Panthers end LC’s perfect start
The Mead Panthers came into the season the favorite in the Greater Spokane League.
They entered week six just trying to stay alive.
They did, and in the process ruined Lewis and Clark’s undefeated season 21-14 before 5,710 at Albi Stadium on Friday night.
In the night’s opener, Gonzaga Prep kept its season perfect with a near-perfect defensive effort, shutting out Ferris 10-0.
Mead has been anything but perfect all year, coming into Friday 2-4 overall and a middle-of-the pack 2-3 in the GSL.
“You saw us at that first practice this year, we were a little cocky and we probably should have been because we are a talented team,” Mead coach Sean Carty said. “We’ve just created our own problems all year. We haven’t been able to get out of the blocks and that goes all the way back to the first game against Camas.
“After last week our kids could have quit. They didn’t and that shows their character.”
Nine turnovers and a devastating loss to their arch rival Mt. Spokane put the Panthers into a hole. Their offensive and defensive line dug them out Friday.
But only after a shaky first half.
The Tigers (5-1 overall and in league) didn’t punt before intermission, put together two long scoring drives behind the rushing of Ethen Robinson and the passing of Chad Bemis, and had 211 yards of total offense at the break.
They also led by just one, because the Panthers were moving the ball as well. They also had two long scoring drives, fueled by Skylar Jessen’s rushing and Andrew DeFelice’s passing. Only a point after that hit the upright following a procedure penalty — one of those self-created problems — kept the Panthers from being tied.
But the second half was a different story, especially defensively. Mead went from a 4-4 set back to its base defense in an attempt to stop Bemis’ passing — he had 103 yards at the half — and it just happened to stop LC’s rushing attack as well.
The Tigers only had 59 yards of total offense in the second half and never penetrated inside the Mead 45.
Robinson finished with 121 yards rushing, but only 17 after intermission. Bemis, who had at least six passes dropped after halftime, finished 11 of 21 for 130 yards.
DeFelice finished 12 of 18 for 141 yards, including a 17-yard strike to Jeremy Brett in the back of the end zone for the game-winner early in the final quarter. Jessen carried 24 times for 120 yards, thanks in large part to holes opened by the big guys up front.
“We wanted it, we wanted it more than anything, especially after last week,” said one of those big guys, senior Jesse Wilhelm. “We held on to the ball tonight and we got it done. Now we have to take each week at a time and see how we finish.”
Gonzaga Prep 10, Ferris 0
It might have been their first shutout of the season, but Bullpups coach Dave Carson hopes it isn’t their last.
“They have a pretty potent offense averaging, what, 25 points a game,” Carson said. “It’s pretty darn good to shut them out, but I hope it’s not our best effort of the year, because we’ve got a long way to go.”
But, according to G-Prep linebacker and fullback Ryan Murphy, it was the Pups’ most important win.
“We were fired up and really wanted this game,” said Murphy, citing a Ferris coaching staff populated with ex-Prep coaches as the reason. “Every year this is the biggest game on our schedule.”
And they played like it.
The Saxons came in averaging 336 yards a game in total offense, but the Pups held them to 149, including just 64 in the first half.
Over a 24-minute stretch spanning all of the second quarter and most of the third, the Bullpups kept Ferris without a first down.
The Prep offense wasn’t exactly hitting on all cylinders either, but when Ferris (4-2 overall and in the GSL) handed it a short field midway through the second quarter, the Pups took advantage, going 52 yards in 10 plays for the game’s only touchdown.
That came on a fourth-and-3 play at the 18. Quarterback Billy Karwacki, who completed just six passes all night, hit tight end Kellen Beam for the score. The 6-foot-7 Beam rose above one Saxon defensive back to catch the ball and ran over another to find the end zone.
Michael Stockton added a 22-yard field goal on a third-quarter drive that started on the Ferris 24, and that was the end of the scoring.
The Bullpups put together an impressive drive, eating up the last nine minutes with a 19-play, 74-yard march that saw Murphy carry 14 times. He finished with 23 carries for 98 of Prep’s 277 yards in total offense.
“We are starting to click,” Murphy said, “especially on the offensive line. They did a great job in the second half, that’s why I got all those yards.”
Clarkston 14, West Valley 7
The Bantams (4-3, 3-3) avoided an upset with two second-half touchdowns that kept the gallant Eagles (0-7, 0-6) winless.
Host WV had shut down Clarkston’s offense for a half and taken a 7-0 lead on Camron Bowman’s 46-yard run.
In the second half, Clarkston rushed for 95 of its 109 ground yards and Jason Curtis went 7 for 9 for 73 of his 164 passing yards to rally. He hit Joe Reiner for the winning score in the fourth quarter.
Bowman rushed for 113 yards on 18 attempts for the Eagles.