Mead, EV home tonight for state play-in games

Many of the usual suspects will be playing tonight when the Greater Spokane League and the Big Nine meet in their annual play-in games to the state 4A football playoffs.

But the number of games is unusual.

For the first time since the two leagues began pooling their playoff berths in 1996 and playing on Tuesday nights, there will be three games instead of four. And one of the winners will have to travel to the West Side for a Saturday first-round game with second-ranked Skyline (10-0) of Sammamish.

The altered schedule was required because the GSL lost a playoff berth to districts 3/4 in the most recent round of state re-classification. The combined districts, which stretches from Vancouver to Olympia, have eight playoff berths this year.

With the change in format, only GSL champion Mead (10-0 overall and ranked fourth) gets to stay home. The Panthers host Wenatchee, which finished third in the Big Nine and posted a 6-4 overall record, tonight at 6.

“They may have finished third, but so did Central Valley,” said Mead coach Sean Carty. “They’re good. Their line isn’t real big, but their skills guys are real good.”

Carty was impressed by junior running back Nate Gowing, who averaged 7.2 yards a carry, and quarterback KC Skalisky, a 5-foot-10 senior who completed more than 50 percent of his passes.

But the biggest question facing Mead isn’t its opponent but its own health. Skylar Jessen and Paul Sensecall, two of three Panthers headed to Division I football careers, have missed the past few weeks with injuries.

Carty said it will be up to the players and the doctors whether either will play. Senescall is nursing an injured PCL in his knee and Jessen a torn hamstring.

“With Paul, we want to make sure there can’t be any more damage; his safety is the No. 1 concern,” Carty said. “With Skylar, it was a four-to-eight-week recovery time and it’s been about five weeks. It’s one of those things where, I suppose, if we bundle him up he could play, but he could pop it in one play.”

Gonzaga Prep is healthy, and coach Dave Carson knows his Bullpups need to be. The last time they traveled to Pasco, in 2000, G-Prep lost 33-3.

Still, Carson feels his team is every bit as good as last year’s state semifinal squad.

“We’re running the option better than we have in all my years here,” Carson said. “We don’t have the big-play capability we had last year with Billy (Karwacki) and Brandon (Kennedy, both graduated), but play in and play out we put more pressure on you.”

But Pasco, which led the Big Nine in offense, averaging more than 400 yards a game, put pressure on you with quarterback Shayne Kelly (“He’s better than anyone in our league, athletically,” Carson said) and a running attack that loves to key off 6-6, 330-pound UW-bound tackle Ryan Tolar.

“Our defense is going to have their hands full,” Carson said. “One of our issues is to try to keep our offense on the field, make first downs and shorten the game.”

Carson’s Bullpups, second in the GSL and seventh in the state with a 9-1 overall record, travel to Pasco tonight at 6 to battle the Bulldogs, 9-1 and third in the state rankings. If G-Prep wins, and the other two 4A games hold form, the Pups will be the ones traveling to Skyline.

If Central Valley, the GSL’s third seed and winners of seven consecutive games, can upset Southridge (10-0 and ranked first in the state) in Kennewick, the Bears (8-2) will be the one headed across the mountains.

But to do that, CV will have to contain the Big Nine’s top-rated quarterback, 6-6 Jason Munns, a junior who is on every major college’s recruiting list.

“He’s better than he was a year ago, by far,” said CV coach Rick Giampietri. “He throws on the run real well and he throws with people around him a lot better. The receiver corps is what bothers me the most.”

Senior Shawn O’Malley leads that group, with a Big Nine-leading 862 yards receiving and a 30.2-yard punt return average.

“We’ve got to keep our offense on the field, that’s just the way it is,” said Giampietri when asked how the Bears can win. “If we can hit like we have been, because we’ve been kind of wearing people down, we have guys that can do that. We can’t let them jump on us early. I would hate to see a quick 14-0 start or something.”

In the 3A play-in games, it’s deja vu for East Valley, which earned the GSL’s top seed and a home date with West Valley of Yakima for the second consecutive year.

“We didn’t run the ball real effectively last year,” said EV coach Adam Fisher. “We’re a little better off up front and our backs are better, so we need to run the football much better than we did last year.”

The Knights, 8-2 and ranked ninth in the state, routed the Rams 30-3 last season, but it took a couple of long halfback passes by Brady Brunelle to provide the impetus to the EV offense. The win propelled East Valley to the quarterfinals, where the Knights lost to Kelso, 41-32.

The Rams (6-4 and the Mid-Valley League’s third seed) return quarterback Phillip Jennings (expected back after missing WV’s final league game with an injury) and fullback Taylor Tanasse, a 6-foot, 240-pounder who Fisher calls “a real physical blocker.”

If the Knights win tonight, a Saturday trip across the mountains for a matchup with top-ranked and 10-0 Ferndale awaits.

“In the GSL, we all had games that we lost or that we had to battle to win,” Fisher said. “In the 3A leagues around the state, I feel we have the best competition. I’m talking Bellevue, I’m talking Ferndale, I’m talking O’Dea, Rainier Beach, Lakes. We play, week-in, week-out, better opponents. We, hopefully, can use that to our advantage.”

Clarkston, which garnered the GSL’s second 3A berth despite a 3-7 overall mark, will travel to Ellensburg (7-3) to face the Mid-Valley’s second-seeded team.

In today’s other play-in game, Colfax (6-4), the second seed out of the Northeast A, travels to Granger (7-3), the fourth-seed from the SCAC, for a 3 p.m. kickoff. The winner will travel to Zillah (7-3), which finished second in the SCAC, for a 1 p.m. game Saturday.