Shadle Back Goes For Six Six Times Gabriel Runs For 343 Yards, Helping Highlanders Outscore Ferris 44-35
Every little boy dreams the impossible dream.
Steve Gabriel grew up to live it.
Gabriel galloped for 343 yards and five touchdowns and added a sixth on a pass reception Thursday night to lead Shadle Park to a wild 44-35 homecoming football victory over Ferris.
“I knew I could put those (numbers) up, but I didn’t dream I would,” said Gabriel, who carried the ball only 18 times. “I’m pretty amazed.”
Gabriel scored on runs of 56, 37, 53, 26 and 76 yards and a 51-yard reception to tie the Greater Spokane League single-game touchdown record.
Central Valley’s Georgio Usai had six TDs in 1995. Gabriel finished 13 yards short of tying the single-game yardage record CV’s Tyree Clowe established last year.
“We’re just happy to get the win,” Shadle coach Mark Hester said. “We didn’t know the record.”
In the first game of the doubleheader, which drew just 3,783 fans, league-leading University spoiled homecoming for Rogers with a 42-12 win as speedster Anthony Buchanan had three touchdown receptions.
“I’ve been waiting to break out,” Buchanan said. “I knew it would come some time. I had to bide my time, be patient.” Shadle (5-1) plays at U-Hi (5-0) next week.
Shadle Park 44, Ferris 35
Offensive linemen deserve accolades after a performance like Gabriel’s, especially when he was basically untouched on his scoring runs.
The credit goes to center Brad Hart, guards George Bell and Mike Rice, tackles Matt Doyle and Justin Garrett and tight ends Jeremy Johnson and Brett Wideman.
Ferris seemed to stack 11 players at the line of scrimmage to stop Gabriel.
“If he does break into the secondary, he has the speed to break it,” Hester said. “He’s got great vision. He’s got great quicks. And he’s elusive. The kids believe in him and I think he believes in them.” The Highlanders didn’t do a real good job of stopping Ferris, but two big turnovers, both in Shadle territory, kept the Saxons from scoring in the second half.
“At halftime, I knew I had to spark the offense to spark the defense,” Gabriel said. “It was fun, but it was frustrating to watch them drive down the field on our defense.”
Shadle moved its defensive linemen and linebackers, which slowed the Saxons down.
“We turned the ball over and gave up big plays,” Ferris coach Clarence Hough said. “You can’t do that against a good team and expect to win. That’s obvious. They never did stop us, but we never did stop them.”
The first half was an amazing offensive see-saw, even with both teams committing two turnovers. The Saxons got two quick touchdowns, Conor Finnerty’s 51-yard option run around the right side and his 8-yard TD pass to Marcus Clift on a slant from the left. Then Shadle got three quick ones, all by Gabriel. It went 56 run, 57 run and 51-yard reception for a 21-14 lead.
Then Ferris got a 20-yard Finnerty run, an 8-yard Jake Doctor run and a 14-yard halfback pass from Doctor to Finnerty, making it 35-21 at the half.
Shadle Park 44, Ferris 35
Ferris 14 21 0 0 - 35
Shadle Park 13 8 12 11 - 44
F-Finnerty 51 run (Krise kick) F-Clift 8 pass from Finnerty (Krise kick) S-Gabriel 56 run (Bell kick) S-Gabriel 37 run (kick failed) S-Gabriel 49 pass from Egger (Johnson pass from Egger) F-Finnerty 20 run (Krise kick) F-Ja. Doctor 8 run (Krise kick) F-Finnerty 14 pass from Ja. Doctor (Krise kick) S-Gabriel 53 run (kick failed) S-Gabriel 26 run (run failed) S-Gabriel 76 run (Phillips pass from Egger) S-FG Bell 29
F S First downs 19 15 Rushes-yards 49-299 47-405 Passing yards 86 49 Return yards 0 29 Passes 6-16-2 1-4-0 Punts-avg. 1-28 0-0 Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-2 Penalties-yards 2-10 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Ferris: Finnerty 22-174, Sedler 8-59, Wiles 10-39, Ja. Doctor 8-37, Clift 1-(minus 10). Shadle Park: Gabriel 18-343, Phillips 9-36, Weiser 6-18, Kittilstved 2-4, Egger 7-(minus 20).
PASSING - Ferris: Finnerty 5-15-2-72, Ja. Doctor 1-1-0-14. Shadle Park: Egger 1-4-0-49.
RECEIVING - Ferris: Clift 3-50, Benzel 2-22, Finnerty 1-14. Shadle Park: Gabriel 1-49.
University 42, Rogers 12
The Titans were efficient and opportunistic on offense, breaking to a 21-0 lead over the Pirates at halftime. U-Hi put together drives of 91 and 70 yards then had a 24-yarder after the Pirates muffed a punt that Kyle Gazaway recovered.
The Titans also showed their balance. Brandon Frost completed four of five passes on the first drive, capped by a 35-yard scoring pass to Anthony Buchanan. Frost made a quick throw to Buchanan at the line of scrimmage and the speedster broke a couple of tackles and tip-toed down the line to the end zone. Buchanan also had TD scores of 71 and 44 yards on deep post patterns in the third quarter, finishing with four catches for 156.
Bruce Hart, who broke 100 yards for the first time with 142, did the bulk of the work on the second drive, rushing for 44 of the 70 yards, finishing with a 3-yard TD run.
The Titans played without two two-way starters, lineman Adam Vawter and dangerous sophomore receiver-defensive back Don Turner.
University 42, Rogers 12
University 7 14 14 7 - 42
Rogers 0 0 6 6 - 12
U-Buchanan 35 pass from Frost (Visintainer kick) U-Hart 3 run (Visintainer kick) U-Frost 14 run (Visintainer kick) U-Buchanan 71 pass from Frost (Visintainer kick) R-Brown 15 pass from Scott (kick failed) U-Buchanan 44 pass from Frost (Visintainer kick) R-Scott 1 run (pass failed) U-Florence 45 interception return (Visintainer kick)
U R First downs 17 14 Rushes-yards 36-175 32-76 Passing yards 212 170 Return yards 45 2 Passes 12-23-0 14-25-1 Punts-avg. 4-37.3 4-42.5 Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1 Penalties-yards 3-35 4-36
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - University: Hart 24-142, Frost 4-11, Gross 4-10, Russell 2-6, Buchanan 1-5, Lovinger 1-1. Rogers: C. Parratt 15-65, J. Parratt 6-14, Jackson 2-2, Scott 9-(minus 5).
PASSING - University: Frost 12-22-0-212, Gross 0-1-0-0. Rogers: Scott 14-25-1-170.
RECEIVING - University: Buchanan 4-156, Gazaway 4-35, Ellersick 1-7, Brower 1-6, Weaver 1-6, Hart 1-5. Rogers: Gest 5-69, Brown 6-67, Reed 3-34.