Eagles plucked exciting win out of the air
Sounds like you had to be there to believe it.
But since I wasn’t at West Valley’s season-opening 47-45 victory in Moscow, let coach Jamie Nilles describe the incredible ending.
“It was a two- or three-point game the whole time,” he said. “Then we got up by eight with 3 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.”
Nilles said he was feeling good about the lead until an “and-one” followed by a 3-pointer cut the margin back to two points. With 1:30 left, the Bears tied the game.
“We were patient and figured it was a good time to sneak a power layup in on an out-of-bounds play,” Nilles said. “We missed, they called timeout and I told the kids they were going to hold for the last shot and initiate with 12 seconds to go.”
WV extended its defensive pressure and sophomore Brady Bagby got a steal and layup with 11 seconds remaining. But Moscow beat pressure and hit a 3-pointer to lead 45-44 with 2.2 seconds left.
“Their fans thought the game was over, but I had signaled timeout when the ball was in the air,” Nilles said. “We put in our touchdown play which – it just so happened – we’d practiced for a half hour (the day before). Thank goodness.”
Nilles said veteran scoring leader Jordan Lupfer-Graham made a great effort to catch the home run pass and hit a fallaway 28- or 30-foot shot at the buzzer for the win.
“Everybody stormed the court,” Nilles said, as WV celebrated last.
Facing the champs
Nilles’ Eagles have an interesting “pick-up” game on their non-league schedule Dec. 20. They travel to Seattle for a game against defending 3A champion Rainier Beach. WV played Rainier Beach at the State 3A in 2000, when the team boasted future collegiate/professional athletes Nate Robinson and Rodrick and Lodrick Stewart.
“I got to know the coach well, we needed a game and said, ‘Why not?’ ” Nilles said. “It will be a nice trip, a Christmas gift.”
The Eagles get to watch the Battle in Seattle between Gonzaga University and Connecticut while there.
The Eagles also play Dec. 11 in Gonzaga University’s McCarthey Athletic Center against Post Falls, as part of the Border Clash tripleheader featuring Community Colleges of Spokane men’s and women’s teams versus North Idaho College.
“It will be two fun games for us,” Nilles said.
Football postmortem
Quarterback Connor Halliday shouldered the blame for his part in Ferris’ 24-21 semifinal football loss to Skyline last weekend.
“We came up short and that’s my fault for underthrowing a bit,” he said.
But the truth is, there was no blame to accept. The interceptions were by two highly coveted wide receivers/defensive backs, Gino Simone and sophomore Kasen Williams. The third was by William Chandler, who was a major thorn for Ferris on both sides of the ball.
The throws were simply well defended by excellent athletes who arrived at the ball and receiver at the same place and time. Someone had to win, someone had to lose.
“We have tremendous athletes who led by example all year and played their hearts out,” Ferris coach Jim Sharkey said. “Probably the turnovers were big, but after being in this a while, that’s kind of what football is.”
•One media person asked Sharkey if he was surprised at Aaron Roberts’ speed. The senior receiver caught nine passes for 151 yards and a touchdown.
“He did it last summer to them,” Sharkey said. “Aaron is a fast as anybody in the state. If we get him in a 1-on-1 situation, we’re fine with that.”
•Senior linemen Elliott Bosch and JD Robinson, along with juniors Peter Anderson, Kjelby Oiland and sophomore Dillon Beschel, had a major game-long defensive impact.
It was the second straight state semifinal appearance for Ferris, which has gone 31-5 in Sharkey’s three years.
Soccer all-league
Morghan Poirier, a junior at Freeman, was an All-NEA first-team pick in soccer. Because of an editing error, her name was inadvertently left off the list published last week.