Week 9 prep football preview: Battle of the Bell to decide GSL 4A/3A title, top 3A seed to postseason; West Valley has fate in its hands

Months of speculation will come to an end Friday night and by Sunday afternoon all the Week 10 playoff and crossover matchups will be set.

All eyes will be on Union Stadium on Friday, where traditional rivals who both call the venue home will battle – all with the Greater Spokane League 4A/3A title on the line.

Wait, maybe not all eyes – there will be a deciding game in the Valley as well which could determine the third and final seed to the 2A crossovers or force a potential tiebreaker for the league title and bye to state.

All games are Friday 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Game of the week

Mead (7-1, 6-1) vs Mt. Spokane (7-1, 7-0): At Union Stadium. Both teams have been pointing to this game, the “Battle of the Bell,” since the middle of August. Everyone involved hoped it would have playoff implications on top of the storied rivalry.

You have to love when a plan comes together.

If Mt. Spokane wins, it will be the 4A/3A champ alone and earn the 3A top seed; if Mead wins, three teams will share the title and the Panthers get the top 3A seed. Whoever wins will potentially land a home playoff game, crucial this time of year.

Two big-play offenses, two tough defenses, dynamic playmakers in the return game for both sides, two highly skilled coaching staffs.

Can we start the game already?

4A/3A

Lewis and Clark (3-5, 3-4) at Gonzaga Prep (6-2, 6-1): Maybe stunned isn’t the right word for it, but G-Prep was certainly disappointed in the result from its loss to Mt. Spokane last week – the Bullpups fell from No. 3 to No. 10 in the state media poll. They have the top Week 10 4A seed sewn up but want to play well this week heading into the postseason.

The Tigers, meanwhile, will also play a Week 10 playoff game, but it will be the Tuesday play-in, when they will host Hanford.

Central Valley (4-4, 4-3) at University (4-4, 4-3): The CV Bears cemented a home playoff game by snapping a four-game losing streak last week in the shutout of Ferris, but they have their hands full again on Friday with the streaking Titans in the “Greasy Pig” game.

There are no playoff stakes for U-Hi, but the Titans have won two in a row behind the huge play of running back Malaki Miller, who has amassed 1,046 yards with 10 TDs this season despite missing one game and most of a second.

Ferris (1-7, 0-7) at Ridgeline (1-7, 0-7): This would have been a challenging enough game for the Saxons anyway, but the coaching change news this week increases the difficulty factor.

The Falcons got a big game from Landon Garner and Brayden Allen last week in Yakima against Davis. The pair connected for two TDs in the rout.

Cheney (2-6) at Eisenhower (1-7): The Blackhawks hope to end the season on a winning note in a nonleague contest against the Cadets of the Big 9, whose lone win this season is over winless Davis.

2A

Pullman (4-3, 3-2) at West Valley (6-2, 4-1): There are a lot of potential ties in the 2A division, but the calculus is easy for the Eagles: Win and they are in the Week 10 playoffs. Which seed they might earn will depend on Shadle Park’s result, then a possible Kansas tiebreaker on Tuesday.

Pullman’s only shot at the postseason is to win. It’s that simple. The Greyhounds have already lost to Shadle and Clarkston, so they must beat the Eagles to move on.

Shadle Park (5-3, 4-1) at East Valley (1-7, 1-4): Earlier this season, the Highlanders looked like they were rolling, but back-to-back losses have them looking to bounce back and end on a high note.

East Valley is without star athlete Diezel Wilkinson, whose junior season was cut short due to a high ankle sprain. He finished with 1,733 all-purpose yards and 15 combined TDs.

North Central (0-6, 0-5) at Rogers (2-6, 1-4): At Union Stadium, Thursday 7 p.m. Rogers hasn’t had two league wins in a season since 2015, so there’s a lot on the line for the Pirates. Junior QB Deon Kinsey had two TD passes last week against WV.

Clarkston (6-2, 5-1) at Grandview (1-7): The Bantams secured a share of the league title and a Week 10 playoff game with their win over Shadle last week. They finish with a nonleague game against the Greyhounds of the Central Washington Athletic Conference.