Clarkston breaks away from Cheney
A football game that moved speedily along with time-consuming drives turned on a couple of quick strikes Friday as visiting Clarkston defeated Cheney 30-17 in a game between Great Northern League unbeatens.
With the victory, the Bantams (4-1 overall, 3-0 in league) join Colville atop the GNL.
After Keith Parker’s 71-yard scoring burst for Cheney had tied the score 10-10 with 2:44 remaining until half, Bantams sophomore Zach Meyers answered immediately with a 55-yard dash of his own to set up their go-ahead score.
The Blackhawks fumbled at their 16 right after intermission that quickly put them in a 24-10 hole.
“That was the one right off the bat that I thought maybe turned (the game) in their favor,” said Cheney coach Jason Williams. “Especially with a team like that that’s been driving. You can’t give them the short field.”
Other than that, it was a case of two teams grinding away at each other all night. Before the first-half-ending fireworks each had a drive that lasted 7 minutes or longer.
In the second half Cheney had a second scoring possession consuming 8 minutes or more and Clarkston had two 5-minute marches.
As Bantams halfback Brian O’Kelley put it, “It was a whole running battle with everyone piling in and gang tackling. It was a hard-fought game.”
The Bantams found early success through the air, Isaac Woodbury throwing for 107 yards and the early third-period score, but they hinged their victory on the ground, primarily the legs of junior back O’Kelley.
He had a fatiguing night carrying the ball 22 times for 140 yards and both first-half touchdowns. Most of his runs were sprints to the sidelines followed by cuts upfield.
“The game plan was to get the ball outside and after a couple in a row it gets tiring,” he said. “That’s the most I’ve carried the ball in my life.”
Meyers wound up with 111 rushing yards and scored Clarkston’s final touchdown with 1:12 remaining in the game.
Cheney (3-3, 2-1) had cut the deficit to 24-17, using up much of the third quarter en route. Brandon Hardie’s third completion to tight end Griffon Jones capped the 82-yard drive.
But Clarkston kept the football for the bulk of the game’s final 15 minutes, 22 seconds to board the bus back home with a W.
Parker finished with 133 yards on 25 carries for Cheney.
In other league action, Riverside (2-3, 1-2) gained 404 yards of total offense compared to Deer Park’s (0-6, 0-3) 82 as the Rams pounded the rival Stags 48-0 in Riverside. Blake Caddy led the Rams with 93 receiving yards and a touchdown. … Andy Vennum scored three rushing touchdowns to lead host West Valley (3-3, 1-2) to a 55-6 victory over Medical Lake (1-4, 0-3).