Senescall to the rescue for Mead

When North Central went 73 yards in six plays to score on the opening series of the game Friday night, Mead Panthers coach Sean Carty envisioned a track meet.

The antidote turned out to be a heavy dose of junior Paul Senescall on both sides of the ball that helped produce a 42-21 Greater Spokane League football victory for Mead.

Senescall, a fullback, rushed for 91 yards, mainly in huge chunks, as Mead scored four consecutive times for a 28-7 first-half lead.

Senescall, at linebacker, was in on numerous tackles as the Panthers were able to slow down the potent NC offense.

“I couldn’t tell whether (Senescall) was doing much in the first half,” said Carty. “But I knew his number came up quite often in the second half. Whether he’s in the middle of a play or not, he’s always around it.”

Senescall gained a team-high 55 yards in the first half as Mead’s four-runner backfield combined for 182. Included were gains of 26 and 19 yards during the Panthers’ first and third TD drives.

He also had a 15-yard run in the second half and would have had a 29-yarder – a bone-jarring effort that left a trail of grasping Indians players in his wake – had it not been wiped out by a penalty.

On defense, he was involved in at least two tackles for no gain and once hurried NC quarterback Jacob Aspenleiter into an intentional grounding penalty.

The game’s beginning, however, didn’t portend as much.

NC’s rush standouts, Derek Brown and Shane Thomas, quickly got the Indians into the end zone.

Brown gained 32 yards on three attempts, including the touchdown, and would finish with 137 yards on 20 carries. Thomas had a 37-yard sprint during the drive and finished the night with 86 yards in 10 attempts.

“We figured, ‘Here comes the track meet, and we’ll keep trying to make that one series where we stop them be the one,’ ” said Carty, “We felt like our offense could move on them.”

He was proved half right. The offense moved 80 yards in nine plays for the first of three Skylar Jessen touchdowns and a tie.

Then the defense stopped NC on three successive possessions and Mead scored following each. The first was Andy Mattingly’s 41-yard scamper uncovered on a reverse. Next came a 92-yard, 10-play drive, followed by a 43-yard march in seven rushes for two more scores.

Late in the half, Thomas again factored in NC’s offense, gaining 25 yards on his fourth rush of the night, and he caught a 28-yard pass from Aspenleiter to score with a minute left.

But Jessen broke 39 yards on a one-play “series” midway through the third quarter and hit Mattingly with a pass of 8 yards on the third play of the fourth quarter.

NC followed with its final scoring drive, capped by Justin Dreyer’s 23-yard run on an inside reverse.

Still, said Senescall, “I was really impressed with how our defense stopped their powerful offense.

“I was pretty happy the way I was running the ball tonight. It was just having the line lead for me and just running hard and getting that extra yard.”

Combined, the two teams gained 524 yards on the ground. Mead (4-4, 4-3) had 369 yards of total offense. NC (3-5 2-5) had 328. The Panthers, however, found pay dirt twice as often as the Indians.

Ferris 35, Clarkston 10

It was Stockton night for the Saxons (5-2), now part of a four-team tie for second place in the GSL. Between them, Steve Stockton and his freshman brother Shawn, in his varsity debut, had 216 all-purpose yards.

Steve caught eight passes for 86 yards and had a run of 64, scoring three times. Shawn caught two passes for 46 yards and rushed twice for 20.

Ferris scored on three of its first four possessions, Steve with two TD catches, for a 15-0 halftime lead. After Clarkston (4-4, 3-4) scored in the second half, Caleb Rath hit Robert Davis on a slant for one score and Curtis Heyomoto followed with a 47-yard interception return.

The final score came on Rath’s long run and lateral to Steve Stockton that combined covered 64 yards.

East Valley 41, West Valley 12

The Eagles trailed 14-6 when East Valley’s Ryan Campbell ran 76 yards with a minute to go to set up the first of two Grant Bruscoe touchdowns.

With that the Knights (5-3, 5-2) were on their way. They out-gained WV (0-8, 0-7) 425 yards to 145 and six different players scored touchdowns.

With the victory, EV locked up the top seed into the 3A postseason playoffs.

Gonzaga Prep 22, Rogers 0

The unbeaten Bullpups (8-0, 7-0) recorded their second consecutive shutout and secured at least a tie for first in the GSL with games remaining against Lewis and Clark and University.

But it wasn’t easy against Rogers (1-7, 1-6), which trailed by just a touchdown entering the fourth quarter.

G-Prep scored twice, including a 64-yard pass from Bill Karwacki to Brad Parker for the final TD. Brandon Schmidt had an interception in the end zone when Rogers threatened to score in the last two minutes of the game.

Eric Hernandez of Rogers rushed for 50 yards and passed for 74 more.

Shadle Park 31, Cheney 28

Andy Largent’s fourth-quarter field goal broke a 28-all tie and kept the Highlanders (4-3) alive in the GSL scramble for a postseason berth.

One game separates six teams seeking three available 4A playoff spots with two games remaining. Included is Shadle’s pivotal game next week against Mt. Spokane.

Shadle trailed Cheney (3-5, 2-5) 21-7, but rallied behind quarterback Josh Powell, who rushed for 107 yards on 25 carries and two TDs and passed for 204 yards.

But Cheney’s Brett Igbinoba, who scored three touchdowns and rushed for 205 yards, broke an 81-yarder to tie the game prior to Largent’s game winner.