Davenport’S 50-Point Spree A Bizarre Tale

Inquiring minds want to know … just how does a football team score 50 points in one quarter?

Cynical minds want to know … isn’t an 84-12 score running it up after it was 50-0 in the first quarter?

Well, second things first in a look back - as painful as it is - at Davenport’s … er, uh, win (?) over Almira/Coulee-Hartline.

“He had his JVs in there,” ACH coach Brandon Walsh said of his counterpart, Skip Pauls. “He was subbing in the second quarter. He apologized. I don’t hold anything against him.”

Good. So, as long as there is no bitterness, how can a team score 50 points in one quarter? “I didn’t know it was possible either,” Walsh said. “It was like a whirlwind of bad dreams.”

Forget 50 points in one quarter, how about 30 points in less than 5 minutes.

“It was amazing,” Pauls said. Weird was another word he used. Surreal comes to mind.

Bottom line is the Gorillas are a good team. They were ready. ACH played Davenport tough last year, 25-9, and the Warriors were coming off a solid 30-0 win over Waterville.

“I told our kids this was the best team we would see so far this year,” Pauls said. “I said you’ve got to play four quarters, keep the intensity up.”

Then the Warriors had a brain cramp, the kind that happens in all sports. The Warriors treated the opening kickoff like a punt and stayed away from the bounding ball. Davenport recovered on the 20. Two plays later, Ryan Buchmann is in the end zone. Buchmann kicks and it’s 7-0 JUST 57 seconds in.

Then there is a penalty on the next kickoff and ACH has the ball on the 8. A bad decision equals a bad pitch on an option play, and Matt Parson recovers for Davenport - in the end zone. Kick and it’s 14-0 1:11 in.

And after that?

Well, the Warriors tried a trick play that backfired. Getting sacked in the end zone, the quarterback threw the ball away. A penalty for intentional grounding is a safety and it’s 16-0 at 2 minutes.

The Gorillas return ACH’S free kick to the 25. Two plays, Andy Schreck scores and it’s 23-0 at 3:59.

Finally, Schreck intercepts a pass, and two plays later, Buchmann scores, kicks and it’s 30-0 after 4:42.

It took another 8 minutes to get the next 20 points, capped by a Schreck return of an interception with no time on the clock.

“That wasn’t the easiest one to coach,” Pauls admitted. “We were in the position you don’t want to embarrass the other team, but you don’t want your team to lay down.”

Pauls kept his starters in for a quarter. “I’m sorry, but they want to play, too. In three games we’ve played, the starters have probably played six quarters out of 12.” The starting offensive line was in for the second quarter in front of the “little backs,” who pushed it up to 69-0 at halftime.

“He knew I didn’t want to talk about it after the game,” Walsh said. “He apologized. I thought that was nice. It wasn’t anything he did. They prepared for a good football game. After last week, we thought we could play with them.”

The fallout could be interesting.

Can Davenport gear up to play at fierce rival Reardan on Friday night?

“I’m just hoping (the breaks) hold through the year like that,” Pauls said. “Like this week. This game is so intense. This team is Reardan. They’ve been in two close games they won in the last quarter. They’re not going to lay down. It’s Reardan-Davenport. They beat us the last three years. Last year, they basically embarrassed us at home.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to play four quarters.”

Can the ACH Warriors get up for anyone?

“All these things that happened, if one of them happen in a game, you can deal with it,” Walsh said. “They all happened in the first three minutes.

“They have to prepare for another game, learn from their mistakes and refocus. It will be interesting to see the guys respond. I hope they take it as a challenge, work hard and put it behind them.”

Borderline

Border League officials reached a compromise on a formula to decide seeding to state playoffs.

Some coaches said that because the league isn’t balanced between Idaho (six schools) and Washington (four) that cross-Border games shouldn’t count as much as games against opponents in the same state. Teams that win games involving teams from the same state will get two points for victories. One point will be awarded to teams winning contests involving Idaho-Washington teams.

The league champion will be crowned based on overall league standings. The point system is strictly for deciding postseason seeding.

Entiat in and out

Entiat is a member of the Northeast B-8 football league for scheduling purposes only. Entiat is playing 8-man football despite being just over the cutoff to qualify. However, the school cannot field an 11-man team so elected to play down. The Northeast B-8 took Entiat to give the team a place to play, but the games are non-counters.

GSL showdown

Mead, the team picked to win the Greater Spokane League, and Central Valley, picked second and the only undefeated team left, face off Friday at Albi Stadium. The game is at 5:45 and is followed by University against Ferris, both once-beaten.

The Great Northern League picks up steam when league favorite Pullman, after two non-league losses, goes to Chewelah and Medical Lake plays at Deer Park. Chewelah and Deer Park are 3-0.