Bullpups rebound for victory
The Gonzaga Prep Bullpups had their dreams for an undefeated football season spoiled last week when they turned the ball over five times in an overtime loss to Central Valley.
Friday night, facing maybe the most important game of the year, they tried a different tack.
Prep forced two turnovers, controlled the ball and the clock, and shut out Ferris for the second consecutive year, this time 22-0.
The win, before 4,205 at Albi Stadium, put the Pups (6-1 overall and 5-1 in the Greater Spokane League) in control of their playoff destiny. The Saxons (5-2, 4-2 and ranked eighth in the State 4A) must get some help if they want to make the postseason.
In the Albi opener, Mt. Spokane dominated the second half en route to a 50-14 rout of Rogers.
But it was the nightcap that had the biggest bearing on the GSL race, and it was expected the battle would hinge on which team was able to impose its will.
Ferris came in with the GSL’s top rushing defense, the Pups with the top rushing offense. Led by quarterback Max Manix’s two first-half scoring runs and Conner Hare’s 149 yards on 16 carries, Prep rushed for 268 yards. Mark that one in Prep’s box.
Conversely, Ferris entered with the GSL’s No. 1 passing offense (155 yards per game), Prep with the No. 2 passing defense (65 a game). The final total for the Saxons: 82 yards through the air and two turnovers. Put another check in the Prep column.
“Early on we weren’t doing our job,” Hare said. “Then Houston (Stockton) made a couple of huge plays in the secondary and that got us going.”
Those big plays came in the first half, when the Saxons squandered their scoring chances and any opportunity to make it a high-scoring contest. Two Stockton interceptions snuffed out long, time-consuming Ferris drives.
But the third big play killed something maybe more important: momentum.
Ferris’ Ryan Murphy, who led Ferris with 123 yards on 10 carries, broke away near the end of the half on what would end up being a 62-yard run. He juked Hare off his feet at the Prep 5 and looked like he might score as time ran out. But Stockton and Bryan Karwacki corralled him at the Prep 3 as the clock read :00.
“Yeah, he made me look bad, but luckily my teammates were flying to the ball and they bailed me out,” Hare said. “Then we did a great job in the second half of putting a goose egg up there.”
The Saxons opened that half with a 7-minute, 66-yard drive which ended in a missed field goal. It was their last real scoring chance in a half where they had just three possessions.
“They would get it down and we would do something big,” Prep coach Dave Carson said of the early momentum switches. “They get it down, we pick it. They get it down, we pick it. They get a touchdown called back on the flag, then there’s that run at the end of the half.
“We dodged three or four huge bullets. If they get those in, who knows what happens. I’m not sure we can get in that type of game with them, we just don’t have the firepower. I wish we did, but we don’t.”
He has Hare and Manix, though and that was enough.
Last year, in Prep’s 10-0 win, the Pups pounded Ferris with Murphy, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound bruiser of a fullback. This year they used the 5-10, 185-pound aptly named Hare.
“Yeah, we don’t have that big power back anymore,” Carson said. “We know Conner can operate in space, but he made some power runs tonight that had us wondering how he did. We have guys, like him, who give you every ounce they have.”
That describes effort Friday perfectly. Included in his total were 40 yards on the Pups’ final, time-killing 64-yard drive which he finished with a 17-yard tackle-breaking touchdown run to clinch it.
“I usually take a series off just to catch my breath,” said Hare, who played every down on offense and defense. “Tonight, though, my backup (Johnny Jones) was hurt, so I had to go.
“I ran as hard as I could.”
The win was Prep’s fifth straight over Ferris, and there is a reason it is special for the Pups. Many of the Saxons coaches have G-Prep ties, including head coach Clarence Hough, a former Gonzaga assistant under current Ferris offensive coordinator Don Anderson.
“This game is always big for us, and this year even more so,” Carson said. “There were the playoff implications and so many of the old Prep staff up there. The kids know what it means so well, we don’t have to say anything to them anymore. It’s important to them as well.”
With Central Valley’s win over University, the Saxons drop into a three-way tie for the third 4A playoff berth with the Bears and Lewis and Clark. Because Ferris, which ends the season against LC, didn’t play CV, a tiebreaker would come into play if they finished tied. CV currently holds the tiebreaker edge over Ferris, thanks in large part to last week’s 3-0 win over Prep.
Mt. Spokane 50, Rogers 20
The Wildcats broke ahead 23-0, saw the Pirates cut the lead to nine at halftime, then had their way offensively in the second half.
Mt. Spokane (3-4, 2-4), which snapped a three-game losing streak, had six players score its seven touchdowns, including two by Brandon Jared and a 30-yard fumble return by linebacker Rob Humphrey.
The Wildcats had eight runners combine for 276 yards, led by Nick Ellis’ 105 on 11 carries.
The Pirates (0-7, 0-6), who played without coach Ted Lyon, ejected last week in their loss to Cheney and forced to sit out a contest under WIAA rules, scored their first touchdown on a 63-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Durant to Sean Adebayo.