Fourth-quarter safety, field goal allow LC to edge Wildcats

It was a basic Friday night at Joe Albi Stadium.

Not that it was all that unusual for the second week of the Greater Spokane League football season.

Rather, Shadle Park’s 34-20 victory over Rogers in the opener and Lewis and Clark’s thrilling 12-7 win over Mt. Spokane in the nightcap in front of 3,510 fans were both about basic, fundamental football: Who can run the football, who can stop the run.

For Tom Yearout and his LC Tigers, those two basic football questions were up in the air coming into the showdown with the Wildcats. LC didn’t play last week, putting the Tigers behind the gun against Mt. Spokane, which won in overtime a week ago at West Valley.

“We just stuck with what works: We didn’t hurt ourselves with turnovers and we made them play the long field. That’s what Tiger football is all about,” Yearout said.

That included solid defensive play led by sophomore defensive end Alex Smith, who bolted into the Mt. Spokane backfield to tackle running backs behind the line of scrimmage four times in the second half, including a fourth-quarter safety that put the Tigers ahead for good, 9-7.

“I have to give all the credit to our scout team for that,” Smith said. “It felt like I’d been playing against them all week in practice.”

Facing seven- and eight-man blitzes on just about every play, LC had trouble running the football for most of the game. Going into the team’s final drive, starting running back Ethan Robinson had carried 14 times for a total of 12 yards.

Just when Mt. Spokane figured to have the elusive senior bottled up, he broke open for a 31-yard gain that gave LC a first down at the Wildcats’ 13.

Michael Watling booted a 25-yard field goal that put LC ahead 12-7, but the Wildcats weren’t finished.

LC’s kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Wildcats the ball on their 35.

Matt Johnson, subbing for starting quarterback Kyle Redmon on the final drive, found Adnan Hatkit three times to move the ball to the LC 1-yard line with 1 second remaining.

The Tigers read the run on the game’s final play. Linebacker Tyler Nanny and defensive back Ben Seebeck dropped Mt. Spokane’s Nick Ellis behind the line to end the game and preserve the victory.

Shadle Park 34, Rogers 20: For the Highlanders, the game came down to running the football, and the starting backfield of Branden Hughes, Mike Guske and quarterback Clay Scribner posted 320 yards on 44 carries.

Not what fans have come to expect from Shadle football, Guske admitted.

“It is a little different,” Guske said. “But we take a lot of pride in being able to run the ball.”

That included a workhorse series in the second quarter in which Guske banged away between the tackles, grinding out 22 of the team’s 34-yard drive and carrying three would-be tacklers on his back to give his team a first down at the 1 – only to have Scribner sneak in for the TD.

Rogers opened the game with a 75-yard drive for a TD. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Durant found Sean Adebayo with a 23-yard TD pass that gave the Pirates a 6-0 lead before the Highlanders touched the ball.

But both teams had bugs to work out of their offenses. For much of the second quarter, each team moved backward on penalties faster than their respective offenses could make positive yards.

“The same thing happened (in the season opener) at Lakeside,” Guske said. “It just takes us a while to settle in.”

Shadle took the lead for good when Mitch Kamstra blocked a Rogers punt in the Pirates end zone and defensive lineman Elliott Lamp recovered for a TD.