GSL hopes to buck trend against Big Nine
There are familiar foes tonight when the Greater Spokane League and the Big Nine clash in four play-in games to the state 4A football playoffs.
And, in this case, familiarity breeds respect.
“They’re very good,” Shadle Park coach Mark Hester said of the Highlanders’ opponent, Southridge of Kennewick. “No question about it. The whole league is good, one of the best in the state.”
Hester’s Shadle team, the GSL’s No. 3 seed, is meeting the Suns for the second consecutive year, and the third time since 1999. The last time Ferris was in the playoffs, 2001, they traveled to Walla Walla and lost 38-14. This year the second-seeded Saxons get to host the Blue Devils at Central Valley High. Even University and Pasco share a playoff history, albeit a short one. In 1998 the Bulldogs rumbled over the Titans 42-21, one of six consecutive first-round losses U-Hi has suffered since 1981. The teams also met in a non-league game the year before.
The playoff rivalry between GSL champion Gonzaga Prep and Kennewick is a little deeper and dates back a little further, the late 1970s. In the ‘80s, the two met six times, with the Pups holding a 4-2 mark. Overall in the postseason G-Prep is 5-3 against the Lions. The last time the teams met was in 1993, which was also the Lions’ last playoff appearance.
“It’s been 11 years since we’ve played them, but (Kennewick head coach) Billy Templeton was (part) of the old Kennewick teams that played Prep in the late ‘80s, they had some wars,” Bullpups coach Dave Carson said. “He’s got them going. The rivalry is there. It will be interesting to see if he can invest that (in his team).”
Four of the six times the teams met in the 80’s, one of the two teams went to the state finals.
That might be tougher this year. If Prep wins, they will probably play the Southridge/Shadle Park winner, though that won’t be decided until all of tonight’s games are done, due to a seeding agreement between the two leagues. Kennewick’s reward for an upset might be a rematch with Pasco, who routed them 40-9 three weeks ago.
Pasco will have to get past U-Hi first, and Titan coach Mike Ganey is hoping the momentum his team built during a six-game winning streak hasn’t disappeared with last Thursday’s 28-7 loss to Prep.
“We can’t have any turnovers or anything because they’ll capitalize right away,” Ganey said. “It’s going to have to be our best game of the season. The players are looking forward to it, the morale is good and the seniors want to have another game.”
Though Ferris’ foe isn’t unfamiliar, the circumstances are. The Saxons haven’t played a postseason game in Spokane since 1988, and that was against Gonzaga Prep in the quarterfinals.
“Just the fact we don’t have to travel and play them on their home field is huge,” Ferris coach Clarence Hough said. “We thought that was a huge advantage for them when we had to go down and play them at their place, especially when you aren’t familiar with doing this.”
No matter the site, the Big Nine has been dominant in the play-in round, especially since Central Valley’s state title run in 1997. Since then, the GSL is 4-20, including 2-14 in the past four years.