Eastern Washington University’s football team will be making its first appearance in a national title game and Tahoma High graduate Chris Powers will be there snapping the ball on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas.

Powers, a standout for the Bears who graduated in 2007, is a junior at Eastern. The 6-foot-3 inch, 290 pound lineman has started every game at center during the past two seasons.

This year he is part of a 12-2 Eagles team that has won 10 straight games including a victory Dec. 17 over defending Football Championship Subdivision national champion Villanova.

“I couldn’t have asked for more,” Powers said. “And I just found out (on Wednesday) that I got All-American. That’s pretty exciting for me and my family.”

Tony Davis, football coach at Tahoma, had high praise for Powers who was also a First Team All Big Sky selection this year.

“Chris at Eastern and Kevin Kooyman at WSU have been great ambassadors for our program,” Davis said. “Chris was an outstanding player for us starting for all three years he was in our program and being recognized as an all league and all state player. He’s continued his on field success earning first team all league recognition at Eastern this fall – his second year as a starter. Our players, school, and community are very proud of Chris.”

As a player for Tahoma, Powers was named to the 4A All-State team as a defensive lineman by the Associated Press and was selected to play in the 4A/3A East-West All-Star football game. He was also named to the first team on the South Puget Sound League North Division both on offense and defense. He was also named by the league’s coaches as the Defensive Lineman of the Year. Powers also helped Tahoma win back to back SPSL titles.

He chose to go to Eastern after a recruiting visit when the weather was negative two degrees.

“It felt a lot like Tahoma, it was a family oriented team, it was team first before your individual stats,” Powers said.

And the timing was perfect, he explained, as a pair of Pac 10 schools that had expressed interest stepped away just when Eastern extended a scholarship offer.

Powers attributed Eastern’s success to its never-say-die attitude.

“I want to say our team’s ability to never look behind, even when we’re down,” he said. “Throughout the whole season we’ve been in third quarters, fourth quarters, down the whole game and we’ve still won.”

The Villanova game, for example, star running back Taiwan Jones was on the sidelines due to injury and there was some skepticism about Eastern’s ability to win without Jones, Powers said.

True freshman Mario Jones stepped up, rushing 104 yards on 26 carries, to go along with junior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell’s 27-of-38 passing for 292 yards and four touchdowns.

In those statistics you see Powers’ presence on the offensive line, where he is expected to know the plan the Eagles are going to run, as well as the snap count, which defensive player he’s going to block as well as make some calls on who other linemen will block, read defenses, pick up the blitz and more.

And there’s something about the new playing surface Eastern had installed this year, the Sprinturf, a crimson turf that the Eagles have gone 8-0 on since it was put in at the school’s home stadium known as “the Inferno.”

“There’s some magic on that turf,” Powers said. “Last year we were excited for away games. This year we had this red turf to protect. Playing this year has been a completely different thing than last year.”

For five days — starting Dec. 22 — Powers gets to enjoy time at home. It’s the first time he’s been back in Maple Valley since Aug. 6.

And though he gets to spend some time at home during the holidays Powers is the kind of player who eats, drinks, sleeps and breathes football.

“I’ve got game film to watch of Delaware,” he said. “That’s all I do this time of year. We’re doing (as a team) the exact same things we’ve done this entire year. We’re going to watch a lot of film, look at what they do, just take time to prepare.”

And part of that preparation means knowing the guy who is going to be on the other side of the line of scrimmage from Powers.

“Knowing the person in front of you, his name, number, home town, his parents names, that’s what it’s all about, knowing your competition and know what they’re going to do before they even do it,” he said. “All year long I’ve just done everything that needed to be done.”

When he does have some free time, Powers plays video games, specifically “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and the popular NFL game, Madden.

He also spends time with his girlfriend, whom he’s dated for the past four years, on top of studying. He is a professional accounting major at Eastern.

And while this may be Eastern’s first trip to the national title game, Powers said, don’t expect it to be the last.

“We’re going to lose a couple key (defensive) players,” he said. “On offense we’re pretty much going to keep everything. We’re keeping a lot of key players and I’m hoping that we’re going to be just as good.”

And Powers will still be there, snapping the ball for Eastern, hoping to help it get back to the national title game in his senior season.