Football hopes widespread in GSL
About football (Sept. 11): Friday’s Greater Spokane League football was a revelation, giving hope to just about every team. With Lewis and Clark’s 21-6 win over Mead and Ferris’ 24-17 overtime triumph against East Valley, this year’s league, as expected for one with youthful teams, appears to be entirely up in the air.
LC hung tough against an early Panthers assault. Mead made a 70-yard touchdown drive look easy and controlled much of the first half.
But the Tigers gained momentum as the game wore on and scored twice in the game’s final six minutes to secure victory.
“Our O-line is playing pretty well, and our three fullbacks are all pretty good blockers in space,” said coach Tom Yearout. “We didn’t make any major adjustments with our D-line/linebackers other than telling them to get their pads down and to believe that as the game wore on we would play lower and they would play higher (that was our only hope after they steamrolled the field on the first series).”
That means that any of six 4A teams can dream the playoff dream, and both Mt. Spokane and East Valley appear neck-and-neck for the 3A spot.
Gonzaga Prep so far has dominated its foes. But it faces every 4A team this year, including all the playoff aspirants beginning with Central Valley at home on Friday, so the Bullpups can’t afford a misstep.
Raising the roof
Finally got new Mead cross country coach Steve Kiesel down from the roof of his house long enough to talk about cross country.
“I totally reroofed the house, and it was the nightmare from hell,” said Kiesel, who is following Panthers legends in taking on a dream coaching job.
He figured there were two layers of composite shingles on the roof. Turned out there were three, including a set of cedar shakes. After the laborious chore of removing that mess, he had to re-sheet the whole roof before putting down the new covering.
Along with working with his new team and the “how I spent my summer vacation” chore, the job is just now getting done.
As for following Pat Tyson at Mead compared with the years spent coaching at Rogers, he said it’s a lot like having an entire team of former Pirates stars Ryan Craig and Chris Olinger.
“It’s a fun bunch of kids to be around,” said Kiesel. “Pat was around quite a bit of the summer, and I kind of sat back and bided my time. But I’m slowly getting my own personality into it.”
Mead is ranked No. 1 nationally.
Speaking of Panthers (Sept. 8)
It was Mead versus Mead when Central Washington University played the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, in volleyball.
The Wildcats beat the Nanooks (native for polar bear) in four games with sophomore Rachael Schurman, the ex-Panther two-time state MVP helping CWU to its 10th victory in 11 games.
Her high school teammate, Alaska Fairbanks freshman Megan Thigpen, had six kills and nine digs. Thigpen was an all-state member of Mead’s three successive state championship teams.
On GSL volleyball
OK, OK. I admit it. I didn’t take in Thursday’s football doubleheader at Joe Albi (Football is King) because a nonleague volleyball match at Lewis and Clark intrigued me more. It was the veteran Tigers hosting the new-look three-time defending state champion Mead Panthers.
LC won in five thrilling games, winning the first two and the fifth.
Mistakes played a big part of the outcome, the Tigers with troubles passing and setting, the Panthers, with eight new players, finding chemistry and struggling early with serving and receiving.
I was particularly impressed with the improvement of Erica Ehlo. Mead found its stride winning the third and fourth games with tremendous back-row work digging up balls, and 6-foot-4 freshman Alexis Olgard up front playing like those dominating middles of champions past.
In the decisive Game 5, LC’s Janae Forney took charge, and her team raced to 9-1 and 11-2 leads. When a rally-scoring fifth game goes only to 15 points, it’s a virtually impossible deficit to overcome. Mead tried but came up short, 15-10.
It wouldn’t surprise me if both were state title contenders by season’s end.