West Valley defeats Cheney to take GNL’s No. 2 seed

West Valley coach Craig Whitney asked do-everything senior standout Dylan Ellsworth before Thursday’s game to carry the team on his back.

Ellsworth did just that until the final play as West Valley knocked off the visiting Cheney Blackhawks 27-21 in overtime in a Great Northern League football game that had a typical wild finish.

With the win, WV (8-2) earned a home play-in game Tuesday. The Eagles will face East Valley of Yakima (7-3), the No. 4 seed from the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

The loss kept Cheney (7-2) from capturing the league championship. Now the Blackhawks must travel to Ellensburg (7-3) on Tuesday in a play-in game.

Deer Park (9-1) is the league champ and has a bye into the first round of the playoffs a week from Saturday.

After WV scored a touchdown on the first possession of overtime, the Eagles’ defense, which yielded chunks of yards at times, went down to the final play before the biggest stop of the season.

Facing fourth-and-goal from the 7-yard line, Cheney quarterback Ben Bissell’s throw, intended for Eric Igbinoba just inside the goal line, was broken up by Ellsworth.

“Before the game I brought him (Ellsworth) into my office and I said, ‘Dylan, take the game over. You’re going to have to make plays for us.’ And he did,” Whitney said.

On WV’s OT possession, the Eagles faced a third-and-15 at the 30. But quarterback Tyler Stavnes swung a pass outside to Ellsworth, who bulldozed his way for a 13-yard gain. That set up fourth-and-2. On the next play, Ellsworth picked up 3 yards, giving WV a first down at the 14.

Ellsworth then picked up 9 yards to the 5 and got a first down with 2 more yards. Terrynce Duke scored on a 3-yard run.

The point-after try didn’t get off the kicking tee. The ball was bobbled and kicker Randall Harris didn’t even take a kick.

The Eagles’ defense held – though it was tense to the final play.

“It feels great sending them to the third seed and us taking the second seed,” Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth put in another workhorse effort on offense. He carried the ball 36 times for a game-high 184 yards.

“Dylan is a warrior,” Whitney said. “He’s a guy we’re going to rely on to make plays on offense, defense and special teams.”

WV opened a 14-0 lead. A second-quarter TD by Cheney allowed the Blackhawks to cut the lead to 14-7 going into halftime.

Cheney took advantage of an Ellsworth fumble that Calvin Berstler recovered at WV’s 38. Four plays later, Igbinoba evened the score at 14-14 when he scored from 14 yards out with 1:13 to go in the third period.

Thanks to a 43-yard kickoff return by Duke, WV began its next possession at the Cheney 45. On the first play, Duke scampered 34 yards to the Blackhawks’ 11. Two plays later, Stavnes hit Austin Barto behind Cheney’s secondary in the end zone on a 10-yard pass as the Eagles regained the lead 21-14 with 10 seconds to go in the quarter.

Cheney had its best offensive series on the next possession, marching 78 yards on 13 plays before Bissell hit Spencer Rassier on a 10-yard TD pass with 6:36 remaining.

“Cheney is a very well-oiled machine,” Whitney said. “We knew it was going to be back and forth. We thought we’d have to score about 31 points to win. We knew we couldn’t take everything away from them. We knew it was going to come down to something like this. It was probably one of the finest high school games that I’ve been involved with.”

Nonleague

Pasco 24, North Central 21: TJ Avery threw a 2-yard TD pass to Ethan Cantu with 28 seconds left to give the host Bulldogs a win over the Indians (2-8) in a 3A crossover game at Edgar Brown Stadium.

NC’s Jake Hoffman threw fourth-quarter TD passes of 24 yards to Jimmy Weigel and 37 yards to Jordan Wertman for a 21-17 lead after the Indians trailed 17-7. Hoffman finished 28 of 47 for 323 yards. He also rushed for 61 yards, including a 2-yard TD in the first quarter.

Deer Park 42, Medical Lake 21: Jason Jorgenson finished with nine carries for 171 yards and four TDs as the visiting Stags (9-1) defeated the Cardinals (4-5).

DP’s Colton Mead completed 5 of 9 passes for 153 yards and two TDs. Zach Mohr had two receptions for 89 yards, including a 67-yard TD.

Ishmael Teshome rushed for 101 yards and a TD on 17 carries for the Cardinals.

Liberty Christian 60, Touchet 16: Reace Howard rushed for 202 yards on 16 carries to guide the host Patriots past the Indians (7-2) at Richland.

Southeast 1B

Colton 52, Garfield-Palouse 48: Josh Straughan threw three TD passes and ran for another as the Wildcats (9-1, 5-1) held off the host Vikings (4-5, 3-3) at Palouse.

Sam Robertson added TD runs of 43, 84 and 16 yards for Colton.

Colton tied with Touchet and Pomeroy for first place. Based on a draw Pomeroy is the No. 1 seed to the playoffs, Touchet No. 2 and Colton No. 3. Garfield-Palouse is the No. 4 seed.

Pomeroy 62, St. John-Endicott 20: Ryan Smith ran for three TDs and passes for two as the Pirates (8-1, 5-1) defeated the visiting Eagles (1-7, 1-5) in one half.

Smith ran for scores of 3, 87 and 7 yards. He threw TD scores of 42 and 10 yards to Mitch Ruchert. Tory Knebel added TD runs of 54 and 48 yards for Pomeroy.

SJE’s Cole McCanna threw a 37-yard TD pass to Samuel Raynor, ran for a 16-yard TD and caught a 52-yard TD pass.

LaCrosse-Washtucna 40, Sunnyside Christian 0: Jake Aune completed 3 of 5 passes for 75 yards and two TDs as the Tigercats (6-4, 2-4) completed their season with a win over the Knights (1-9, 0-6) at Washtucna.

Aune also had two interceptions and returned one 30 yards for a TD.