Bullpups Pour It On With Four Quick Touchdowns

GSL

When it “Hails,” it pours.

Gonzaga Prep used a “Hail Mary” pass to steal the lead late in the first half and then poured on three touchdowns in the third quarter to whip shell-shocked Ferris 42-16 at Albi Stadium Friday night.

In the first game of the Greater Spokane League football doubleheader, which drew 5,255, Mead scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Rogers 35-12.

Central Valley won its homecoming with a 27-3 victory over visiting Valley rival University. In a non-league game at Post Falls, Shadle Park lost 20-12.

“We just find a way to make mistakes, lose momentum,” Ferris coach Clarence Hough said. “It’s hard to play this game without emotion and they took it away from us.”

Ferris opened the game with a long drive that resulted in a 33-yard field goal by John Slack. In the second quarter, Prep took advantage of a blocked field goal to take a 7-3 lead. However, late in the quarter it took Ferris two plays, the first a 64-yard run by J.C. Cleveland, to go 75 yards and regain control.

Then it was time for divine intervention.

With 2:55 to go before halftime, Prep was 80 yards from the end zone. A penalty and a couple plays put it at the Ferris 37 when the Bullpups tried a “Hail Mary.” The first wing-and-a-prayer throw by Kevin O’Connell was knocked down, but the Pups tried it again and Ryan Turner snagged it at the 6. On the next play, Kelvin Bacon ran a hitch and O’Connell threw a strike for a TD and a 14-10 lead 14 seconds before the half.

“I think it broke their backs,” O’Connell said. “They were figuring to go into the second half with the lead. We work on that. Their defensive backs are small.”

Prep coach Don Anderson added, “In a very tight first half, that momentum from the Hail Mary … was huge.”

Ferris stopped Prep to open the second half, but on the Saxons’ first play, Tom Black picked off Justin Bursch at the 44 after Kevin Cronin tipped the ball at the line. That led to a 7-yard scoring run by Tyson Thielman.

Then, Dusty Bettesworth hit a lob kickoff the Saxons fumbled away, giving Prep a 30-yard field that led to a 3-yard sneak by O’Connell.

That worked so well, the Bullpups did it again and they got the ball on the 37. O’Connell hit Mark Doolittle with back-to-back passes and eventually scored on a 1-yard run, making it 35-10.

“I felt good all year, but the timing has been off because we tried too many players at different positions,” O’Connell said. “I knew I could do it. We had some good running plays that made the play-action work.”

“We capitalized,” Anderson said. “That is the really gratifying part.”

The first game was much closer than the score indicated, with the Panthers getting three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense kept us in the game,” Mead coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Our front seven did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage.”

It wasn’t until a pass interception led to McGlocklin’s third touchdown, a 10-yard run with 8:55 to play, that the Pirates ran out of gas, trailing 21-6.

“You have an opportunity, but when they keep playing on that short of a field, frustration sets in,” Rogers coach Dave Pomante said. “I’m disappointed with (Mead’s) last two drives, I don’t think the defense played hard at all. I don’t know if they were tired.”

Mead’s first touchdown came after a 25-yard Rogers punt set the Panthers up at the 43. The Pirates responded with a 16-play, 78-yard drive for a touchdown, but the Panthers blocked the conversion kick.

“Our line was just doing a great job,” McGlocklin said. “(Rogers) played tough, but when we got it down there we knew we had to get it in. We gave it that little extra effort.”

An exchange of turnovers put Rogers deep in its own territory and another punt gave Mead a 40-yard field, leading to McGlocklin’s second 5-yard scoring run.

“They were packing in against the run and we were playing close to the vest,” McLaughlin said. “We sputtered on offense at times.”

, DataTimes