Area football teams all have victorious Friday night
A pair of sophomore quarterbacks had their coming out games on a Friday night when all four Spokane Valley football teams were victorious.
Bryan Peterson, who shares duty with senior Cam Wieber, completed 12 of 16 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown and ran for another as improving West Valley (2-2) blew past Rogers 21-0.
Danny Jordan, coming off an ankle sprain from the week before, had the best game of his season in University’s 42-28 comeback win in Clarkston. Jordan was 18-for-26 passing for 200 yards and two touchdowns for the Titans (1-3).
Central Valley (2-2) played as well as it has in two years, according to coaches, during a 33-0 victory over Shadle Park, and East Valley (2-2) rolled past Cheney 46-16.
Coaches for both the Eagles and Titans praised their young field generals but were both quick to credit all facets of the game for helping their career-best nights.
“It was Bryan’s best performance, and it was the most repetitions we’ve gotten him,” said WV coach Craig Whitney. “Rogers kind of forced us to throw the ball, and for the first time all year, we had some receivers make adjustments and go and catch it.”
Peterson spread the wealth to eight different receivers, including Jeremiah Birr, who had four catches for 50 yards, and Casey Sherrill, who had a 40-yard grab.
Defensively, West Valley dominated a team that had scored at least two touchdowns in each of three previous games. The Pirates had only one serious drive, beginning midway through the second quarter, and had the ball only 15 offensive plays in the second half.
The Eagles took a 12-0 lead in the game’s first 6 minutes, 39 seconds. The first score came after a fumble recovery by Phillip Gannon at Rogers’ 37-yard line, the second coming on two big plays involving Camron Bowman, one a 25-yard run and the other a 30-yard pass from Peterson. A first-half safety and Peterson’s two-yard plunge with 4:04 left in the third quarter, following his 33-yard pass to Birr completed scoring.
The defense held Rogers to a net 35 yards of offense with plays such as Tyler Hobbs‘ tackle of both ball carrier and quarterback on a handoff.
“With the option they’re running it kind of scares you,” said Whitney. “We had to stay real disciplined on defense.”
U-Hi’s Jordan had given his coaches a scare when he sprained his ankle against Mead. But an intense week of rehabilitation had him ready for Clarkston.
“Anytime a player goes down you’re fearful it’s a season-ending injury,” said coach Mike Ganey. “Fortunately he was able to recover. We wouldn’t have put him on the field if he was not at full strength.”
U-Hi took a 14-0 lead, fell behind 21-14 then scored four straight touchdowns, two by Blake Kenworthy, a pass reception, and two by Billy Sweetser who rushed for 185 yards. U-Hi had gained a net eight yards on the ground in two previous GSL games.
Jordan’s passing accounted for nearly half of the Titans 442 yards of offense.
“We felt he grew leaps and bounds,” said Ganey “In this game our line gave Jordan real good protection, and we were able to protect our quarterback from the blitz. Obviously Danny found open receivers who made good catches and solid runs.”
CV scored in every quarter against Shadle Park. The Bears rushed for 268 yards, two quarterbacks threw touchdown passes, including one to Anthony Bucknam who also had a TD interception return.
EV’s Ryan Campbell scored six touchdowns against Cheney, giving him a league high 10 for the year. He’s second in league in rushing with 426 yards.
Other statistical leaders are Titans Jordan, second in passing with 369 yards, Mike Conrad, first in receptions with 16 and second in yardage with 153, and Ken Wood, with a 40.6 punting average. He leads the GSL ahead of Bucknam’s 40.4.
Cross country successes
Local cross country runners and teams excelled again at a variety of invitational meets last weekend.
East Valley’s Nick Atwood at the Mountain West meet in Kalispell and Central Valley’s Anna Layman in Wenatchee were individual champions. Several teams, including CV’s boys and girls and University’s boys, won trophies.
Three days before the meet, Atwood said he couldn’t wait to run the Mountain West race.
“I love that one,” he said. “It’s a fast course and one of my favorite races. We’ll camp, I’ll get up in the morning, have a fun little run and stay for a while in Missoula with my brother.”
He timed 15 minutes, 29 seconds for three miles, winning by 2.42 seconds over Lewis and Clark’s Ryan Zentz. Jo E. Mayer was 28th for ninth-place East Valley in the girls’ race.
Layman, continuing her successful comeback from injury, ran 18:37 to win by nearly a minute. Freshmen Tris Kline and Breanna Barsten were sixth and 11th, respectively. The Bears placed second to Richland, 42-61.
CV’s boys beat Richland 34-46 with Sean Coyle finishing second. Tyler Sturman was sixth and Jayson Taylor seventh. Alex Blackburn, Brandon Close, Matt Simpson and Nathan Damiano finished ninth-through-12th. Just 50 seconds separated the seven runners.
Meanwhile, University’s boys took third, the girls ninth and West Valley’s boys were 10th at the Bellevue Invitational.
“I didn’t even get to be at the meet,” said U-Hi coach Linda Lanker, who was tending to a family situation and whose junior varsity won Bellevue for the first time. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of them.”
The Bellevue race is run in flights of two runners per team. Twenty-four seconds separated the team’s best five times. Bill McElroy and freshman Anthony Brown timed 16:34 and 16:37 in the flight for a team’s top two athletes. Aaron Testerman and Kyle McNealy clocked 16:49 and 16:58 in flight two. Mike Pierce ran 16:57 for third in flight three, and Cody Brincken was third in flight four.
Young West Valley was without No. 1 runner Marc Smith, which in part accounts for the place disparity between the two Valley schools.
Sophomores Richard Keroack and Josh Gardner placed fourth and fifth in 16:36 and 16:39 in the second flight. Sophomore Joey Hartmeier ran 16:48 for second in third flight, and freshman Mike White was second in fourth flight.