G-Prep sticks with it
The Gonzaga Prep Bullpups won their first outright Greater Spokane League football title since 1993 Thursday night, rallying for a 28-7 victory over host University before an estimated crowd of 1,800.
Those are the facts. The underlying story is much more interesting.
“This group, they could have folded their tent at any time this year, they could have folded them tonight,” Gonzaga coach Dave Carson said. “They just choose not to.”
The tent folding could have come at halftime, with U-Hi (6-4 overall and 6-3 in the GSL) leading 7-0. The Titans had marched 71 yards to open the game, the final 25 coming on a sprint around right end by Kris O’Connor, the game’s leading rusher with 131 yards on 22 carries.
From there until intermission, the Bullpups had two golden opportunities to score, once being turned away at the 1-yard line, the second time foiled by an end-zone interception.
Then the seniors took over in the locker room.
“I came in and told them it comes down to who wants this more,” said senior running back/linebacker Ryan Murphy, an intimidating presence at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds. “I told them this was what we’ve worked for all year, and we needed to have a whole new attitude in the second half.”
They did, and added a new running back as well.
Carson inserted defensive back Connor Hare at the I-back spot to open the second half and, on the first play, he took quarterback Billy Karwacki’s pitch around right end 44 yards.
“Connor’s got a little more speed and we thought he might be able to get the corner easier,” Carson said.
He did. After Karwacki tied the game with a 1-yard run, the Bullpups defense held and Hare got another shot. This time he went 49 yards around right end to give Prep a 14-7 lead. Hare carried three times for a team-high 97 yards.
The seven-point lead held up until early in the fourth quarter, when the Titans put together their best drive since the game-opener, moving from their 13 to Prep’s 43, mostly on J.D. Peterson’s arm. Peterson was 12 for 26 for 124 yards, but U-Hi’s offensive efforts (231 yards) were stymied by turnovers, including a fumble and three interceptions.
Murphy grabbed the last interception, going 56 yards with it to up the lead to 21-7 and kill the Titans’ hopes.
Despite the setback, U-Hi joins Gonzaga, Ferris and Shadle Park in next Tuesday’s play-in games versus the Big Nine. The Titans get the unenviable task of traveling to Pasco (9-0 and ranked No. 1 in State 4A) while Prep (9-1 overall and 8-1 in the GSL) gets to play at Albi vs. Kennewick (7-3).
And the Pups have the outright crown, the first in Carson’s tenure at Prep.
“It means all the time, the effort, the hard work was worth it, for the kids,” said Carson, choking up and stumbling with the words before being bear-hugged by his daughter. “These are great kids because we’re not the best team and we don’t have the best players. But there’s a spirit about these kids that carries them to the top.”