Defense paves way as Ferris whips U-Hi

Early in the second quarter of Friday night’s Ferris at University Greater Spokane League football game, U-Hi’s Tyler Carlson burst into what appeared to be a huge hole.

But Ferris Saxons linebacker Adrian Milsap’s closing burst and savage hit reduced it to a 1-yard gain.

That play defined unbeaten Ferris’ 49-14 triumph. For all the gaudy numbers put up by the Saxons’ offense, the night belonged to Milsap and his defensive mates.

They rendered the Titans tentative and ineffective for much of the game, often flying to the ball before a play could get untracked. That made things fairly easy on the other side for Ferris (7-0 overall, 6-0 in league) which, after an initial U-Hi defensive stop, scored on three successive possessions in the first half and all four in the second.

The Titans (4-3, 3-3) had negative yardage in the first quarter and managed just one drive in the half. It came in the final two minutes, Dalton Puyear making a nice touchdown catch in traffic with the Saxons up 21-0.

U-Hi had a chance to get back into the game after intermission, but Garrett Saiki intercepted Danny Jordan on the second play of the third quarter and Aaron Roberts scored on a pass from Jeff Minnerly to cap a short-field possession. U-Hi managed only token resistance thereafter.

By early in the fourth quarter the score was 42-7 and the reserves got the final score with 50 seconds left in the game.

“We really came to hit tonight,” said Ferris coach Jim Sharkey. “The kids didn’t feel good about their effort against Mead and worked really hard.”

Among them was Milsap, whose reckless disregard for his welfare resulted in some spectacular hits.

“I guess I developed it when I was younger,” Milsap said. “I boxed a little and was always aggressive so this is natural for me.”

U-Hi has good speed in Carlson and quarterback Jordan, but most often their early efforts at sprinting to an opening produced nothing. Jordan had negative 20 yards in the first half. On Carlson’s first four carries he netted 4 yards before breaking a couple on U-Hi’s first-half scoring drive.

Milsap said credit that to the relentless Ferris defense, including his fellow linebackers and defensive backs. The Titans had 206 yards, but only 57 on the ground.

“Adrian has great closing speed,” said Sharkey. “And one thing about us, our linebackers run extremely well. It’s tough to break long runs with our linebacker and secondary speed.”

Meanwhile, Ferris mixed run with pass in scoring seven touchdowns. Among them, Nick Tonani capped a 78-yard drive with a 31-yard run for the initial score. Minnerly finished with three TD passes, including a pair of strikes to Jared Karstetter.

Minnerly finished 17 of 24 for 194 yards and the Saxons added 173 on the ground divided among nine backs.

Next up for Ferris is a game Thursday with Central Valley (6-1, 5-1) with the GSL championship at stake.

Lewis and Clark 30, East Valley 22: The Tigers (6-1, 6-1) capitalized on a muffed punt snap to stave off the Knights (3-4, 3-4) at Albi Stadium.

The play set up LC at the EV 34 and Taylor Eglet hit Austin Ehlo from 11 yards out for a 30-15 lead in the fourth quarter.

LC had led 23-7 at halftime on three Alex Shaw touchdowns.