Big night for Knights

Talk about closing a door, and not opening any windows.

The East Valley defense posted its second consecutive shutout Thursday night, as the Knights stopped – almost literally – North Central, 29-0 in the nightcap of a Greater Spokane League football doubleheader before 1,708 at Albi Stadium.

Cheney capitalized on Rogers’ mistakes in the opener to post a 33-19 win.

There were few mistakes by the East Valley defense in the second game, even against the Indians’ (2-4 overall, 1-4 in the GSL) potent rushing attack, third-best in the GSL at 196 yards a game.

The Knights came in yielding 72 rushing yards a game and although NC topped that, with 98 yards, more than half of the total came on three plays. Ten of North Central’s 36 rushing plays were for negative yardage.

The rushing yardage was also the total offense, as the Indians had zero passing yards.

“We fly around after the ball,” senior middle linebacker Spencer Shaw said of the EV defense. “We attack and we hustle every play. We don’t take any plays off.”

They play intelligently, something needed against NC’s misdirection plays.

“They try to do a lot of things to fool you,” East Valley coach Adam Fisher said. “They scored 42 points on us last year and, though we won (56-42), we weren’t happy. That was a huge emphasis for us this week, reading our keys. The guys up front did a great job at that and then flying after the ball.”

They also did a great job keeping blockers off Shaw, allowing the returning all-leaguer to race to the ball.

“Our defensive line stepped up and the tackles allowed me to run free,” Shaw said. “We are trying to improve every week and get ready for the playoffs.”

The win moved the 3A Knights (4-2, 4-1 in league) closer to that goal, especially since they’ve handed three other GSL 3A teams defeats in the past three weeks. It is overall league record, however, that determines playoff spots.

It was three big plays that determined Thursday’s final score. The first, a 44-yard pass from Jye Lanphere to Grant Bruscoe, gave EV an 8-0 lead early in the second quarter after a two-point conversion run. The second, a 28-yard pass play from Lanphere to George Hamilton, increased the lead 22 midway through the third quarter (Shaw had scored just before half on a 3-yard run).

The third was the killer, a 71-yard ramble by sophomore Ryan Campbell on a counter early in the fourth. It gave Campbell 108 yards rushing on 13 carries, and helped EV to 295 total yards.

Lanphere accounted for 173 of them passing, on an efficient 9 of 16, including hitting 8 of 11 before halftime.

Cheney 33, Rogers 19

There were eight turnovers and 151 penalty yards, including a 15-yard unsportsmanlike call for a Rogers player quietly acknowledging the crowd’s cheers and another 15-yarder for a facemask – by a Rogers running back.

But the game’s sloppy nature couldn’t mar an outstanding rushing night by Cheney’s Brett Igbinoba, who gained 208 yards on 21 carries, or the opportunistic efforts of the Blackhawks defense, which turned two interceptions into scores.

Igbinoba, who played a little more than three quarters, broke free for runs of 47, 36 and 20 yards and scored twice on short bursts.

Brian Proctor opened the scoring for the Blackhawks (3-3 overall, 2-3 in the GSL) with a 25-yard interception return for a score and Kenny Gainey ended it with a 52-yard return of another pick.

Dorian Vaughn came off the bench for Rogers (1-5, 1-4) to rush for 209 yards on 24 carries and score two TDs.