Mead, Shadle Run Wild Panther, Highlanders Win Gsl Duels With High-Powered Running Attacks

The Mead football team has the Greater Spokane League’s second-best scoring offense, its second-best passing offense, and its third-best rushing offense.

And the Panthers wasted no time showing off those talents in their 42-7 victory over Mt. Spokane on Friday night at Albi Stadium.

Mead went ahead 7-0 with a five-play opening drive and built a 35-0 halftime lead. The Panthers, who used reserves for much of the second half, didn’t throw a pass after halftime and managed only four first downs.

Last year’s 25-23 loss to the Wildcats was in the back of the Mead players’ minds.

“That was a heartbreaker,” said senior receiver Dan Stucky, who hauled in TD passes of 79 and 23 yards in the first half. “This was a big game. We have signs all over our weight room as motivation for this game. We’ve been looking forward to it since last year.”

In the early game, Shadle Park defeated Gonzaga Prep 34-20. The doubleheader drew 6,187 fans. North Central won 23-20 at East Valley.

Mead 42, Mt. Spokane 7

The Panthers’ balance makes them so hard to stop.

Aside from Stucky, four others caught passes. Dan Staton snagged a 44-yard TD pass in the first half from Andy Zelinski and Brandon Stallings scored the first touchdown of the game on an 11-yard catch. He finished with three TDs. The others were a 5-yard run in the third quarter and a 7-yarder for a score 51 seconds before halftime. Zelinski completed 6 of 11 passes for 178 yards.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Panthers coach Bob McCray said. “And our quarterback is playing awfully well. Our guys hook up and catch the ball. There’s no substitute for kids who can catch the ball in traffic.”

Three Mead touchdowns came off Mt. Spokane turnovers and twice the Panthers scored on their first play of a drive. Stucky’s 79-yard scoring catch was one of those, as was a 30-yard run by Jarrod Wolfe.

The Panthers racked up 407 of their 502 yards before halftime - 229 rushing and 178 passing. Mt. Spokane had 329 yards, 192 in the first half.

Wildcats senior Josh Wilson, who entered the game as the league’s No. 6 running back, had been averaging 12.7 yards per carry but was held to 80 yards on 18 carries.

“They’re a great team and they came out to play,” Wilson said. “We had costly mistakes and we couldn’t recover. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have, you’ve got to play together. It’s hard to play together with that many mistakes.”

Shadle Park 34, Gonzaga Prep 20

The Highlanders rolled to a 27-6 lead over the Bullpups at the half, highlighted by two big plays by Steve Gabriel.

After Prep pulled within 14-6 in the second quarter, Gabriel returned the kickoff 82 yards for a score. He followed that with a 64-yard TD run.

With his 80-yard touchdown in the first quarter, Gabriel finished with 203 yards on 12 carries. The Highlanders ran for 418 yards.

Gonzaga Prep outscored the Highlanders 14-0 in the fourth quarter. Shadle ran 35 running plays in the second half and did not throw a pass. Prep only ran six rushing plays after halftime.

North Central 23, East Valley 20

The Indians scored touchdowns late in each half to turn back the Knights.

Steve Mack scored on a 1-yard plunge with 30 seconds to go in the game, which proved to be winner when EV scored with 4 seconds left.

The Indians were trailing 6-0 in the final moments of the first half when they got a safety and added a 20-yard TD run by Mack on the ensuing possession. EV, in its first year in the GSL, has suffered four of its five losses by a total of 14 points.