Strate’S Last-Second Boot Sends Gorillas Past Lancers Davenport Scores 17 Points In Fourth Quarter To Top Liberty

There’s no designated go-to player on the Davenport High football team.

The Gorillas just stick with whatever’s working, says quarterback Mark Hall.

On Friday night, it was senior Todd Strate. He was clutch man of the week.

Strate kicked the winning field goal with 2 seconds left in Davenport’s 17-14 comeback victory over Liberty in a Bi-County League showdown at Spangle.

Strate nailed the 30-yarder 2 minutes after he had snagged a 20-yard Hall pass for a touchdown. Strate also hauled in the two-point conversion catch to make it 14-14. All of his 74 receiving yards came in the fourth quarter.

“I just kept my head in the game,” Strate said. “It was awesome.”

Liberty (2-2, 1-1) went up 14-0 on Brad Wiman’s 19-yard TD run with 7:02 left in the third quarter. Wiman, who rushed for 105 yards on 20 carries, recovered a fumble that set up the score.

“This one really hurts,” the senior said of the loss. “We worked really hard all week.”

Wiman’s younger brother Reed, a junior, had an impressive night on defense for Liberty with five tackles. It was his first game back after knee injury.

But the Lancers couldn’t make the key plays down the stretch and were stopped twice on fourth down in the final quarter.

“They came up with some big plays when they needed them and we came up a couple inches short when we needed it,” said Liberty coach Rod Fletcher.

Davenport (3-1, 1-0) rushed for 168 yards, with John Steele carrying the ball 15 times for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Hall completed 9 of 20 passes for 146 yards with an interception. He was sacked twice.

Hall said it was important the Gorillas start the second half strong. They trailed 7-6 at halftime in last week’s loss to 1A Reardan and “didn’t show up in the second half.”

Strate said he never doubted that his team would battle back.

“Once we got the momentum I knew,” he said. “This is the biggest league win we will have all year.”

Davenport 17, Liberty 14

Davenport 0 0 0 17 - 17

Liberty 6 0 8 0 - 14

L-Engle 5 run (kick failed) L-BWiman 19 run (Holling pass from Engle) D-Steele 4 run (pass failed) D-Strate 20 pass from Hall (Strate pass from Hall) D-Steele 4 run (run failed) D-FG Strate 30

Ritzville 21, Odessa 6

Josh Draper rushed for 102 yards on 18 carries before leaving with a strained calf muscle as the Broncos (2-2, 1-1) defeated the visiting Tigers (3-1, 1-1).

Odessa 0 0 0 6 - 6

Ritzville 6 15 0 0 - 21

R-Draper 3 run (kick failed) R-Marqum 3 run (Draper run) R-Draper 4 (Draper kick) O-Dart 15 pass from Kramer (kick failed)

Wilbur-Creston 26, ACH 17

Josh Cairns rushed for 97 yards on 12 carries as the Wildcats (3-1, 2-0) defeated the Warriors (2-2, 0-2) at Coulee City.

Kenneth Evans completed 12 of 24 passes for 275 yards, Blinn Carstensen rushed for 103 yards, and Craig Elder had six catches for 139 yards for the Warriors.

Wilbur-Creston 0 0 14 12 - 26

ACH 0 3 7 7 - 17

A-FG Evans 28 W-Bryant 4 run (kick failed) A-Evans 7 pass from Elder (Evans kick) W-Robertson 4 run (run failed) W-Pyle 5 pass from Cairns (kick failed) A-Elder 60 pass from Evans (Evans kick) W-Cairns 45 run (kick failed)