Nc Ekes Out Another One

North Central quarterback Nick Froscheiser just wants to win big. He’s had enough close ones.

The Indians have won their last two games by a combined three points.

That includes Friday night’s 7-6 Greater Spokane League triumph over Mead at Albi Stadium. And last week’s 16-14 victory over Gonzaga Prep.

Shadle Park is next Friday’s opponent.

“We really want to get Shadle,” Froscheiser said. “Not a one-point or two-point win. We can’t have any more of those.”

In the second half, NC (3-4) held Mead (2-5) to 10 yards of offense on nine plays with one first down.

“I give credit to those North Central Indians,” said Panthers coach Bob McCray, whose team has lost five straight. “They stepped it up and made plays. You’ve got to make plays.”

In the second game of the tripleheader that drew 4,749 fans, Lewis and Clark (7-0) defeated Shadle (0-7) 41-7. Shadle joined Rogers, which had been the only team to score a touchdown against the Tigers this fall. LC has given up just 22 points.

In the early game, Gonzaga Prep (4-3) beat Rogers (1-6) 28-6.

North Central 7, Mead 6

This was the Indians’ first win over Mead since a 22-8 victory in 1993, which they later forfeited. Before that, it was a 16-13 win in 1986.

NC had lost three straight before last week’s win over the Bullpups.

What’s happening now?

“The defense has been good the last couple of games,” Froscheiser said. “They’ve been stepping it up. It’s gut-check time.”

Running back Steve Cumbie came up big, too, running for 104 yards on 29 carries.

And Mead helped matters with eight penalties that cost the Panthers 97 yards. Seven of those came in the first half for 82 yards.

The Indians’ touchdown was set up by back-to-back 15-yard penalties in the second quarter, one for a personal foul and the other for unsportsmanlike conduct.

NC senior fullback Brett Pearson ran 2 yards for the TD as his team went up 7-0.

Mead scored about a minute before halftime on a 35-yard pass from Andy Zelinski to Brandon Stallings, but Robbie Loft missed the extra point. Stucky started at QB for the Panthers, but Zelinski entered in the second quarter.

North Central came up short on a couple scoring chances.

Late in the third quarter, the Indians couldn’t convert after receiving the ball on the Mead 15, where Panthers punter Dan Stucky was called for being down when he tried to recover a low snap.

Jeff Peterson caught a 15-yard pass in the end zone but was out of bounds. Then Chris Geurts missed a 32-yard field-goal try.

Indians junior Steve Mack had a 40-yard touchdown run called back on a clipping penalty with 42 seconds left in the first half.

Mead 0 6 0 0 - 6

North Central 0 7 0 0 - 7

N-Pearson 2 run (Geurts kick) M-Stallings 35 pass from Zelinski (kick failed) A-4,749.

M N First downs 8 13 Rushes-yards 33-81 50-191 Passing yards 59 12 Return yards 0 0 Passes 4-13-0 1-9-0 Punts-avg. 6-38.3 3-42.3 Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1 Penalties-yards 8-97 3-35 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING - Mead: Ellenz 13-52, Stucky 4-25, Stallings 9-22, Porter 1-5, Sand 1-0, Zelinski 1-(minus-2), Wideman 2-(minus-2), Tawney 1-(minus-6), Team 1-(minus-13). North Central: Cumbie 29-104, Froscheiser 12-55, Johnson 3-25, Mack 5-5, Pearson 1-2.

PASSING - Mead: Zelinski 3-10-0-50, Stucky 1-3-0-9. North Central: Froscheiser 1-9-0-12.

RECEIVING - Mead: Stallings 1-35, Tawney 1-9, Rabb 1-8, Ellenz 1-7. North Central: Geurts 1-12.

Lewis and Clark 41, Shadle Park 7

LC senior Justin Defour and his teammates had trouble hearing coach John Hook at halftime.

The Highlanders trailed by just seven points at intermission, 14-7, and Defour says they were cheering madly in a nearby locker room. “They were pumped,” Defour said. “We listened to them for 5 or 10 minutes. That just showed us they still wanted it.” It seemed to be all the Tigers needed to hear.

LC scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, all in a span of 4 minutes, 28 seconds, to pull away. Senior running back Nick Spurgetis rushed for both his touchdowns in the period, on runs of 9 and 15 yards.

What the Tigers were able to hear during Hook’s halftime speech was that they needed to cut down on penalties. LC was flagged 11 times for 104 yards, including seven in the first half. One drive featured four penalties.

Defour scored his second TD in the big third quarter, a 14-yard reception from quarterback Darrel Lockridge. Defour caught just two passes and both were for touchdowns. He hauled in a 34-yard pass for the first points of the game.

Shadle Park 0 7 0 0 - 7

Lewis and Clark 7 7 20 7 - 41

L-Defour 34 pass from Lockridge (Winner kick) S-Keyes 9 pass from Egger (Ervin kick) L-Spurgetis 9 run (Winner kick) L-Spurgetis 15 run (Winner kick) L-Coleman 61 punt return (Winner kick) L-Defour 14 pass from Lockridge (kick failed) L-Mahar 53 run (Winner kick) S L First downs 14 18 Rushes-yards 47-171 42-385 Passing yards 24 76 Return yards 13 94 Passes 3-12-2 3-9-1 Punts-avg. 6-30.8 2-34.5 Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0 Penalties-yards 1-5 11-104 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING - Shadle Park: Weiser 23-79, Kittilstzed 6-55, Gabriel 9-49, McVey 2-2, Egger 7-(minus-14). Lewis and Clark: Spurgetis 12-117, Coleman 11-100, Mahar 5-77, Flatt 7-73, Leimgruber 5-17, Etter 2-3, John 1-(minus-2).

PASSING - Shadle Park: Egger 3-12-2-24. Lewis and Clark: Lockridge 2-7-1-48, Etter 1-2-0-28.

RECEIVING - Shadle Park: Keyes 2-20, Gabriel 1-4. Lewis and Clark: Defour 2-48, Black 1-28.

Gonzaga Prep 28, Rogers 6

Derek Pegg threw for three third-quarter touchdowns and ran 3 yards for the game’s first score as the Bullpups came back from last week’s loss to NC.

Pegg completed 6 of 11 passes for 96 yards and an interception. Rogers sophomore Spencer Jackson made the pick in the fourth quarter.

Bullpups senior Nick Shrope hauled in three passes for 62 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown that was Pegg’s second passing TD in the third period.

Rogers scored its only points in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard run by junior Chris Parratt. Parratt ran for a game-high 113 yards on 23 carries.

Gonzaga Prep 0 7 14 7 - 28

Rogers 0 0 0 6 - 6

G-Pegg 3 run (Byrd kick) G-Fruen 28 pass from Pegg (Byrd kick) G-Shrope 46 pass from Pegg (Byrd ) G-Erickson 2 pass from Pegg (Byrd kick) R-Parratt 6 run (run failed) G R First downs 7 12 Rushes-yards 36-110 37-95 Passing yards 103 68 Return yards 40 31 Passes 7-13-1 6-15-2 Punts-avg. 5-41.6 6-29.3 Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-yards 2-10 3-25 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING - Gonzaga Prep: Brucick 8-39, Hart 12-33, Mitson 7-27, Pegg 9-13. Rogers: Parratt 25-113, Johnson 5-14, Scott 6-0, Team 1-(minus-32).

PASSING - Gonzaga Prep: Pegg 7-13-1-103. Rogers: Scott 6-15-2-68.

RECEIVING - Gonzaga Prep: Shrope 3-62, Fruen 1-28, Erickson 3-13. Rogers: Perez 1-32, Gest 2-17, Hooper 1-13, Craig 1-4, Johnson 1-2.