Central Valley Bears Stay Home For Playoff Opener

Central Valley’s football team gets to stay home for its first playoff game on Tuesday.

The Bears earned the 6 p.m. date at Sig T. Hansen field with Thursday night’s stunningly easy 45-14 win over Lewis and Clark. Victory secured a share of the GSL title. It was CV’s second title in three years.

Depending upon the outcome of Friday night’s Kamiakin-Kennewick and Pasco-Davis games, CV’s opponent Tuesday will be Wenatchee, Davis or Richland.

It’s Wenatchee if league champ Pasco and Kamakin or Kennewick and Davis won. It’s Davis if Kamiakin and Davis won. It’s Richland if Kennewick and Pasco won.

“Defensively their styles are similar,” said coach Rick Giampietri.

Offensively, Richland is a passing team. The other two run and pass the ball equally.

Central Valley broke open the game against LC with a 91-yard drive just prior to halftime.

Nate McFarlane muffed a punt that Marc Hinckley recovered. Six plays of 10 yards or longer produced a 21-7 lead.

McFarlane’s spectacular interception early in the fourth quarter, when he reached back and snatched the ball away from an LC receiver, led to another touchdown. The rout was on.

“Nate had pleurisy and we didn’t even know if he’d play,” said Giampietri. “I told him he probably wouldn’t suit up and when I went into the training room he was taping his ankles.”

McFarlane said he’d see how things went during warmups. Included was a 40-yard sprint.

“He leaned over to me during stretching,” said Giampietri, “and said, ‘count me in.”’ McFarlane will be counted on Tuesday.

Titans control clock, not scoreboard

University held a huge first-half time of possession advantage against league champ Gonzaga Prep.

But the Titans trailed 28-10 at intermission during a 42-10 loss.

The team shared fifth place in the GSL and finished the season at 3-6.

An 82-yard drive that took 7:43 gave U-Hi a 7-0 lead. Sixteen seconds later the score was tied. The Bullpups led 14-7 after the 12-minute first quarter despite the fact they only had the ball for one minute. Kevin O’Connell scored on runs of 70 and 60 yards.

By intermission U-Hi had controlled the ball for more than 18 of 24 minutes. Prep’s quick-strike team, however, pulled away.

Titan quarterback Chris Short finished his career with a league-best 1,023 passing yards and Nick Mattioda rushed for 776 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.

, DataTimes