SportsLink

Saxons rise from the dead

Posted by Mike

Nov. 3, 2009 10:29 p.m. • 37 comments

On post-season life support and needing a miracle, pre-season Greater Spokane League football favorite Ferris got one last week.

Tuesday night, in front of 2,050 fans at Joe Albi Stadium, the resuscitated Saxons made the most of their second chance in a mini-game tie-breaker series that resurrected State 4A playoff hopes.

Ferris defeated first Gonzaga Prep 14-7, then University 10-0 to earn the third and final GSL berth to state qualifying games against the Columbia Basin Big Nine. The Saxons (6-3) travel Friday to unbeaten CBBN No. 2 seed, Wenatchee (9-0) for a 7 p.m. game in the Apple Bowl.

In other state play-in games, No. 1 4A seed Mead (7-2) plays No. 4 Southridge (7-1) Friday at Albi, the second game of a doubleheader that begins with GSL champion Mt. Spokane (8-1) versus Sunnyside (3-6) in a 5:30 p.m. 3A contest.

No. 2 East Valley (3-5) is at No. 1 Hanford (3-6) in another 3A game and on Saturday, No. 2 4A Central Valley (6-3) plays No. 3 Kamiakin (7-2), 3 p.m., also at Albi.

“Starting on Friday we get the miracle there,” said coach Jim Sharkey. “I still don’t know how the tiebreakers work but it worked in our favor. Then this came up. We’re in the final 32 and anything can happen.”

The “miracle” he referred to was South Hill rival Lewis and Clark’s comeback at Gonzaga Prep a week after the Tigers had beaten Ferris and seemingly eliminated all hope that it would be in this position for the fourth straight year.

Given the lifeline, the Saxons took advantage in the format that included two mini-games of 8-minute halves each. In the first, Gonzaga Prep played without quarterback Shane Schmidlkofer because of a concussion.

Ferris’ defense made a key stop preventing Bishop Sankey from turning the corner, which followed with a Bullpup penalty that ended their initial drive.

It was prelude to an 88-yard Ferris scoring march in which Connor Halliday completed five passes, one a 24-yard catch and run by Jordan Tonani.

“It was just break away from the linebackers and that’s what I did,” said Tonani, “get a little speed and see what we could do from there.”

Gage Orosco added 25 rushing yards on four carries and Jason Bates caught the touchdown toss with 36 seconds left in the first half. Right after the break, Halliday surprised Gonzaga with an option keep that he took untouched 54 yards for a 14-0 lead.

The Bullpups answered quickly on a 48-yard reverse to Nick Lenoue, but the Saxons kept the ball for the final six minutes, Prep losing a fumble on the first play of its other offensive opportunity.

In the second game, University moved the football early and Thomas Wakem picked off Halliday racing to the Ferris 36. The defense, however, again held firm, Tonani had two more catches that set up another Halliday to Bates TD strike, from 15 yards out.

“I thought our defense played the best it has played since the second half of the game at Esperanza,” Sharkey said.

Ferris received to start the final 8 minutes and Cody Sorensen took the ball, raced across the field, then turned up for 42 yards. Coupled with a costly personal foul three plays later, Alex Belling’s 29-yard field goal provided the final points.

“We prepared really well for the two games,” said Tonani. “I’m just glad we came out with a win. This team is a bunch of fighters and is never going to give up no matter what. This was huge for us.”

Ferris was expected to win the GSL after reaching the state semifinals two seasons in a row. Instead, the team just barely got into the tiebreaker. In 32 minutes, the Saxons earned a chance to play on.

“All those mistakes we made early in the year, somehow we got away with them to have this chance,” Sharkey said. “We were a little cleaner, our special teams were good, we took care of the ball for the most part and still made plays. We have to play a quality team in Wenatchee, but we have a shot.”

37 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

coult44 on November 03 at 11:44 p.m.
Congrats Ferris, beat the crap out of Wenatcheese nachos….However, what in the hell do you guys give to those refs for helping y’all so much. My goodness. It’s down right blatent in every game you play in. It’s laughable at times and leaves those of us who know a weee bit about football pulling out our hair. We could good quality football in the GSL. However, it could be GREAT if these clowns would get nationaly certified, take some more training, and study the rule book…YOUR KILLIN US outhere…
spokelooneh on November 04 at 1:08 a.m.
The refs were rather poor/clownish in the Prep-Ferris game, however, Prep threw the game away, par usual, on turnovers. It’s not at all clear that Prep would have won had the Ref’s done their job.

Prep’s defense guys seem to be an average 30 lbs less than any other opponents, it’s a miracle they got as far as they did. Talent, not just brawn.
Jota on November 04 at 2:34 a.m.
Coult,
I notice every time you post it is to say something about the officials favoring ferris no matter what game it is.. IT is absolute crap… You must not have seen the CV game where the bears apparently didn’t have to actually catch the ball in the endzone for it to be a touchdown….. Jason bates was going for a deep route tonight and was just flat out tackled, initially a flag was thrown but then they somehow called it inadvertent. Not to mention the cheapshot #21 of u-hi took at Bo Bozett of the saxons about 5 seconds after a whistle and 15 yards away from the play.. it was a wonder the kid was not ejected… Officiating is terrible in this league don’t get me wrong.. but don’t act as if Ferris gets every call every game, they have gotten screwed over by the refs as many if not more times then every other gsl school

Now i’m not sure what team you root for within the GSL coult, but it’s obvious you have a strong dislike for the Saxons, and whatever, that’s fine. Just don’t come on here and state your misguided opinion as if it’s fact to everyone on this board because you couldn’t be any further off.

Btw penalties in the Gprep ferris game 6 for 35 yards on ferris and 3 for 15 yards on gprep… The onside kick went 8 yards and hit a gprep player in the back before gprep recovered.. no arguement there i hope? The u-hi game had like 3 penalties on each squad or something? Get over your hate for the saxons and just enjoy the game and yes officiating is horrible in this league and has been for as long as i can remember
inw sports fan on November 04 at 7:10 a.m.
Coult,
If you are upset that the clock ran with 1 minute left in the 2nd half that was the right thing to do by the rules. Ferris had just had a running play and was stopped around the 15 with the clock running. With the clock running and #2 false starts for Ferris. 5 yard penalty and you go back to what the previous play was. If the previous play was an out of bounds run or an incomplete pass or a time-out was before the false start, then the clock would have started on the snap. The previous play was a run and the clock was running so after the penalty enforcement the clock runs on the ready. Now, if you believe that they are doing this on purpose then you can start it on the snap. I don’t think the officials thought they were not doing this on purpose and probably would have started the clock on the snap if a false start occurred again. This was all done by the correct mechanics in the National Federation High School Book. Now, it may be nice if they switched the rules and said if this penalty is done with 2 minutes or less in each half the clock starts on the snap. The new rules are mandated by coaches and athletic directors.
Question on November 04 at 7:50 a.m.
Don’t you think that the entire two game playoff was massively affected by Prep’s starting QB being gone? I’d say that if he’s there, the Bullpups score on the opening drive & never look back, and then beat U-Hi. Ferris, you have really defied the odds to have gotten into this play-off in a one in nine chance, and then to have Prep’s best offensive player (sorry, Sankey) out with a concussion.

All the best to you in the Apple Bowl, though. If you can go to CA & win, you can beat the Panthers….and believe me, you will need at least an even deal from the ref’s there, because if you think the GSL is bad, just wait to you see the ‘home-cooking’ that can go on when you are on the road in Wenatchee.

This CBBN team also had great press the last two years when the GSL has gone over there & beat them, and I see no reason why you can’t make it three in a row on the road for a Spokane team.

Will the three GSL team’s sweep in this opening round with the CBBN?
Question on November 04 at 8:00 a.m.
Does anyone know how the GSL & CBBN seeds into the first round of the playoffs? If Mead & Ike both win this weekend as the #1 league seeds, who is #1 in District 5/6/8 this year?
wildcat17 on November 04 at 8:18 a.m.
“If CBBN No. 1(Ike) wins, it receives the No. 1 seed from District 5/6/8” Direct quote from Tacoma News Tribune. For all of the other games it says “Placement on state bracket depends on outcome of other games in CBBN/GSL crossover”.
deadzinner on November 04 at 8:29 a.m.
Question
So now the excuses come as predicted. If Prep’s QB had been there…but he wasn’t and there is no way to know if and how that would have changed anything. Who knows, he might have fumbled himself. He might have thrown 6 TD passes. The point is that on this night Ferris was better than Prep and U High. You play the game with what you have and to say they would have won with a different QB is complete sour grapes. Suck on them and BTW how DO they taste?
deadzinner on November 04 at 8:40 a.m.
Mike,
Now that the Saxons have beaten Prep and your U High, don’t you think it is time to correct the schedule where you had them playing Eastmont on Friday night in a meaningless crossover game to playing Wenatchee in the play in game.
GSLFan on November 04 at 8:43 a.m.
zinner - there’s excuses and then there are valid reasons for a team not performing up to their potential.

GPrep is not anywhere near close to the same team without their starting quarterback - just as Ferris isn’t the same squad should Halliday have been injured.

It’s too bad both teams weren’t at full strength in a pivotal matchup.
Frank on November 04 at 8:50 a.m.
What happened to Prep’s QB? Was he hurt during the LC game or at this game? Cmon Mike do some basic reporting.
You would think that may be mentioned before the game or after that one of the teams was missing it’s starting QB. No team can play with a backup QB and not be impacted (How would Ferris work without Halliday).Deadzinner I am sure if Ferris went on to play Wenatchee without Halliday and lost you would be on here saying it would have been a different game if you had not lost your QB.
For me not sour grapes, impossible to say how game would have been with him in there, etc… But Prep’s offense is keyed by the QB, timing and reads on the dive being the start of everything the offense does, it is not designed to just hand off to Sankey. Hard enough to work a new QB with a week to prepare, but with a Tuesday game I am sure it limited the playbook.
That being said great wins for Ferris they will need to play out of their minds to overcome the homer refs in Wenatchee.
viking on November 04 at 8:51 a.m.
I believe the #1 seed into state alternates yearly between the GSL and the CBBN. This year is the GSL’s turn, so the winner of the Mead game would be the #1 seed into the tourney from District 5/6-8.
Dinger on November 04 at 10:50 a.m.
after the prep, Ferris game I walked on Albi and noticed alot of water and the turf seemed long. My question: Did ferris come in with fire hoses and flood the field? and why did ferris not mow before they played prep? What do you think Al?
Al_Loysius on November 04 at 12:37 p.m.
There is bad luck and horrible luck. GP’s QB, Shane Schmidlkofer, suffered a concussion late in the LC game which got discovered the next practice day. Keeping him out was obviously the right call. Having to use a little-used backup QB, Connor Johnson, is just plain horrible luck, but that is just an illustration of the fact that in football (more than in most sports), injuries play a big part in winning and losing. So, thems the breaks, and Prep can now just worry about winning GSL basketball (practice starts Nov. 16) which they stand a pretty good shot of accomplishing. As for football, there is always next year (after some meaningless crossover games with CBL this weekend- when are they going to drop that? Maybe they should play the crossover games in the 5th week of the season, when they might actually mean something). I will make it clear, I hope the GSL teams do well this week, as it may be the end of the Regional round between GSL and CBL as we have come to know it. As for GP, they return Schmidlkofer, Sankey and just about everybody else except for OB Jack Wilson and DL Charlie Griffin.

Thanks to SportsFan for expalining the clock kerfuffle in the last minute of the GP-Ferris game. It was a little funny and the announcer was not able to explain. The clock ran off about 30 seconds after being initially stopped by a Ferris illegal procedure penalty. After the next play, Coach McKenna finally got the refs to come over and ask for an explanation. That took about a minute. Then the white hat goes over and talks to a couple of other refs for about 2 minutes. Then the ref comes to midfield and signals a 5 yard penalty against Prep for defensive delay of game. Then, since the play clock had only 2 seconds left, Ferris gets flagged for delay of game.

It all seemed a little bit Keystone Kops, but it probably did not make a big difference in the long run.

Finally, I would say Bill Diedrick at U-Hi is clearly Coach of the Year in the GSL for turning that program around.
Question on November 04 at 1:58 p.m.
Al - Does the Prep O-line really come back intact next fall? If so, Prep will be a load in ‘10. That is, if they can only teach Sankey not to fumble… It was completely representative of Prep’s year that the last offensive play last night was a Sankey fumble, don’t you think?
Al_Loysius on November 04 at 2:58 p.m.
Lose a center and a couple other guys. Good material behind them though.

Here is a link to the roster on Jerry Schmidt’s website:

http://gonzaga74.com/Football%202009/Roster.htm

Sankey needs to find out what kind of stickum Fred Bilitnikoff used to use for the Oakland Raiders. ND Coach Frank Leahy supposedly made a talented but fumble prone back carry around a football where ever he went for several weeks day and night to get him to quit fumbling. Bishop can start doing that now.
rawkmandale on November 04 at 3:43 p.m.
From the Wenatchee World:

SPOKANE — Wenatchee High School football coach Scott Devereaux and his staff watched the three-way Greater Spokane League playoff on television Tuesday night, but privately Devereaux had a pretty good idea what would happen.

“I sent (Ferris) Coach Sharkey an e-mail this week and said, ‘I’ve seen all the film, and we’re playing for you,’” Devereaux said. “The best team won, that’s for sure.”

Ferris defeated Gonzaga Prep 14-7 and then upended University 10-0 in a pair of abridged games at Joe Albi Stadium on Tuesday.

In doing so, the Saxons claimed the GSL’s third seed to the Class 4A state qualifying playoffs, and will turn around and play the Panthers at the Apple Bowl at 7 p.m. Friday.

“They’re the real deal,” Devereaux said. “The quarterback (Connor Halliday) is the real deal, and can throw it all over the field. I can see why Wazzu (Washington State) offered him a scholarship.”

Halliday tossed a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another in the victories over Gonzaga Prep and University.

“I’ve seen on film that a lot of teams have dropped guys back and didn’t rush him very much. I think there’s a time and place for that, but if you give a quarterback like that time, he’ll pick you apart,” Devereaux said. “We’ll have to mix up our pressure and pass coverages.”

Offensively, keeping Halliday and the Ferris passing attack off the field as long as possible will be paramount.

“They can score and score fast,” Devereaux said. “We’ll need to take care of the football, have nice drives and score points. Running the ball and moving the chains will be important. It should be a fun game. I’m looking forward to it.”

Brian Adamowsky: 664-7157

adamowsky@wenworld.com
rawkmandale on November 04 at 3:47 p.m.
Wenatchee Coach Scott Devereaux

http://wenatcheeworld.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/20091104-103657-pic-519677934_t620.jpg?fbf2daa044e08a86b24c9c38cd7501865a0e2373
inw sports fan on November 04 at 11:41 p.m.
Al,
The reason that G-Prep was accessed a delay of game penalty is because the coach wanted a conference to discuss what happened with the ruling and the game clock starting. With a coaches conference a time-out is accessed if there is no change to the ruling on the field, which there was not. Since G-Prep had no time-outs a delay of game penalty was accessed. After the penalty was marked off and the ball was marked ready for play the whistle was sounded and the play clock was started. Ferris took there time getting to the ball because the quarterback and coach were talking about the next play. By the time they got up to the line of scrimmage the play clock was at 5 and could not get the play off. Delay of game on Ferris.
Al_Loysius on November 05 at 10:54 a.m.
Probably should have been a better way to communicate to both coaches what was going on and maybe avoid both penalties. but in the grand scheme of things it probably does not matter much. Something the refs can put on their agenda at the next monthly football ref meeting.
rawkmandale on November 05 at 5:38 p.m.
From the Wenatchee World:

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Panthers have been so close to the state playoffs the last two years they could taste it.

Come Friday night, the No. 6-ranked Panthers are hoping for more than a taste.

Ferris and its Washington State University-bound quarterback Connor Halliday come to Wenatchee for a 7 p.m. meeting at the Apple Bowl. The winner goes on to the state playoffs. The loser puts their pads away for the winter.

Having fallen short the last two seasons, the Panthers (9-0) want nothing more than to clinch that elusive state berth.

“The whole goal of this season was to get there (to the state playoffs),” Wenatchee coach Scott Devereaux says. “‘One game at a time’ has been the motto, and these guys have done the work they need to do.”

The last two Panther teams had similar aspirations but fell short. In a 2007 regional crossover playoff game, Mead beat Wenatchee (8-1 record at the time and ranked No. 8 in the state) 21-7 at the Apple Bowl. Last year, Richland knocked off Wenatchee (6-2 record at the time) 14-6 in a divisional crossover.

Things are different this time around for Wenatchee — or so the team believes. It’s more of a senior-laden squad, and one that has shown enough skills to maintain an undefeated record nine weeks into the season.

“It helps having guys who have been there before,” Devereaux says. “These guys were sophomores when we played against Mead and juniors against Richland last year, so they have a taste for the playoff game and how things move a lot quicker. It shouldn’t be big eyes this time.”

Tough circumstances surrounded the postseason losses of the last two years — star running back Tyce Thomas was injured and out for the regional crossover in 2007, and several key players were serving suspensions for the divisional crossover in 2008 — but Devereaux says the better team won each of those games.

“You can point your fingers to a lot of different things, but basically we’ve lost to teams that are better than us.”

Wenatchee hasn’t been to a state playoff game since 1998, when Devereaux was still a freshman coach for the Panthers. He says there are similarities between that squad from 11 years ago and the one that now dons the purple and gold, all the way down to a University of Idaho-bound center (Mike Marboe now and Matt Martinez in 1998).

“They’re both very good teams, with a lot of senior leadership, pretty much a whole senior offensive line, and pretty tough defenses,” he says.

That will be put to the test by Ferris (6-3), a team that was ranked as high as third in the state in preseason polls.

(first half of article)
rawkmandale on November 05 at 5:39 p.m.
(second half of article)

“(Ferris’) passing attack is definitely a challenge,” Devereaux says. “We’ve given up more passing yards than I’d like to see, and this is an excellent passing team. We’ll have to mix things up, that’s for sure. The passing defense is going to have to have the best game it’s had all year.”

Ferris quarterback Halliday has thrown for 2,255 yards this season.

“We’re definitely going to bring Connor Halliday this time,” Saxons coach Jim Sharkey said, making reference to the fact that Halladay was sick and didn’t make the trip when Ferris played at Eastmont in a non-league regular-season game last year.

Sharkey, who roomed with Devereaux when both coached in the all-state game last summer, said he’s seen plenty of game film on the Panthers.

“I know they’re big and physical and they’ve got a great tailback,” Sharkey said. “They’ve got a great ‘D’ and they don’t beat themselves. We know we’re going to have our hands full.

“Our kids are really excited and it was a fun day at school today, but I think one of the big questions is how we will respond to basically playing three games in seven days.”

With the Panthers coming off a 40-7 win over Richland last Friday, Wenatchee’s coach likes his team’s confidence level.

“I think our kids played really confident last week,” says Devereaux. “I mentioned to them that when we play confidently we play fast, and I felt like we had that Friday night on both sides of the ball.”

Brent Stecker: 661-5222

stecker@wenworld.com

Full link: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2009/nov/05/can-they-do-it-panthers-one-win-away-from-first/
rawkmandale on November 05 at 10:01 p.m.
Lewis and Clark 31
Kennewick 6

Good start for the GSL teams. It seems like all 6 GSL 4A teams are good teams, meaning Mt.Spokane HAS to be in the top 4 of all 3A teams statewide. Right?
Frank on November 06 at 9:17 a.m.
So no preview of this weekends games (would be nice to know a little about the teams the local schools are playing). I hope Mike and his boss intend on reporting the scores of the games. If not I guess we can go to the wenatchee paper. Rawk thanks for the posts.
GSLFan on November 06 at 9:55 a.m.
Not usually one to jump on the bash-the-reporters bandwagon but it would have been nice to get a little perspective on the GSL/CBBL matchups.
EWaHSFootballFan on November 06 at 9:57 a.m.
GP QB for Mini Game - not sure if some of you saw the same game I saw vs Ferris, but they had GPs run game figured out and I thought the QB did very well, in surprising Ferris going 4-4 for 60+ yards, added a new dimension to GP offense (passing)…threw a long one at the end of the 1st half that almost went for a score. Looks like GP might have a QB controversy next year. I’m sure there are a few schools out there that would love to have him.

All 6 of the GSL 4A teams were rated in the final Massey Rating for WA, in the top 10, to bad that the rest of the State won’t get to see half of them play…UHi (improving program), LC (hottest GSL team at the end of the year), and GP (always in the hunt).

I just thinking and hoping the next season with be as exciting and competative as 09!
EWaHSFootballFan on November 06 at 10:00 a.m.
Anbody know if Ferris has a QB in waiting for next year?

Going to have some big shoes to fill!
GSLFan on November 06 at 10:15 a.m.
GPrep won’t have any QB controversy. Schmidelkoffer is head and shoulders better than the sophomore. Throws a better ball, stronger, faster, makes better reads. I think the mini-game playoff may have gone the other way had he been able to play.
viking on November 06 at 10:59 a.m.
“I think the mini-game playoff may have gone the other way had he been able to play.” - GSLFan.
Well, that is just plain far-out, unfair speculation, substantiated by nothing. Ferris could have won the game by an even bigger margin if not being called for a phantom hold on its 3rd touchdown. Even after that, they chose to run out the clock rather than go for a score. They played well that day and deserved to win.
Question on November 06 at 11:08 a.m.
If the GSL 4A’s were to sweep tonight, and Ike wins as they should, how does it seed into the playoff bracket? I’ve read on multiple sites that teams that remain are placed 1 through four in the 5/6/8 bracket based on their league seeding, with the CBBN’s placed ahead on ties for 2009. And by the way, if I’ve counted correctly, the GSL has won at least eight straight play-off & play-in games vs. the CBBN in 2007 & 2008, and probably even a few more if 2006 is added in…

So if a GSL sweep occurs, would it then be Ike (a #1) vs. Ferris (a #3) in Yakima, and then Mead (2nd #1) vs. CV (a #2) in Spokane? And if Wenatchee were to beat Ferris, would it be Ike vs. CV, and Mead vs. Wenatchee (a #2) in Spokane?
Al_Loysius on November 06 at 11:25 a.m.
Dear GSLFan and Footbase,

Let us give it a rest. What mighta, coulda, shoulda happened is all ancient history now. Basketball starts on the 16th with first games after 10 practices are in. Let us just hope all the kids, coaches and fans on the road for football, VB, soccer and CC have safe travel around the state.
rawkmandale on November 06 at 11:34 a.m.
“So if a GSL sweep occurs, would it then be Ike (a #1) vs. Ferris (a #3) in Yakima, and then Mead (2nd #1) vs. CV (a #2) in Spokane? And if Wenatchee were to beat Ferris, would it be Ike vs. CV, and Mead vs. Wenatchee (a #2) in Spokane?”

This certainly sounds like what could happen. I don’t think any of the 4A games tonight are a “gimme” though - they should all be competitive. The only clear (20 point plus) favorite in my mind is Mt. Spokane in 3A.
GSLFan on November 06 at 11:43 a.m.
My primary point is Schmidelkoffer is a far superior athlete/QB to the backup who was put in a tough situation.
Al_Loysius on November 06 at 1:30 p.m.
I think Shane is going to have the most mis-spelled name in GSL history. He is a basketball and soccer player too, so there are 2 more sports where he can have his name messed up. The TV guys on Friday Night Sports love to say it.

It is spelled Schmidlkofer. His dad, Bob, was a pretty fair pitcher for Prep back in the 80’s.
MaleetJR on November 06 at 1:56 p.m.
Want analysis on the match up tonight? Listen to the Pride.

http://washingtonsportsnetwork.com/thepride.html
EWaHSFootballFan on November 07 at 9:05 a.m.
Didn’t the backup QB at GP fill in earlier in the year and do a pretty good job then as well? I think he’s a pretty smart/good player as well…Football and Basketball player.
GSLFan on November 07 at 11:07 a.m.
I’m gonna go on record that Schmidlkofer is going to be your 2010 All-GSL quarterback. Nobody returning in the league is close to as valuable to their respective team.

And, no, I’m not related to him.