Titans claim fifth straight victory
There could be a new slogan for the University High football team: Out of adversity comes triumph.
The Titans, 0-2 after the first two weeks of the Greater Spokane League schedule, won their fifth consecutive game, stopping Lewis and Clark 17-14 before 1,610 Thursday night at Albi Stadium and, in the process, moved into a tie for second place.
In the nightcap, Mt. Spokane posted its third shutout of the season, a 7-0 whitewash of Central Valley, to keep its playoff hopes alive.
But it was the Titans who held center stage, using a stifling run defense to hand LC its second consecutive defeat. It was also only the second time since 1988 they had topped the Tigers, and the seeds may have been sown during that 0-2 start.
Without a win and without leading rusher and middle linebacker Kris O’Connor (out with an injury), the Titans rallied – together.
“I knew we were going to turn the year around,” said O’Connor, who rushed for a game-high 86 yards on 24 carries. “It seemed like the intensity went up when I went down. There was a new fire in everyone’s eyes.”
And it burned brightest on defense, where the Titans (5-3 overall) held the GSL’s leading rusher, Ethen Robinson, to a season-low 60 yards on 20 carries.
“He’s such a great back,” U-Hi coach Mike Ganey said. “We had to zero in on him. He only seemed to hurt us on the screen passes (two for 24 yards). Other than that, we pretty much contained him.”
They also contained the LC offense, which turned to the air to score its only touchdown, a 5-yard pass from Chad Bemis to Kevin Luby. But that came with only a minute left and, when quarterback J.D. Peterson recovered the LC onside kick, U-Hi was in second.
The first score for the Tigers (5-2, 5-2) came on special teams.
Brad Posten scooped up a snap that was over the punter’s head and ran it back 28 yards following U-Hi’s first possession.
“It’s a credit to this team that they were able to turn it around after that early mistake,” Ganey said.
It was Peterson’s arm that did most of the turning, completing 21 of 31 passes for 175 yards and two TDs.
The first, a 6-yarder to Chris Fairbanks, came 8 seconds before halftime and gave U-Hi a 10-7 lead. The second, a 10-yarder to Matt Hanna, came near the end of the third quarter and was the last pass the Titans threw.
It was enough, thanks to O’Connor, the D-line and interceptions by Blake Kenworthy and Joey Montes.
Mt. Spokane 7, Central Valley 0
In what was basically an elimination game for playoff hopes, the Wildcats (5-3, 4-3) scored just enough to stay in the hunt.
The two teams combined for only 355 yards in total offense (66 of those passing), the defenses picked off four passes (three by Mt. Spokane), and each had key penalties that killed drives.
It was the last of those picks – by Mt. Spokane’s Calvin McManus with little more than a minute left in the first half – that led to the only score.
The second play after the interception, Jesse Todd threw a perfect strike to Curtis Justice on a post-corner route in the back of the end zone. The 17-yard completion was the second-longest play of the night for Mt. Spokane.
The shutout was a school-record third on the season. The Wildcats haven’t given up a second-half point since a 27-24 loss at Clarkston on Sept. 17.
The defeat drops CV’s record to 2-6, 2-5.