Greyhounds look special

Great Northern League football teams Pullman and West Valley had put up fancy preseason offensive numbers prior to their Great Northern League get-together.

But it was special teams and defense that decided the Pullman Greyhounds’ 34-13 triumph in the league’s showcase league opener.

Three Pullman touchdowns were set up by long Jedidiah Adams punt returns (and no, he didn’t muff two of them on purpose to break WV coverage down). The back-breaker was his 40-yard, change-of-field score following the second muff that put his team ahead 27-13 with 8:46 left to play. Until then it was anybody’s game.

Another TD was set up following JT Levenseller’s 40-yard interception return, as he proved just as valuable in the defensive backfield as at quarterback.

“Our special teams were special tonight,” said Pullman coach Bill Peterson. “Our offense was not great, but was efficient. We were real happy to come out on the top end again.”

West Valley had surprised the visitors early when Bryan Peterson went long to Casey Sherrill for 51 yards and the lead 2 minutes into the game.

But Adams muffed his first punt, went back to retrieve it and as the defense overran him legged it 30 yards to midfield. The Greyhounds made good on two fourth-down conversions, Adams catching a 14-yard Levenseller pass for a tie before quarter’s end.

The interception and a personal foul that followed gave Levenseller short field at the WV 14, which he exploited. Adams added a 41-yard punt return 1 minute, 32 seconds before intermission and Pullman covered 35 yards in six plays.

While the Eagles struggled on offense, particularly in a passing game in which quarterback and receivers often weren’t on the same page, they hung in late into the third quarter. Near its conclusion Camron Bowman broke a run for 38 yards. Two plays later Bowman ran it in, cutting Pullman’s lead to 21-13.

But there was Adams again, a punt slipping off his hands and rolling 7 yards behind him. He picked it up, cut right, reversed direction and scored.

“I wasn’t used to the leather,” he said. “Usually, I catch those. It slipped right through and I figured if they were going to come at me, I’d juke them and go for a touchdown.”

Clarkston 49, Deer Park 10: Junior Isaac Woodbury completed 14 of 19 passes for four touchdowns and scored another in the visiting Bantams’ (2-1, 1-0) win over the Stags (0-4, 0-1). Zach Meyers had 10 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns and J.T. Rimmelspacher gained 91 yards and scored twice on four receptions.

Colville 59, Medical Lake 14: Cody Yecha ran punt returns of 51 and 65 yards for scores to spark the Indians’ (4-0, 1-0) 40-point first half. The Cardinals fell to 1-2 overall.

Cheney 17, Riverside 3: Jesus Fregoso rushed for 55 yards and a score and Mark Benzel had 76 yards and caught a Brandon Hardie touchdown pass as the host Blackhawks (2-2, 1-0) opened successfully over the Rams (1-2, 0-1).