Ferris, LC impress Pfeifer
Pat Pfeifer has been watching or involved in Spokane high school football for nearly 50 years. He said he’s never witnessed a season like this.
“I’ve been going to Albi Stadium since 1960 and seen some teams that were awfully good, but not this many (Greater Spokane League) teams that were this good,” said the current Central Valley assistant. “We could still be playing.”
Pfeifer is linked directly to the playoff successes of both Ferris and Lewis and Clark, who are among six GSL teams that were capable of making the postseason.
And they are in their second trips to the State 4A semifinals at the same time in just the fourth year since Eastern Washington teams have been placed in opposite brackets and haven’t had to collide in early rounds.
Pfeifer was the line coach for the Tigers, who in 1978 beat Richland and Kennewick before losing 3-0 in overtime to eventual champion Snohomish.
In 1988 he was head coach of the Saxons which beat Richland, then Gonzaga Prep, but were beaten 14-6 on two early scores by state winner Ingraham.
“Another thread,” said Pfeifer, “is that Tom Yearout (LC’s head coach) was a student teacher at Ferris and was assisting me. He was coaching receivers when we went to the semifinals.”
Yearout saw Pfeifer prior to LC’s first playoff game in Richland and noted it was ironic that that was where Ferris played its first playoff game in 1988.
“I told him it was a good omen,” said Yearout.
In comparing the teams with this year’s, Pfeifer can see a difference.
“These two teams won big in going to the semifinals,” he said. “We weren’t winning like these guys are winning. They have a lot better chance than either one of us did.”
Indeed, LC and Ferris’ earlier versions won by four and three points in quarterfinal games.
A year ago, Pfeifer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that led to two major surgeries, a 10-week hospital stay and the loss of some 80 pounds from what was once a 255-pound frame.
This fall, he said, “coaching football was a goal that helped me get well. I had to take a folding chair most of the time until the last couple of weeks when I got stronger. It worked out great.”
Pfeifer said he is back to eating regular food, has regained 20 pounds and following several tests, “everything is negative right now coming up on the one-year diagnosis.”
Pfeifer said he wishes both his former schools well in Saturday’s games, unbeatens Ferris and Bothell at Albi and 9-2 LC vs. unbeaten Edmonds-Woodway in the Tacoma Dome.
“I hope they win and play in the championship,” said Pfeifer. “It would be fabulous.”
•With State 1B victories, Odessa and Almira/Coulee-Hartline are in the eight-man semifinals. Pullman’s season ended with a 28-6 loss to Burlington-Edison.
Spitz selects Cougars
Mead tight end Dan Spitz has announced his intention to play football at Washington State.
The 6-foot-6, 245 pound athlete said WSU has the career fields, including veterinary medicine, in which he is interested.
“It really felt right,” he said. “It felt like a family down there.”
Spitz was MVP of the Cougars football camp in which Mead participated this summer.
His mother, Connie, said he was offered a scholarship the weekend of the Arizona State game, but waited until last Saturday, when the Panthers playoff season had ended, to let the Cougars coaches know.
Spitz, a two-way starter at Mead, had 15 catches for 206 yards and seven touchdowns this year.
Border Clash
Winning is a habit for Washington boys and girls distance runners in the annual Nike Border Clash against Oregon counterparts.
Last weekend’s ninth race at Nike World Campus in Beaverton was won by Washington’s boys for sixth time, 73-137, with Mead’s Kelly Lynch finishing sixth in 14:30.73 on the 4,400-meter course. The girls won their seventh race over Oregon by their largest margin, 68-144.
The boys race featured a dozen area runners, including Colville’s Justin Rose (ninth) and North Central’s Andrew Kimpel (15th) and Jeff Howard (16th).