Richland Grounds Gabriel, Trips Shadle

Here’s a sign the Shadle Park High School football team was overmatched in its 41-18 loss to Richland in the State 4A quarterfinals Saturday.

Steve Gabriel - 25 yards. Total.

Ninth-ranked Richland (10-1) held Shadle (10-2) to 378 yards total offense - 128 yards shy of its two-game playoff average of 506 yards per game. And fierce wind gusts kept the kicking game interesting for both teams at Lampson Stadium.

Gabriel, a senior and the Greater Spokane League’s rushing leader, hadn’t run for fewer than 100 yards in a game all season. He often gains 25 yards on his first carry. His previous low this fall was 114 against Mead on Sept. 23 in the team’s only other loss.

Senior Jon Weiser picked up the slack for the Highlanders, running for 181 of their 334 yards on 20 carries and scoring on a 41-yard run in the second quarter.

“They keyed on Gabriel and we couldn’t move the ball well,” said junior Jeremy McVay, who contributed 99 yards on 12 carries. “They got a few big plays and it was downhill from there.”

The Bombers, who will host Bethel in the semifinals Saturday at Lampson, played without their head coach, Lonnie Pierson. Pierson delivered the pre-game speech but sat in the press box because he recently had prostate surgery in Seattle.

His players sported his initials on their helmets. And the Bombers must have made him proud. Senior quarterback Adam Oakes continued his brilliant passing, connecting on 11 of 16 throws for 190 yards and an interception. Entering Saturday’s game, he had hit 18 of 34 passes for 573 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception in the playoffs.

His favorite target is Jeff Stowe. The 6-foot-4, 177-pound junior hauled in six passes Saturday for 134 yards and three touchdowns. His first TD grab was a 65-yarder down the right sideline that put Richland ahead 7-3. Richland led 14-10 at halftime.

Stowe said the Bombers came out more focused after halftime.

“We had a big talk and realized this could be our last game,” he said.

Yet, on Richland’s first down in the third quarter, Shadle senior Kenny Towner intercepted an Oakes pass and it seemed the Highlanders gained momentum. They reached the Richland 24 but received a delay of game penalty and Kevin Neill batted down a Chad Egger pass on fourth down.

“That was huge,” Towner said of his pickoff. “We thought we had it but things just didn’t go our way. That happens. It was a great year.”

Richland scored 13 unanswered points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth to pull away.

The Highlanders’ passing game was dismal and they were flagged nine times for 85 yards.

Shadle gained just 44 yards in the air and Egger was 1 of 8 for 12 yards. His fourth-quarter replacement, junior Ben McCracken, completed 2 of 7 passes for 32 yards and connected with Sean Clark on a 3-yard scoring pass with 10 seconds left.

Shadle has never beaten Richland in the playoffs. The schools last met in 1996 and the Bombers won the first-round matchup 42-6.

“I wish we would’ve made a few more big plays but we didn’t,” said Highlanders coach Mark Hester. “They have mixed feelings right now. They’re disappointed because we lost but we had a great run. We were GSL champs and it was a tremendous run.”

Richland 41, Shadle Park 18

Shadle Park 3 7 0 8 - 18

Richland 7 7 13 14 - 41

S-Bell 18 field goal R-Stowe 65 pass from Oakes (Dovalle kick) S-Weiser 41 run (Bell kick) R-Stowe 11 pass from Oakes (Dovalle kick) R-Stowe 20 pass from Oakes (Dovalle kick) R-Richardson 1 run (kick failed) R-Reed 2 run (Dovalle kick) R-Hall 15 run (Dovalle kick) S-Clark 3 pass from McCracken (Weiser run)

SP R

First downs 18 22

Rushes-yards 50-334 34-232

Passing yards 44 190

Return yards 21 0

Passes 3-15-0 11-16-1

Punts-Avg. 3-37 1-7

Fumbles-lost 4-2 4-2

Penalties-yards 9-85 3-35

Individual statistics

Rushing - Shadle Park, Gabriel 10-25, Weiser 20-181, McVay 12-99, Phillips 3-10, Egger 4-1, McCracken 1-18. Richland, Richardson 26-191, Kafentzis 4-18, Reed 1-2, Hall 2-20, Oakes 1-1.

Passing - Shadle Park, Egger 1-8-0-12, McCracken 2-7-0-32. Richland, Oakes 11-16-1-190.

Receiving - Shadle Park, Luete 1-29, Lee 1-12, Clark 1-3. Richland, Stowe 6-134, Dovalle 3-20, McGarrah 2-36.