Bears Bounce Titans, 27-3 CV Dominates District Rival To Square Record At 2-2
Central Valley trailed University 3-0 midway through the first quarter of their intradistrict football game when the bounces began to go CV’s way.
Junior Garret Graham bounced off a pair of would-be tacklers, avoiding a loss, and raced 74 yards to the Titan 1-yard line to set up the Bears’ first score.
“I didn’t feel anything,” said Graham of the tackle attempts. “I cut back inside and adrenalin took over.”
Right afterward, Nate McFarlane bounced off another tackler in his backfield, averted a loss and got the touchdown.
CV added 20 second-half points in a 27-3 victory so dominant the Titans’ offense was on the field for only seven plays in the game’s final two quarters.
The Bears avoided the penalties and turnovers that plagued them in two previous losses and controlled the football on the ground, rushing 52 times for 274 yards.
“It’s just a whole different ball game when you don’t do those things,” said CV coach Rick Giampietri. “It’s hard to say where we’d be if we hadn’t.”
Where the Bears are is 2-2 in a game Graham called the biggest of the year.
“It got us back in the (Greater Spokane League playoff) race,” he said.
Peter Martin kicked two third-period field goals during the rainy second half, the second coming after a fumbled kickoff.
In the fourth quarter, Nate Bartlett, moved from quarterback to fullback this week, scored from the 12 to complete a seven-play, 73-yard drive. And the Bears ran out the clock with a 68-yard march that lasted 13 plays, prolonged by a roughing-the-punter penalty.
The tall, 204-pound Graham rushed for 147 yards on 14 carries.
“I like grass better than Albi’s turf,” he said. “I’ve always played on it.”
McFarlane, a 145-pound junior, added 72 yards on 14 attempts.
New quarterback Chad Adamson, also a junior, completed all six passes he threw in the second half.
“For his first start he did a great job,” said offensive coordinator Rick Sloan.
Quarterback Robert Bartlett of University (0-4, 0-3) suffered a probable shoulder separation late in the second quarter.
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