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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mullan’s Cinderella season ends with loss in semis

Mike Saunders Correspondent

SILVERTON – The unlikely run of the Mullan Tigers in the State 1A Division II high school football playoffs ended Saturday afternoon at soggy Sather Field.

After a tightly contested first half, Salmon River (8-3) ran away with a 42-8 victory and advanced to the championship game Friday at Holt Arena in Pocatello. The Savages will take on Carey (10-1), who advanced Friday with a 36-28 win over Mackay.

Mullan, under first-year coach Corey Miller, clung to an 8-8 tie until the waning moments of the first half before injuries and lack of numbers on its bench, combined with a relentless Salmon River offensive attack, proved too much to overcome.

“Honest to God, I think on a better day, we might have had it,” said Miller, whose team turned the ball over four times in the contest. “We knew all year, if we get injured it’s going to be trouble – and we lose four or five guys, we’ve only got 11 or 12 guys.

“We’ve got guys in there that literally do not know what they’re doing, and it’s not their fault, because they’ve never played those positions before – we had linemen playing receiver and everything else.”

The postgame delivery of some hardware for the MHS trophy case, though, made the pill a little less jagged.

“We were picked to win one game all season, and we get third place in the state,” Miller said. “I mean, we did well – we exceeded everybody’s expectations.

“So we did all right.”

The team from Riggins got on the board on its first drive, a 60-yarder capped by freshman Dustin Rinker’s 4-yard run off left tackle.

Mullan got the equalizer 4 minutes into the second quarter when junior quarterback Justin Ploharz plunged in from 1 yard out.

With little offensive production from either team – Mullan had four first downs and Salmon River just one, the half seemed likely to end tied 8-8. But Salmon River mounted a 12-play, 74-yard drive and, with 28 seconds left before the break, Rinker, who finished with 168 yards on 30 carries, scored again from 3 yards out and the visitors never looked back.

“That last drive of the first half was a big drive,” Miller said. “They were just running right at us, and we didn’t play our best today. This is a poor example of our team, and it’s a bad time to play a bad game.”

Salmon River senior quarterback Charlie Mignerey was just 4 of 8 passing, but two of his completions on short screens went for long TDs – a 31-yarder to wideout Josh Manley and a 78-yarder to tight end Dylan Rinker.

Mullan (5-4) managed just 129 yards of total offense and only 57 in the second half.