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September 10, 2010 in Sports
Central Valley Bears bounce back, win with big plays
Dach picks three passes; Mt. Spokane downs Prep
There was no going back to the drawing board for Central Valley coach Rick Giampietri.
Giampietri planned too many changes, rendering an eraser useless.
After his defense allowed nearly 500 yards in a season-opening 33-27 loss last week, Giampietri made what he called wholesale changes defensively.
The difference was measurable Thursday as the Bears handled the Mead Panthers 31-14 in the opener of a Greater Spokane League doubleheader before 3,365 at Joe Albi Stadium.
After giving up 478 yards last week, Central Valley limited Mead to 229.
“What a difference a week made,” Giampietri said. “Talk about turning that defense around. We knew we were young on defense. We just moved a bunch of guys around and they responded.”
Junior Dustin Dach switched from safety to cornerback and pulled off a hat trick, intercepting Mead quarterback Andy Wetzel three times.
CV’s defense allowed just one touchdown. The other came on an 83-yard kickoff return by Wes Bailey.
“We were mortified last week,” Giampietri said. “Our whole thing is to hit and hustle (defensively). Not taking anything away from Mt. Spokane, they executed beautifully, but we didn’t execute like I know we can.”
Senior wide receiver Ryan Nungester got the Bears (1-1) off to a quick start when he returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a TD.
Then in the third quarter, Nungester broke a run designed to go to the perimeter inside and sprinted 73 yards for another TD that extended CV’s lead to 24-7.
“I just followed the holes,” Nungester said. “When the holes open up you’ve got to go.”
Nungester also played well at cornerback.
“We went to work at practice, we worked on the things we needed to work on and we just took care of business,” Nungester said. “We made some great stops. Everyone did a great job. Everyone was flying to the ball and aggressive. (Dach) came to play today.”
A 46-yard field goal by Austin Rehkow gave CV a 17-0 lead with seven seconds to go in the first half.
Mead (1-1) got a big lift moments later, though, when state champion hurdler Bailey returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards to pull the Panthers within 17-7 at halftime.
Two third-quarter TDs, however, allowed the Bears to open a 31-7 lead.
Nungester expects the Bears to play well the rest of the season.
“We’ve got the potential,” he said. “We’ve just got to want it.”
Mt. Spokane 33, Gonzaga Prep 19: If a team plans on dethroning the Wildcats as league champs, they’ll have to rip the crown from their paws.
The Wildcats (2-0) piled up 507 yards of total offense, led by senior quarterback Carson Blumenthal.
Blumenthal completed 11 of 14 passes for 242 yards and three TDs while rushing for 74 on 25 attempts and one TD.
“We play assignment football, come out here prepared and do what we need to do,” said Blumenthal, who was a backup at QB, running back and linebacker last year.
“The defense was great. We held Bishop (Sankey) to I don’t know how many yards. That was our game plan. We just wanted to eliminate the big plays.”
For the most part, Mt. Spokane did. Sankey still got his yards, finishing with 252 on 25 carries and three TDs.
Trailing 20-7 late in the second quarter, G-Prep (1-1) was driving with a chance to pull within a TD. But the Wildcats’ defense stopped Sankey on fourth-and-1 at the Mt. Spokane 26-yard line.
Blumenthal extended the Wildcats’ lead to 26-7 when he hit Kellen Clute on a 37-yard pass.
Clute, who started in the backfield, got behind G-Prep’s secondary for the TD.
Three plays later, G-Prep pulled within 26-13 on a 4-yard run by Sankey.
Then on their next possession, the Bullpups scored on a 1-yard dive by Sankey and all of a sudden G-Prep trailed 26-19 with 3:25 to go in the third quarter.
Mt. Spokane answered, though. Blumenthal found Dan Moore wide open on a 61-yard TD with two seconds to go in the period.
U-Hi’s Gonzalez wins State 3A boys high jump 
ericdx on September 10 at 8:38 a.m.
Mr. Lee,
I see you do not like criticism, since you had my earlier post on this thread deleted, so again, I ask you, are you ready to retract your rather pathetic slam on Mt. Spokane yet?
You predicted 2 weeks ago that Mt. Spokane was not good enough to be better then 7th place in the GSL this year, and gave no reason for dumping on the 2009 GSL 3A champions, who also had the best record in the GSL.
After Mt. Spokane dumped CV in week one (your pick for 3rd place) you finally justified your pathetic slam by putting in your article that Mt. Spokane had graduated 18 players, mostly starters. Now Mt. Spokane has gone out and beat your Number One pick. So that is 2 wins, and you have predicted that Mt. Spokane is only a 3 win team. So, now that they have beaten your darlings (G-Prep) and your number 3 (CV) pick, who do you see as their final victim? Or are you ready to admit that you really don’t pay attention to, or treat seriously, any team that is not from the Valley, D-81, or G-Prep?
Surpisingly enough, there are teams out there that can win without an “Outreach Program” to help stock the athletic shelves. Also, apparently as a suprise to you, Coach McLaughlin is a very good coach, who can bring players who did not start the previous year, to a high level.
Maybe next year, you will actually try to evaluate players on teams, instead of just looking at the graduation rolls of the team and saying that a team can’t compete, because of the number of players that graduated. After all, a competent sports writer would investigate thoroughly before trying to make predictions.
Maybe next year, you will also give some credit to Coach McLaughlin. After all, he has only been coaching in the GSL for about 30 years (between Mt. Spokane, and Mead), and has a pretty good record as a head coach.
Valleygal on September 10 at 6:07 p.m.
Well said previous poster. I also find it odd that last year’s GSL champions, (this year’s underdog) beating this year’s #1 pick, didn’t get listed first in the heading. This was a huge upset, but evidently Mr. Lee can’t swallow his pride and give alittle credit whee credit is due.
ericdx on September 10 at 6:23 p.m.
Thank you Valleygal. Also, I love how Mr. Lee gave away the GSL crown which Mt. Spokane earned in his predictions, and now says that anyone who wants it is going to have to “rip it from their paws” Maybe he should have started out the season like that, or at least giving the reigning champions some consideration, so he would not look like such a fool now.
I guess he is just too much of a product of the tired old “G-Prep rules football in Spokane” crowd. Time to wake up and smell the reality, G-Prep is not, and never has been invincible.