Ferris, EV dominate

Two Greater Spokane League football games holding Class 4A postseason implications were played at opposite ends of the Sullivan Road corridor in Spokane Valley.

Neither outcome was what Central Valley and University envisioned.

U-Hi’s Titans were hurt less by their 21-3 loss at East Valley on the north end of Sullivan. Any thoughts the CV Bears had of a repeat playoff appearance disappeared on the south end with 28-7 loss to defensively dominant Ferris.

Next week U-Hi (4-4 overall, 4-3 in the GSL) is at CV (3-5, 3-4) still with a breath of postseason hope. EV travels to Pasco for a non-league game against Greater St. Helen’s 3A League champion Camas.

“The thing is Gonzaga Prep’s got to beat Lewis and Clark,” said Titans coach Mike Ganey, “and we’ve got to take care of our business.”

If the idle LC Tigers (5-2) win Thursday over the Bullpups, they earn the league’s No. 3 spot in the GSL-Columbia Basin state play-in games. Should they lose and U-Hi win on Friday, the Titans are the GSL’s third representative.

G-Prep clinched first place in league and Ferris is the GSL’s No. 2 team. Both will host State 4A play-in games on Nov. 4.

Ferris, 28, Central Valley 7: The Saxons (7-1, 6-1) locked up undisputed second place by extinguishing CV’s offense. The Bears had only two first downs at halftime and a net 37 yards of offense.

Thirty of those yards came on two plays late in the second quarter. By midway through the third quarter the Bears were up to four first downs and 67 yards.

Pat Parham, McKenzie Murphy and Erick Cheadle again were major Saxons defensive operatives.

On offense, Ferris piled up 375 yards and always made the necessary plays to continue drives against its shaky-tackling foe.

Ferris marched 70 yards in 5 minutes on the arm and legs of quarterback Jeff Minnerly for its first-quarter touchdown with 2:18 remaining. He took the Saxons 75 yards in 41/2 minutes for a second-quarter score with 3:51 to go.

On the drives, Minnerly rushed for 18 yards and completed four passes to Jared Karstetter for a total of 58 yards and the first score. He hit Aaron Roberts twice for a combined 48 yards to set up the second.

When sophomore Nathan Tonani sprinted 44 yards to make it 21-0 with 9:11 left in the third quarter, the Saxons had the game well in hand.

East Valley 21, University 3: U-Hi gave all the third-place Knights (6-2) could handle for a half, trailing just 7-3. But two third-quarter scores gave the hosts breathing room.

“They beat us up front in the first half,” said EV coach Adam Fisher. “No one did that to us all year. But the kids persevered in the second half and started to mow them down.”

In a matchup of league rushing leaders, U-Hi’s Tyler Carlson got the better of EV’s Ryan Campbell in yardage 102-61, but Campbell scored twice.

Campbell rallied the Knights to a 7-3 halftime lead with his score in the second quarter and capped off a drive after intermission.

“That’s the first time we’ve done that (score) coming out of the gate (after halftime),” said Fisher.

The final EV score came on a 26-yard completion from backup quarterback Lonnie Quirk to Cole Abramson with 48 seconds left in the third quarter. Abramson had 68 yards on three receptions.

“I thought we played hard tonight, but we weren’t able to move the ball in the second half,” Ganey said. “(The Knights) are one of the better teams in the league. I thought we played them pretty good.”

Mead 35, North Central 9: Luke Hattrup rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries as the Panthers (3-5, 3-4) pulled away from the Indians (1-7, 1-6) in the fourth quarter at Joe Albi Stadium.

Mead scored three touchdowns in the final period after leading just 14-9 through three quarters. Hattrup scored on runs of 7 and 22 yards. Ryan LaForte caught a 22-yard pass from Matt Johnson.

Mt. Spokane 42, Shadle Park 0: The Wildcats (3-4) scored four touchdowns in the second quarter and led 35-0 by halftime over the Highlanders (1-7, 1-6).

Travis Niles scored on a 28-yard pass and a 28-yard run. Brandon Jared also scored twice.

Mt. Spokane’s offense was balanced, 375 yards split nearly equally between the run and pass and among several players.

Quarterback Kyle Redmon was 10 for 13 for 162 yards.