Tie Looked Pretty Good To Cheney

UNPUBLISHED CORRECTION: The name of football player Jeremey Williams is misspelled in this story. The correct spelling was confirmed by his mother.

Cheney football players were celebrating their tie with Lewiston last weekend, dismissing the cliche that a tie is like kissing your sister.

The Blackhawks had reason to feel good. Lewiston has one of the premier programs in the area under coach Nick Menegas. The Bengals appeared in Idaho A-1 Division II championship games in four of the last five years, winning titles in 1993 and ‘96, and could well be there again.

To earn the tie, the Blackhawks had to score a touchdown and connect on a two-point conversion with 32 seconds to play.

“For our kids, it was kind of like a win,” Cheney coach Tom Oswald said. “That’s the way our kids felt. Hopefully, the same kids show up this Friday as last Friday.”

Oswald has reasons to wonder. The Blackhawks lost to Post Falls on a last-minute score two weeks ago, the same time Lewiston was strafing East Valley for 380 yards passing in a romp. While Cheney was rallying against Lewiston, EV was beating Post Falls.

“Remember,” Oswald cautioned, “these are high school kids. We played better and our scheme (on defense) was different than East Valley. The biggest thing is we played better… . I’ve been doing this for more than 25 years and I can rarely tell if a team is ready.”

The Blackhawks picked off seven passes, three by Shaun Hunley. Hunley also dropped a potential interception with an open field in front of him.

By the way, the Frontier League does not play overtime unless it determines a playoff spot the last game of the season.

“Years ago, and I mean years ago, when Roy Hobbs (former Pullman coach) was in the league, we had a league meeting and we were the only two guys who showed up. We decided not to play overtime,” Oswald said. “I’m not a big proponent of overtime.”

Second season

Ferris lost to Central Valley, the favorite in the Greater Spokane League, in the final 90 seconds of the season opener and took defending champion Mead to overtime a week ago.

In years past, 0-2 would practically end the season of a GSL team. Now that four teams make the playoffs, there is no reason for the Saxons to throw in the towel.

“I think we’re going to win some games now,” Ferris coach Clarence Hough said. “They’re angry and they want to take it out on someone.”

The Saxons have one of the most visible newcomers making an impact. Watch the play of defensive tackle Jeremy Williams, No. 72. He had 12 tackles against Mead.

Quick kicks

After the Frontier League opened an embarrassing 0-4, the league turned around and went 3-0 plus Cheney’s tie with Lewiston… . The Panorama B-11 didn’t have such luck, falling to 1-9 against Bi-County teams; the Northeast B-8 teams are 1-5-1 against the Southeast.

Two major bad calls in the Ferris-Mead game prompted the remark: “It’s only the second week and GSL referees are already in midseason form.” In fairness, the officials were on top of several calls that had observers confused. In fairness, officials have lost a pair of eyes for GSL games with crews cut from five to four. In fairness, all other varsity games use four-man crews and the interception in the end zone by Mead, which probably cost Ferris points in a game the Saxons lost in overtime, should never have been missed.

Around the state

Josh Jelmberg set a school record with 17 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown but he wasn’t the big news in Richland’s 14-10 win over Walla Walla. Sophomore quarterback Aaron Harper came off the bench to rally the Bombers to two fourth-quarter touchdowns. He hit 11 of 14 passes for 106 yards and marched Richland 79 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 1:01 left.

The second-ranked Bombers go from the frying pan into the fire with No. 3 Kamiakin visiting on Friday in another crucial Big Nine showdown. Walla Walla fell to eighth, CV is fourth.

Curtis, which lost just twice in two years while winning consecutive state AAA titles, fell to 0-2 with a 30-24 loss to Enumclaw… . Kentridge, impressive in beating Curtis in its opener, lost to Bethel 21-7. Prosser’s Tyler Thomas threw six TD passes and his younger brother Troy had another in a 55-29 win over Hanford… . Jason Johnson of Rogers-Puyallup threw for 415 yards and four scores in a 49-12 win over Kentwood… . Nyles Chambers of Sumner rushed 35 times for 266 yards and five touchdowns in a 40-39 win over Federal Way.

Game of the Week

Mead goes to Davis (Yakima) for the first of five straight weeks of a GSL team taking on a Big Nine team.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BACK RUSHES FOR 422 YARDS Mount Baker senior Jacob Prince made his second varsity start as a fullback last Friday and gained 129 yards in a quarter’s work. When a teammate was injured early in the second quarter Prince moved to tailback and kept pounding away. He had 180 yards at halftime, gained 188 in the third quarter and proceeded to set state rushing record despite sitting out the final 10 minutes. Prince, 5-11, 197 pounds, rushed for 422 yards and five touchdowns on 22 carries in a 48-12 win over Granite Falls. The previous record was 407 yards set by Davenport’s Ralph Edwards in 1976.