Gsl Records Come Down In Rare Offensive Display

The offensive disease that spread through the Greater Spokane League in 1995 was contagious.

And it was hardly disabling.

A number of impressive high school football records were established throughout Washington during the regular season.

On top of the list is Mike Brown, a name area sports fans will remember from the State B basketball tournament.

Brown, a senior at Adna, which moved up to Class A this year, finished as the all-time leading rusher in state history, topping out at 6,039 yards when the Pirates lost in the first round of the state playoffs. In his 42-game career, Brown scored a record 84 touchdowns. He averaged 7.61 yards on his 794 carries.

Knocked out of the top spot was Brandon Jumper, who played at Eatonville from 1984-87. Also in 42 games, Jumper rushed for 5,910 yards and 75 touchdowns.

Brown, who had six 200-yard games this season, was held to 65 yards on 14 carries by Ridgefield in the playoffs, the only time in 12 games this year he didn’t reach 100. However, he became the 12th player in state history to surpass 2,000 yards in a season, finishing with 2,024 (10th all time) on 212 carries and 28 touchdowns.

Adna teammate Jared Spyhalski capped his career by converting 117 of 157 PAT kicks, putting him in the top five for career extra points.

Spudders mash opponents

No wonder the Ridgefield defense did a good job on Brown - the Spudders not only had two 1,000-yard running backs this year, the duo also went over 300 yards in a single game and they did it in the same game.

In the Spudders’ 63-22 win over Stevenson in the regular-season finale, Nate Edgar carried 26 times for 343 yards and three TDs and John Christopher carried 21 times for 314 yards and four TDs.

Christopher had regular-season totals of 1,503 yards on 116 attempts while Edgar had 1,297 yards on 161 carries. Both seniors also scored 19 touchdowns. Their regular-season totals were 2,800 yards on 277 attempts and 38 TDs.

Anything you can do

The Spudders would have been the first team in state history with two 1,000-yard running backs if not for Ellensburg. The Bulldogs got 1,373 yards and 16 TDs on 200 carries from senior Joe Heilman and 1,352 yards and 19 TDs on 134 carries from junior Jawarren Hooker, the top Class AA sprinter.

Miller wrap up - for now

Drew Miller of Lakes High in Tacoma finished his season by throwing for more than 300 yards in all nine Lancers games, capping the year with a 445-yard outing, the third-best single-game output in state history.

Miller finished the season with 230 completions, second all-time, on 365 attempts for 3,366 yards (also second all-time, first in the regular season) with 41 TDs (third all-time, first in the regular season) and 12 interceptions.

He had single-game marks of 33 completions and six touchdowns, both second.

On the career list - with a year to go - Miller is 402 of 676 for 6,046 yards with 65 TDs and 24 interceptions in 26 games. He is sixth for completions, with Bobby Lucht, who finished at Eatonville last year, first at 530 in 45 games. Miller is fifth in yardage, 414 behind fourth-place Mark Rypien, who was at 6,460 in 27 games when he finished at Shadle Park in 1980, and 2,887 behind Lucht.

On the other end

Senior Mike Rigell was the recipient of many Miller passes, pushing him near the top in many categories.

Rigell finished the season with 82 catches (third all-time, first in the regular season) for 1,301 yards (sixth all-time, first in the regular season) and 17 TDs.

He finished with 139 catches for 2,211 yards (both fifth all-time) and 29 TDs (third all-time) in 31 games. He holds the single game reception record at 18.

How the streak ended

O’Dea’s string of shutouts ended in the first round of the State AA playoffs when Bainbridge got on the board. However, it was not the Irish defense that yielded the points.

Kicking off in the second quarter after running its lead to 28-0, O’Dea allowed Bainbridge to return the kick 95 yards on a reverse. At halftime, the Irish had allowed minus-2 yards in offense with no first downs.

O’Dea got the lead to 45-7 by the end of the third quarter before winning 45-22.

The longest shutout streak is 18 games, established by Gonzaga Prep in 1930-31, followed by Ridgefield at 17 in 1940-41.

O’Dea outscored its opponents 374-0 during the regular season, second only to Wenatchee’s 1973 team, which went 383-0.

Among the best

CV’s Giorgio Usai ended up as the State AAA regular-season rushing leader (1,571 yards) and Shadle Park’s Shawn Kingsbury was sixth (1,164). Ferris quarterback Justin Bursch was third (1,937) and LC’s Paul Mencke was tied for fifth (1,458).

Usai tied for the lead in scoring (170 points) and Mead’s Adam Morris was fifth (114); CV’s Peter Martin led the kickers (58 points).

All the numbers are provided by Paul Parietti of Prep Stats Northwest.

Enough football

Winter sports are just finishing their second week of practice and games are just a week away.

Among the early highlights is a basketball doubleheader at Central Valley. Kamiakin will visit CV on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Both Kamiakin teams, powers in the Big Nine and consistent placers at state, will get their fill of the GSL. Both Mead teams go to Kamiakin on Dec. 8 and the next day Ferris plays Kamiakin - the boys here and the girls in Kennewick.

Basketball games being Tuesday.

The All-Valley wrestling double-header is Dec. 1 at East Valley and the first big wrestling tournament is Dec. 2 at Deer Park. The first GSL league matches are Dec. 7, the same as gymnastics.

, DataTimes