GSL savors first football sweep

Gonzaga Prep football coach Dave Carson had his tongue firmly in cheek when he posed the question? “Where’s the story about what’s wrong with the Big Nine?”

But the message was clear referencing all those “why can’t the Greater Spokane League compete?” stories of past years.

For the first time, the GSL earned all three 4A state football berths, including Lewis and Clark’s 28-0 win in Richland, its first postseason victory since 1978’s semifinal appearance, and Mead’s 21-7 victory in Wenatchee.

Wins were part of a glorious fall afternoon in the Columbia Basin when the sun shone brightly on the GSL.

Two boys cross country teams won state team championships, Mead running the league 4A title streak to 20 years and North Central winning its second straight 3A race. Andrea Nelson of Shadle was 4A girls champ. And the GSL swept the top four spots and three state berths in Region 4A volleyball in Yakima.

Ferris’ white-knuckle comeback, 28-27 over Moses Lake, which was snake-bitten by a GSL team for the second straight year; Central Valley; Carson’s Bullpups; University; and Shadle Park also were victorious in crossover 4A games against the CBL.

GSL coaches would argue that last weekend merely proves the point they’d been making when discussing the dearth of postseason wins against the old Big Nine: It wasn’t that their programs were bad it was merely the other league had better athletes. This year things turned.

CV’s Rick Giampietri called it “nice vindication.

“Five teams could have represented us in the playoffs, and I’m not sure the results wouldn’t have been the same.”

Saxons survivors

Upon reviewing film of the Saxons’ harrowing win, coach Jim Sharkey admitted he’s still in shock.

“There were probably 15 plays in the fourth quarter that, if we don’t make them we’re done,” he said.

But there’s no discounting will, as Gonzaga Prep showed last year and Ferris duplicated in the win over the Chiefs.

Forced into a two-minute offense mode in the game’s final seven minutes, Ferris converted on third down and 30 yards to go and again on fourth-and-12 in coming back from a two-touchdown deficit.

”Jeff (Minnerly, the quarterback) was phenomenal again down the stretch,” Sharkey said.

On Minnerly’s scramble that set up the winning score with 12 seconds left, “two kids have their hands on him for a sack, he breaks free and there are three more kids there,” said Sharkey.

Blocks by Jared Karstetter and Shawn Stockton sprung him 49 yards to paydirt.

GSL coaches considered Moses Lake the physically best team in the CBL.

“We knew we had our hands full,” said Sharkey. “Their speed matched us, and their defensive line was outstanding. We couldn’t handle them. (Quarterback Josh) Loera is a tremendous athlete.”

Where there was a will, however, there was a way.

A first for the Wildcats

Mt. Spokane volleyball players will be the first to play in the coming weekend’s state tournaments.

“It’s the first time in the history of the school, but the school is still young,” said coach John Reid. “It’s something you aspire to do, and we finally pulled it off.”

There are no individual stars, he said, simply 11 players who all contributed and complemented each other’s strengths.

“Because of that we weren’t flashy. There was not a lot of individual recognition,” he said. “But this team never wavered. It was not about the individual. Because of that we’re having success.”

Best in show

North Central’s effort while winning the State 3A boys cross country title with 36 points would have won regardless of classification in Saturday’s meets in Pasco.

Andrew Kimpel‘s 16:05 time was eighth fastest, all classes combined. Colville’s Justin Rose, who timed 16:02 to win the 2A race, was seventh.

Steve Hicks, Leon Dean and Jeff Howard were separated by two seconds between 16:21 and 16:23, which were among the top 27 times for all racers. And fifth finisher Alex Avila would have scored nearly as well for team purposes in the 4A meet as he did in his race.

Playoffs start today

State soccer begins with matches today, and there are a couple football games of import as well.

Mt. Spokane and Mead girls host first-round soccer games at Albi Stadium, 4 and 6 p.m., against Auburn Riverside and Redmond in 3A and 2A, respectively. In 2A, West Valley plays host to Prosser at 3, Pullman is at Selah and Cheney at East Valley-Yakima at 4. Wednesday, Lakeside is home against Naches Valley at 3.

In football, Colville plays host to Selah, and West Valley is at Ephrata seeking the final two State 2A berths, both at 6 p.m.