By Greg Lee, nwprepsnow
----------
Perhaps the toughest game the Mead football team will play all season wasn’t the one involving a loss to preseason favorite Gonzaga Prep.
No, it may have been staying focused for a team the Panthers were favored to beat.
So call Mead’s all-around effort on point, as the Panthers handled the Rogers Pirates 51-21 in a Greater Spokane League crossover game Friday at Albi Stadium.
Junior quarterback Thomas Dammarell got Mead (3-1) rolling in the second half. Mead coach Benji Sonnichsen, who is employing a two-quarterback system, has said that if one of his quarterbacks gets hot he will remain in the game.
Sonnichsen kept to the philosophy in the third quarter when Dammarell led Mead on four consecutive scoring drives.
Dammarell hit Bryan Anderson on a 27-yard scoring pass – a pass that was deflected by a Pirate. Anderson grabbed the tip and ambled into the end zone, extending a halftime lead to 31-14.
Rogers scored its lone second-half TD when quarterback Cole Shafer hit Eric McKay on a 14-yard TD pass.
Dammarell followed with a 9-yard scoring run on a draw and TD passes to Samson Brown and Collin Grosse.
Dammarell completed 13 of 19 attempts for 177 yards and three TDs. He also rushed for a TD.
In the first half, Mead used a fumble recovery early to score the game’s first touchdown. Trevor Senn converted on a 7-yard run.
Rogers (2-2) made it 7-7 on the second play of the second quarter when Shafer found Conrad Weeks on a well-executed screen play. Weeks navigated the 37 yards for the evening touchdown.
Shafer completed 21 of 37 for 207 yards and two TDs.
After that, the Panthers, after slogging around, got things going.
Conaire Shaffer made it 10-7 for Mead when he connected on a 41-yard field goal.
Then on the first play of Mead’s next possession, quarterback Payton Loucks hit EJ Bade up the seam for a 65-yard TD connection, extending the lead to 17-7.
Mead forced Rogers to punt shortly thereafter, and speedy Samson Brown returned the punt 52 yards for the final TD of the first half.
The Panthers return to 4A play next week when they take on Central Valley on Thursday at Albi Stadium while Rogers goes to University on Friday.
