Powered by Zach Bruce on the ground and Conner Johnson through the air, the University Titans turned back the Mt. Spokane Wildcats 31-28 in a Greater Spokane League football game in a key 3A showdown Thursday at Joe Albi Stadium.

Here's our story.

NOTE: I'll be tweeting at the Ferris/Central Valley game tonight. You can follow me at: srpreps

Ferris throtted Wenatchee 48-3 and Mt. Spokane did likewise to Kennewick 62-35. You can link to the Ferris story here and the Mt. Spokane story here.

PREPS

Click the tab below to see this week’s menu options. ALSO: Stop by our online chat today at 11 a.m. We’ll be talking postseason football.

Here’s a Then & Now feature I did on former Mead football standout Scott McGlocklin that will run in Tuesday’s newspaper. You can read it here. McGlocklin is pictured above at his office at Bouten Construction where he’s a project manager.

Lewis and Clark’s easy victory over Kennewick last night could, like last year, be a harbinger of things to come. Last year the Tigers beat Kamiakin by four TDs and the Greater Spokane League won every crossover matchup with the Columbia Basin Big Nine.

Proof will be in the pudding beginning tonight with Mt. Spokane hosting Sunnyside at Joe Albi Stadium, 5:30 p.m., followed by Mead against Southridge at 8 for state berths. CV is at Albi, 3 p.m. tomorrow against Kamiakin. There are also the crossover contests going on as season enders for the rest of the schools. It will be interesting to see what transpires.

In my 33 years of watching Greater Spokane League football, I don’t think I’ve seen a season quite like this with six teams, maybe seven if you include champion and 3A top seed Mt. Spokane in the mix, so even. Any of the six 4A squads could have made the playoffs if not for a missed extra point here, a turnover there. So it was probably to be expected that it would end the way it did tonight with Gonzaga Prep just 12 yards away from clinching the No. 2 seed, only to be relegated to a three-team playoff for the third spot; or that University would come up one-inch away from the third playoff spot (I wasn’t there, but a source told me the Titans might have been in) and now in that playoff; or that Ferris, left for dead, now has a chance in that playoff to return to state. Weird.

That begs the question: Are the teams good enough to advance in the playoffs? Once there you have to take care of business better than this league has done.

Here’s my story from LC’s win at G-Prep to finish the season with back-to-back victories over its rivals, the Bullpups and Saxons.

After last night’s Mead victory over Central Valley, here are the four remaining playoff possibilities from tonight’s games. If there’s a three-team mini-playoff it will be Tuesday, 6 p.m. at Albi Stadium:

If Ferris and Gonzaga Prep win: 1, Mead (7-2). 2, Gonzaga (6-2). 3, CV (6-2). (Mead beat both teams, Prep beat the Bears).

If University and Lewis and Clark win: 1, Mead (7-2). 2, CV (6-2). 3, U-Hi (6-3). (Mead beat both, Bears beat the Titans, U-Hi beat Gonzaga Prep (5-3).

If Ferris and LC win: 1, Mead (7-2). 2, CV (6-2), 3. playoff Tuesday among Gonzaga (5-3), Ferris (5-3) and U-Hi (5-4) (Prep beat Ferris, Ferris beat U-Hi, U-Hi beat Prep in league).

If U-Hi and G-Prep win: 1, Mead (7-2). 2-3 playoff among Prep (6-2), CV (6-2) and U-Hi (6-3) (CV beat U-Hi, U-Hi beat Prep, Prep beat CV in league).

 Mead and University for the two-year scheduling cycle played the extra league game based on a desire for all 3A teams to have a full eight-game league schedule in lieu of divisions. That led to this playoff formula that incorporates both wins and losses as tiebreaker criteria.

Three weeks into the season the Mead Panthers were 1-2 and facing an uphill GSL football slog. They ran the table and with Thursday’s convincing 31-12 win over Central Valley are No. 1 among 4A teams. They proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that defense more than offense wins games, stifling the Bears in all facets except the kicking game. But they showed their offensive versatilty with a big passing night from sophomore Andy Wetzel and huge receiving night by Mitch Kayser whose early layout catch set the tone against CV’s suspect secondary, just as they ran their way to victory the week before.

With the triumph, and anticipating Mt. Spokane’s win over Rogers Friday, it’s a one-two finish for the Mead district (in volleyball and soccer as well, (the Wildcats and Panthers tied in the latter) in league. Mt. Spokane won two out of three head-to-head tests winning in football and soccer this year and the volleyball team tested Mead in their league match.

Should be a big crowd at Albi when the two host a doubleheader 4A-3A state play-in doubleheader next Friday. 

Here’s the post of my story for tomorrow’s Spokesman-Review:

After what happened last year, you’d think I knew better. I picked Central Valley, which had a wealth of skill but dearth of line experience, to place fourth and the Bears wound up tied for first. This year I picked a team with a veteran line, but no skilled position experience sixth. Here they are in first place, two games ahead of their 4A counterparts with two games remaining following Friday’s win over Mead.

Victory has set the stage for a wild finish. CV is in the cat bird’s seat, four other teams, including the favored Saxons are scrambling for their post-season lives.

To recap: 

One runningback was missing providing another with opportunity and he helped keep University firmly in the Greater Spokane League state playoffs hunt.

Jory Zettle, took his first varsity carries in the absence of the league’s third-leading rusher John Wright, and gained 84 yards in 22 carries, scoring a touchdown in U-Hi’s last-ditch 30-27 victory over Lewis and Clark Thursday night

Took a Friday away from the Greater Spokane League to watch a wild Great Northern League game in Cheney, the Blackhawks winning 39-28 featuring one of the more improbable endings to any high school game I’ve seen. Cheney, behind remarkable athletes DeAngelo Jones and Alex Adams scored 29 points in the game’s final 9 minutes after trailing Colville 21-10 through three quarters. After taking a lead with two touchdowns 30 seconds apart and having the ball, quarterback Jones was chased back to his 3-yard-line where a 2-yard snap on a punting situation, seemed to give Colville the upper hand. But, after regaining the lead, the Indians gave up a 63-yard touchdown run to Adams, his second long burst, and lost the game.

After that respite it’s back to the GSL and three weeks that will determine the league’s three 4A playoff teams. Six teams are still mathematically viable, even if Lewis and Clark is on the outside looking in.

Mt. Spokane enjoys living dangerously, for the second straight game they won 35-28, but this time Travis Ward, on the hands team, hauled in the on-side kick, so the victory over Lewis and Clark wasn’t quite as nail biting as last week at University.

With the win, the Wildcats beat their third 4A foe, doing a favor for playoff contenders Central Valley and Gonzaga Prep who don’t face them in the GSL. The Bullpups, easy winners tonight and welcoming the return of Bishop Sankey, who rushed for 323 yards and three long TDs, have Mead, Central Valley and LC left. The Bears face Ferris, Prep and Mead. The Panthers play Prep, University and CV. U-Hi plays LC, Mead and Ferris. LC (U-Hi, Ferris, Prep) must win out and hope.

Lewis and Clark’s 4A playoff hopes go through a 3A team. This afternoon, 4:45 at Joe Albi Stadium, the Tigers take on Mt. Spokane and a win in this one would be huge. This is a prelude and the final three weeks the determinant for which three teams reach the post-season.

Future games include: Oct. 15/16 - LC-University; Gonzaga Prep-Mead; Ferris-CV (plus 3A Wildcats at East Valley). Oct. 22/23 - Mead-U-Hi; GP-CV; LC-Ferris. Oct. 29/30 - Mead-CV; Ferris-U-Hi; GP-LC.

No. 1 4A and 3A teams and No. 2 4A host Big Nine foes in state play-in games, Nov. 6. No. 3 4A and No. 2 3A travel.

After Friday night’s win at University, Wildcats coach Mike McLaughlin and quarterback Travis Ward agreed that the 35-28 nailbiter was reminiscent of last year’s wild and crazy playoff game against Hanford in the post-season. Mt. Spokane and the Titans traded points, the visitors rallied for a 35-21 lead on Ward’s runs, then it was pins and needles time.

Speaking of wild games, Ferris came back from a 28-7 deficit to win in overtime 41-35 in California, quarterback Connor Halliday with a passing clinic.

And in other GSL games, the 4A’s won with embarrasing easy over 3A foes setting the stage for showdowns over the next few weeks to determine which three of six worthy teams moves on to the playoffs.

Ferris’ victory over Mt. Spokane wasn’t unexpected, but the 31-14 differential, in all likelihood, wasn’t quite what fans envisioned either. May force me to rethink things for post-season. Let’s just put it this way, Central Valley could be undefeated (will be in league) heading into its season-ending gantlet with Gonzaga Prep, Ferris and Mead. And all six 4A teams are playoff viable, in control of their destinies from here on out.

Greater Spokane League football approaches the mid-point of the season (for some teams) which led me to project out the remainder of the season and predict an outcome. Several key games remain that will determine the fortunes of league teams - for Lewis and Clark, Mead and University in particular.

Three weeks into the season and Greater Spokane League football is a horse race with seven teams very much in the title race. Even Mead (1-2) and Lewis and Clark (0-2) are not out of the playoff picture, although the Tigers face a difficult road.

When football teams are of relatively equal talent, it takes a little luck sometimes and certainly  key breaks to decide the outcome of a game. Central Valley got breaks that ultimately took them to the state’s “elite eight” and cost Gonzaga Prep a playoff berth - remember the fumbled punt and late intercepted pass in that game against CV? Or the six turnovers by Mead in its game at the Bears despite running up and down the field? Lewis and Clark came up with untimely injury that may have denied them a return to the post-season. Think about the overtime outcomes that settled the Great Northern League state qualifiers. That’s simply the reality of sport. A bleeder beats you as often as a home run.  As someone once said, “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

Don’t know what it was at Albi Stadium, but anything that could go wrong did so for the South Hill Greater Spokane League football schools.

Maybe it simply was that things went right for Mead and Gonzaga Prep.

The Bullpups parlayed a steamroller running game coupled with Ferris mistakes into a 38-35 thriller to the delight of SWX’s high school football scheduling. There was nearly 900 yards of offense in that game, which made up for a dearth of offense in the opener when the Panthers’ defense scored three touchdowns capitalizing on Lewis and Clark penalties and turnovers for a 28-13 victory.

Two weeks in Prep and Central Valley, which survived rival University, are 2-0 atop the league. Mt. Spokane is 1-0 (2-0 overall) and Mead, University, Rogers and East Valley are 1-1. My story is below.

As expected, a veteran two-time 4A state semifinalist football team proved too much for a rebuilding 3A program coming off a winless season and with a new coach. The Ferris Saxons poured in 31 first-quarter points (four on safeties) and won 59-0 in a game that implemented the state’s new running clock rule. Two Saxon quarterbacks threw for 359 yards and five touchdowns. About the only thing visibly missing was a running game which must factor over the next few weeks when the Saxons face Gonzaga Prep, Mead and Mt. Spokane in the “Murderer’s Row” portion of the GSL season. NC was mistake prone early, but moved the ball well in the second quarter and might have scored a couple times if not for some dropped passes.