Ferris tops Mead in state opener

There’s something about Ferris football and its penchant for slow starts. But it’s not wise to provide the Saxons with a window of opportunity.

Mead did just that with turnovers and special-teams breakdowns that Ferris took advantage of. The mistakes helped the Saxons roll to a 24-7 triumph in front of 3,809 fans at Albi Stadium in the first round of the State 4A football playoffs.

“We were talking about it all week that we needed to get off to a good start,” said Saxons all-purpose player Shawn Stockton, one of the offensive keys to victory. “We haven’t done it yet. Hopefully, we catch up and play good a whole game one time.”

Perhaps next week. With Friday night’s victory, the Saxons (11-0) have advanced to the state quarterfinals against Graham-Kapowsin (8-3) next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Albi. Graham-Kapowsin defeated South Kitsap 41-20.

Actually, early in the second quarter Friday night, the Saxons found themselves in a game between two evenly matched teams.

Mead had played well early only to hurt itself in the first half with two lost fumbles and a red-zone mishap. And in the second half, the Panthers were intercepted three times while playing catch-up as the Saxons scored their final 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“The turnovers gave us momentum on offense and really helped us out getting our drives going,” said running back McKenzie Murphy, who had some big rushes and the first touchdown of the game.

The Panthers moved the ball well on their first drive of the game and were knocking on the touchdown door with their second. But a penalty, one of just three in the game by Mead, nullified a pass completion to the goal line for what would have been a first down.

Instead, the team uncharacteristically missed a short field-goal attempt. Its next possession, shortly thereafter, was fumbled away on the first play at the Saxons’ 40-yard line. Ferris covered 60 yards in five plays, Murphy taking a delayed handoff up the middle and cutting his way 34 yards for the score with 5 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the first half.

Mead came right back, Ryane Laforte catching two passes for 74 yards. His second went 56 yards for a score, Laforte playing off his defender and reaching high to snag the ball from behind. From there, he had clear sailing to the goal line.

But, as the Saxons have proved all year long, they are dangerous late in the first half.

“It’s our senior class making plays again,” said coach Jim Sharkey. “I thought we had a much more complete game this week.”

The key was the 54-yard kickoff return by Garrett Saiki that set them up at the Panthers’ 36 immediately after Mead had tied the game.

Jeff Minnerly went to the air for four short completions, the last for the go-ahead score to Jared Karstetter with 8 seconds left.

“I thought we played pretty well a lot in the first half,” said Sharkey. “We just made a couple of little mistakes, cleaned them up in the second half and made some adjustments on defense.”

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the key was the first of the three second-half interceptions by Ferris midway through. It paved the way for a 14-play drive that accounted for 100 yards of Ferris’ 235 of total offense.

The Saxons used up the remainder of the period and 2 minutes of the fourth quarter to make it 21-7.

Statistically the game was even. Laforte had seven catches for 133 yards accounting for most of Mead’s 237.

Murphy had some clutch runs and Stockton caught 10 passes and also carried the ball a couple of times, including for the team’s final touchdown.

“Stockton is always a big factor,” said Sharkey. “The coaches are constantly telling me to get the ball to No. 2.”

Minnerly completed 10 of 11 second-half passes, primarily to Stockton and Aaron Roberts, finishing 18 for 24 for 129 yards.

“All of us are good receivers,” said Stockton of Minnerly’s targets. “Whoever’s open, Jeff just gets the ball to them.”

Both teams were tough on defense as well, with the quarterbacks on each team continually having to scramble out of harm’s way. Linebackers such as Ferris’ Erick Cheadle and Mead’s Todd Loncosty made big hits.