Shadle Wins, Earns 2nd; Flip Leaves Lc On Outside
The Greater Spokane League couldn’t help but end up with egg on its collective face when the football season came to an end at Albi Stadium Friday night.
Shadle Park made sure it wasn’t a rotten egg.
The Highlanders’ 34-6 win over North Central earned Shadle second place and produced a three-way tie for third. It took an embarrassing coin flip to determine the league’s last two playoff teams. The good news is that since the flip was held Friday morning to give the “winners” a chance to scout their potential Big Nine playoff opponents, Shadle Park didn’t allow North Central to make the flip - and scouting - moot.
Lewis and Clark lost the coin flip, ending its season despite a 19-12 win over Gonzaga Prep on Thursday night. The Bullpups ended up third and Central Valley fourth.
An NC win would have dropped Shadle Park from second to third, Prep would have been fourth, CV would be eliminated and LC would have moved into second because of a head-to-head tiebreaker.
The different tiebreaker scenarios overshadowed an outstanding performance by Rogers junior running back Mike Dorton in the first game of the doubleheader, which drew 2,290. Dorton rushed for 324 yards and six touchdowns in a 55-20 win over University. It was the No. 2 rushing game in city history and tied a record for most TDs in a game.
“It was harder than it looked,” Dorton said. “The line and receivers blocked so well, they gave me the hole and I ran to daylight. I have so much emotion right now. We came out with the intention of having a big night for the seniors. … We gave it our all. We did all season, but sometimes we came up short - but not tonight.”
The Pirates rushed for 487 yards against the Titans - with Dorton not touching the ball in the fourth quarter.
“Our kids played really hard. I think the win last week made them believe,” Rogers coach Dave Pomante said. “Like I said before the season, this was one of the teams in the middle of the pack. We lost some close ones early. We could have folded the tent after Pullman, but they went the opposite way.”
Shadle Park took the suspense out early, opening the game with a 75-yard scoring drive and made it 14-0 early in the second. NC cut it to 14-6, but Shadle got a long kickoff return and three plays later, the Highlanders were back in control with a 21-6 lead.
The Highlanders rushed for 327 yards with the offensive line a big reason they improved from 3-6 to 6-3.
“I really enjoyed playing last year,” left guard Sam Glanzer said. “I wanted to at least break even so I was pretty excited when we started having success. (The line) came together. We have shirts, we call ourselves ‘Gnarly Dogs.’ We have to keep going. Don’t change if it’s not broken.”
Right tackle John Ball said, “Our front line is pretty well disciplined. We’ve been playing together four years. I thought we’d do pretty well, not second place, but I knew we’d make the playoffs.” , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT A RUSH The top five GSL singlegame rushing leaders: Player Year Yards Grant, Ferris 70 331 Dorton, Rogers 96 324 Thielman, Prep 96 291 Barlow, LC 93 290 Usai, CV 95 285