Tigers beat Saxons on last-second FG

Adam Thompson booted a 39-yard field goal as time expired to lift Lewis and Clark to a 24-22 Greater Spokane League 4A win over archrival Ferris Friday night at Joe Albi Stadium.

The teams exchanged touchdowns in the final 3 minutes to give the defensive struggle a thrilling finish.

“We’ve already lost one in overtime and we hit the upright on a field goal to win it last week,” LC coach Dave Hughes said. “A win like this against your rival is something these kids are going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

Adam Jacobson scored from the Ferris 3 to give the Tigers a 14-10 lead with just over 8 minutes to play in the game and the Tigers stopped Ferris on downs at midfield on its next possession.

But the Saxons still battled back.

Mitch Pike found Aaron Beaulaurier on a crossing pattern and the junior turned the catch into a 66-yard touchdown. A missed point-after left Ferris with a 16-14 advantage with 2:59 left.

LC drove 61 yards in the final minutes. On fourth-and-15 with 1:09 left, Jordan Summers threw a strike to Justin Vogt at the goal line for a touchdown to retake the lead 21-16.

Ferris answered with a two-play, 67-yard drive. Pike found Beaulaurier once again, this time on a 52-yard touchdown catch-and-run that made it 22-21 after Ferris failed on a two-point attempt.

“We didn’t panic,” Summers said. “Our coaches told us to keep our heads up and run our plays.”

Summers connected on three passes to get the Tigers in field-goal range, finding Ty Thompson, Adam Thompson and Leo Haghighi for big gains.

The first half was a battle for field position, with Ferris having the better of it.

The Saxons were able to bend the LC defense, but could not break through to the end zone, settling for a 30-yard field goal by Mick Thompson on their second drive and the only points of the first half.

Lewis and Clark struggled against the Ferris blitz early. Summers was chased, harassed and occasionally thrashed as the Saxons linebackers continually went unblocked.

Summers had more intentional grounding penalties (two) than the Tigers had first downs (one) well into the second quarter.

Then the Tigers turned to Jacobson, an inside linebacker, to run the football. His three carries for 22 yards on the final drive of the half quieted the blitz and gave Summers a chance to at least glance downfield.

After going three-and-out in the first three possessions and picking up just one first down in their first four, the Tigers ground the ball across midfield and into Ferris territory before the end of the half.