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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gorillas Take Out T-O Outgain Nighthawks 457-264; Next Up, Undefeated Oroville

The Gorillas roared but they’re not quite ready to pound their chests. Third-ranked Davenport rolled to a 33-12 victory over No. 5 Tekoa-Oakesdale Friday night in the quarterfinals of the WIAA/U.S. Bank State B-11 football playoffs, but the Gorillas knew they left room for improvement.

The Gorillas (10-1) fumbled five times, losing two after moving inside the T-O 10-yard line. They also turned the ball over on downs at the 5 and the 21. That gave cause for concern despite a 457-264 edge in total offense.

“We haven’t put the ball on the ground that many times all year,” Davenport coach Skip Pauls said after the game at Holliday Field in Medical Lake. “My son is the ball boy, maybe he spit on it.”

Joking aside, Davenport had a 201-101 advantage in offense but only a 6-6 tie to show for it at halftime against a team it beat 49-14 the third week of the season. Included in the Nighthawks offense was a 70-yard touchdown on a John Wall-to-Tim Freeburg pass.

Davenport made its adjustments, took advantage of two T-O miscues and moved into a semifinal game against No. 4 Oroville (11-0) next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Quincy. Oroville beat Manson 55-13.

“I wasn’t worried,” Davenport running back Josh FitzPatrick said. “We have the ability to come back like we did.”

The Gorillas also have FitzPatrick. The 6-foot, 205-pound workhorse scored two touchdowns after turning a short pass into a 45-yard touchdown on the opening possession of the game.

“My offensive line just did tremendous work,” FitzPatrick said. “We put in some different plays this week. We accomplished a lot. They were opening holes you could drive a truck through.”

That also caught Paul’s attention.

“Our line, I’m impressed,” he said. “They make their adjustments on the field. FitzPatrick ran well.”

FitzPatrick scored his first rushing touchdown early in the third quarter after the Nighthawks (9-2) botched a punt attempt, giving the Gorillas a 35-yard field. The six-play drive - an incomplete pass and five FitzPatrick runs, the last covering 4 yards - made it 13-6 less than 5 minutes after halftime.

After an interception on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Gorillas marched 74 yards on seven running plays. Travis Telecky had a 16-yard pickup and FitzPatrick had runs of 12, 16 and 18 yards, the last good for the touchdown, boosting the lead to 20-6.

“We felt it would be a different game in the second half,” Pauls said. “They took away some of our strengths but we adjusted. We couldn’t run the trap right away and we couldn’t run the sweep.”

The Nighthawks were in the hole and failed on a fourth-and-1 play from their own 29 on the next possession. Telecky cashed that opportunity in with an 8-yard scoring run.

“Mentally, I think we were a little better prepared than the first game,” T-O coach Marvin Wigen said. “A lot of the kids have more experience and at playoff time the kids are supposed to rise to the occasion. I think our kids did. A couple of times they had a chance to blow it open in the first half but turned the ball over. I would like to give a little credit for that to our defense.”

But between FitzPatrick, who helped the Gorillas pick up 342 yards rushing, and quarterback Marty Parsons, who completed 6 of 12 passes for 115 yards, it was just too much offense for the Nighthawks to contain. T-O only had 82 yards rushing and 182 passing, including a second long Wall-to-Freeburg TD of 44 yards with 2 minutes left.

“I still think they’re the best team in the state,” Wigen said. “I said that from the beginning and they haven’t done anything to disprove that.”

Davenport 33, Tek.-Oak. 12

Tekoa-Oakesdale 0 6 0 6 - 12

Davenport 6 0 7 20 - 33

Dav - FitzPatrick 45 pass from Parsons (kick failed)

T-O - Freeburg 70 pass from Wall (kick failed)

Dav - FitzPatrick 4 run (Deal kick)

Dav - FitzPatrick 18 run (Deal kick)

Dav - Telecky 8 run (Deal kick)

T-O - Freeburg 44 pass from Wall (pass failed)

Dav - J. Johnson 51 run (pass failed)

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo