Prep Notebook: Wildcats look for rebound
Mt. Spokane football coach Mike McLaughlin had just shaken hands with the Ferris coaches when he headed toward the ramp leading to the west locker room at Albi Stadium.
It’s as if McLaughlin was already considering how his team would use the 35-14 loss to prepare for the State 3A playoffs.
The Wildcats tied the score at 14 on the first possession of the second half. But the Saxons, who have had a keen knack for finishing, scored three straight touchdowns to become the Greater Spokane League’s lone unbeaten team.
Kennewick coach Billy Templeton – whose team had played Thursday – was in the Albi Stadium press box videotaping the game. If his team finishes third in the Columbia Basin Big Nine Conference, it will travel to Spokane to face the Wildcats in a play-in game.
• Now there’s no room for a letdown for the Saxons (6-0). They meet ever-improving Mead (4-2), which is in dire need of a victory to stay in the 4A playoff hunt. The teams match up Friday in the second game of a doubleheader at Albi at 8.
In a game tonight, University (2-4) faces Rogers (0-6) at 6:30.
In the first game at Albi on Friday, Mt. Spokane (5-1) takes on Lewis and Clark (3-3) at 5:30. In the out-of-Albi games, North Central (2-4) is at Gonzaga Prep (5-1) and Shadle Park (0-6) goes to Central Valley (3-3). Both games are at 7.
• Second-ranked Coeur d’Alene (5-1) makes its 5A Inland Empire League debut Friday when it travels to Lewiston (4-2, 0-1) at 7.
Defense rests
The defenses apparently took the night off last week when Lewis and Clark tripped Shadle Park 42-41.
The quarterbacks combined for 609 yards passing. LC’s Jeff Livingston was 21 of 31 for 278 yards and four TDs. Shadle’s Levi McBournie was 26 of 33 for 331 yards and three TDs. The teams combined for 951 yards.
Shadle had a chance to win in the waning seconds when it scored to pull within the final margin. The Highlanders failed to convert a two-point try.
It prompted first-year Shadle coach Alan Stanfield to wake up a few hours after the game.
“I was wide awake at 3 a.m. with about a half-dozen play calls I wish I would have called on the two-point play to win,” he said. “Such is life.”