Chewelah Rally Stuns Pullman

The Hounds had the Cougars treed, but the hunt wasn’t over.

The fourth-ranked Chewelah Cougars scored the last three touchdowns to rally to a 36-33 win over the fifth-ranked Pullman Greyhounds Friday night at Hobbs Field.

It was the first football game in the new 2A Great Northern League, and the emphasis was on great.

“It’s going to be a hell of a league,” said Chewelah linebacker Fred Sunday, who spearheaded a defense that kept the explosive Greyhounds in check - at least offensively. “We expect to see Pullman again in the postseason.”

The Greyhounds started quickly, with standout linebacker Ryan Brindamour returning a fumble 70 yards on the fourth play of the game.

When defensive back Nate Brown did the same thing for 60 yards with the first score of the second half, Pullman was up 33-14 with 3:30 to play in the third quarter.

Then Cougar quarterback Jeremy Miller took over. Miller, who alternated with Ryan Gray through the first half, hit Chris Eggleson with a 38-yard scoring pass late in the third quarter. The duo used a similar pump-fake, stop-and-go for a 42-yarder midway through the fourth quarter to make it 33-28.

“We tried to quit turning the ball over,” Miller said. “I guess that worked. They kept biting on the slant and we saw the fade was open. Our linemen worked their butts off (and) we had some subs in and they were phenomenal.”

After the defense held, Miller and sophomore Oaken Ewens sparked a 73-yard drive, capped by Miller’s 30-yard keeper. Miller was hit in the backfield but was turned upfield and he bolted through the defense. His two-point conversion run made it 36-33 with 2:34 to play.

“They were persistent,” Pullman coach Bill Christie said. “They made fewer and fewer mistakes. They kept punching away. They have a big line and they were able to handle our line. Basically, it was just a physical game. We made some big plays, but they were able to hang in there.”

After Brindamour’s TD, Chewelah fumbled on the next snap and the Greyhounds turned that into a 43-yard drive, capped by a 12-yard pass from Aaron Linehan to Brown. Pullman held the Cougars on downs and Linehan-to-Brown from 8 yards ended a 60-yard drive for a 20-0 lead in the first quarter.

Chewelah put together two long drives to get within six, but Brindamour scored an amazing touchdown to make it 26-14 at the half. Brindamour, also a tight end, took a short screen pass over the middle, took a hit, bounced off into the secondary, was hit again but somehow maintained his balance and rumbled the last 40 yards of a 60-yard scoring play.

“We didn’t yell or scream (at halftime),” Chewelah coach Roy Albertson said. “We just mentioned our tackling was terrible and their offense was great. The other problem was fumbles.”

Once the Cougars could hold onto the ball, they rolled up 514 yards of offense. Hunter Rains gained 126 of the 281 rushing yards and Miller hit 7 of 12 passes for 137 yards in the second half.

Pullman had 226 yards of offense, only 50 in the second half. Both teams won their openers last week.

Chewelah 36, Pullman 33

Chewelah 0 14 7 15 - 36

Pullman 20 6 7 0 - 33

P-Brindamour 70 fumble return (Brown kick)

P-Brown 12 pass from Linehan (kick failed)

P-Brown 8 pass from Linehan (Brown kick)

C-Gray 1 run (Churape kick)

C-Rains 1 run (Churape kick)

P-Brindamour 60 pass from Linehan (pass failed)

P-Brown 60 fumble return (Brown kick)

C-Eggleson 38 pass from Miller (Churape kick)

C-Eggleson 42 pass from Miller (Churape kick)

C-Miller 30 run (Miller run)

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo