Pullman Undone In Overtime By West Valley-Yakima’s 27-Yard Boot

AA/A football

The good-hands people in Pullman High School’s aerial circus forced unbeaten West Valley-Yakima into overtime.

But the Greyhounds were undone by a foot.

Kicker Jason Urlacher doomed the Frontier League champions with a 27-yard field goal for a 17-14 Rams victory in the Kansas tiebreaker.

After tying the game with 4:13 remaining, Pullman got first crack from the 25-yard-line in overtime. The team drove to the 4 on third down and threw incomplete twice, eschewing a field goal.

Urlacher, who had missed a 47-yard field goal in the final seconds of regulation, was successful on his second chance.

“I thought we had to punch it in,” said Pullman coach Bill Christie of his decision to pass on fourth down. “I didn’t know whether a field goal would win it.”

The game pitted the battering Rams running game against the fleet, air-oriented Greyhounds.

WV-Yakima’s ground game pounded out 103 first-quarter yards and kept the ball nearly 8 minutes during two drives. The latter resulted in a 6-yard run by Ricky Rico for a 7-0 lead with 30 seconds to go.

Pullman waited until the second quarter to get going. Forest Hurlbert caught 64 yards in passes and followed with a 38-yard field goal that sailed wide left.

He also had a 57-yard punt return that netted nothing.

“We had trouble in the first half slipping; had trouble getting going,” said Christie. “Then we found things they were giving us.”

On the last play of the third quarter, Aaron Linehan hit L.C. Baxter with a 28-yard scoreing pass. The kick failed.

The Rams overcame a penalty that nullified a 42-yard screen pass to make it 14-6 just 4 minutes later.

Again Pullman rallied through the air. Baxter had spectacular grabs of 30 and 25 yards. Cole Sheridan punched it over from the 1 and Linehan hit Ryan Smaha with the two-point conversion that tied the game.

“L.C. had a great second half and Ryan made some big catches,” Christie said.

Pullman’s small-sized defense gave the hulking Rams runners all they could handle.

“We’ve played teams as big as them before,” said Christie. “We stop them when we have to and when we pass the ball we’re on equal ground.”

Which was where it stood in overtime until Urlacher helped West Valley escape.

The Rams rushed for 234 of their 309 yards of total offense. Pullman passed for 265 of its 319 total yards.

WV-Yakima 17, Pullman 14 (OT)

WV-Yakima 7 0 0 7 3 - 17

Pullman 0 0 6 8 0 - 14

W-Rico 6 run (Urlacher kick) P-Baxter 28 pass from Linehan (kick failed) W-Allen 6 run (Urlacher kick) P-Sheridan 1 run (Smaha pass from Linehan) W-Urlacher 27 field goal

Prosser 35, East Valley 25

Benji Sonnischsen passed for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to rally the Mustangs to a come-from-behind win over the Knights in the first round of the AA playoffs at Prosser.

The Knights jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter on a Randell Pratt field goal and a 1-yard run by Tristan Beeman, but the Mustangs answered with 28 straight second-quarter points.

East Valley pulled to within 28-18 at the half on a 10-yard TD pass from Brian LaMarche to Rob Gillespie.

Gillespie finished with 71 yards rushing and caught five passes for 49 yards.

East Valley 10 8 7 0 -25

Prosser 0 28 7 0 -35

E-Randell Pratt 24 field goal E-Tristan Beeman 1 run (Pratt kick) P-Dan Marchant 17 pass from Benji Sonnichsen (Jason Andrews kick) P-Sjane Vasile 1 run (Andrews kick) P-Adrian Gonzalez 73 run (Andrews kick) P-Shawn Van Winkle 12 pass from Sonnichsen (Andrews kick) E-Rob Gillespie 10 pass from Brian La Marche (La Marche runfor 2 pts) P-Van Winkle 21 pass from Sonnichsen (andrews kick) E-Charles Van Note 1 run (Pratt kick)

Zillah 21, Lakeside 6

Jeromy Schuoler’s 7-yard first-quarter touchdown run propelled the Leopards to a victory over the Eagles in the first round of the State A playoffs at Zillah.

Josh Whitaker gave Zillah a 6-0 lead in the first quarter with a 48-yard punt return.

Tai Saito returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for Lakeside’s only touchdown.

The Leopards’ Steve Walker scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter to wrap up the win.

Lakeside 6 0 0 0 -6

Zillah 14 0 0 7 -21

Z-Josh Whitaker 48 punt return (kick blocked) L-Tai Saito 83 kick return (kick blocked) Z-Jeromy Schuoler 7 run (Whitaker run) Z-Steve Walker 1 run (Schuoler kick)

, DataTimes