last year’s league standings.

Rory Rosenbach takes over at Eastmont after the retirement of Jay Forster, and instantly has the best resume in the league. He won two Oregon state championships at Marist Catholic (2005, 2007) and Washington 4A title at Vancouver’s Union High School in 2018.

After spending much time at a second family home north of Wenatchee in Orondo, and missing coaching, the move was a no-brainer for Rosenbach.

“We found ourselves there a lot,” Rosenbach said to VaristyWA’s Todd Milles. “We have two little girls, and seeing them run around and be kids, we thought, ‘Wouldn’t this be cool if this could be the place to raise them?’”

Coming off its most wins in program history, Moses Lake also has a new coach. Offensive assistant Kyler Haneberg was promoted to take the reins from Brett Jay, whose offense rewrote the record book with son Brady at quarterback. Jay also stepped down after the season.

“I love my community, and this program helped me become the man that I am today,” Haneberg said shortly after being name coach. “So, this is my way of giving back and helping build the next generation of Moses Lake.”

Each coach will put his own stamp on the program, with Coleman wanting growth to be of upmost importance.

“The process is what matters most; just trying to the get these guys to understand that,” he said. “(UW camp) left them know that there is more is to be expected, and we got to get to work.”

The Grizzlies had a stellar offense under the Lobbestaels – Marshall and his brother John before him – to rise up the conference standings, and Coleman expects that to continue with senior Julian Villanueva back at quarterback.

Though, given his own punishing running style, Coleman might lean on the ground game a little more.

“I see our offense living on the ground game, and going under center more,” he said. “We want to be able to control the tempo and keep the defense off the field.”