CV defense stifles Suns

KENNEWICK – The frayed tightrope that Southridge had walked on the past few weeks finally broke.

The Suns committed four turnovers and could not slow down a balanced Central Valley offense in a 28-14 loss in the first round of the Sate 4A playoffs at Lampson Stadium on Saturday.

“Usually, we make the big plays, but tonight we didn’t make it,” said Southridge senior quarterback Andrew Mendenhall, who threw four interceptions.

The Suns (10-1) are the latest victim of the Greater Spokane League, which finished 9-0 against CBBN opponents and put an end to Southridge’s season.

CV (10-1), which beat Richland last week, heads back to Spokane to take on league rival Ferris (10-1) for a spot in the state semifinals.

“They are the best team we’ve seen all season, and we ended up turning the ball over too many times,” Suns coach Andy Troxel said.

The defense that led the Suns to the CBBN Columbia Division title, and bailed out Southridge all season when the offense struggled, could not do it against the Bears.

The Suns had been allowing just 156 yards of total offense, a number CV eclipsed in the second quarter. The Bears, who shared the GSL regular-season title with Ferris, had 201 yards at halftime to go with a 21-14 lead.

CV finished with 300 yards of total offense, and if it weren’t for a few untimely penalties that number could have been a lot bigger and the score a lot more lopsided.

Leading 21-14, the Bears looked poised to add to that lead in the final minute of the first half, but they had their drive halted by a fumble at the Southridge 5-yard line.

“That didn’t bother us too much because we still had the lead at half,” said CV quarterback Blake Bledsoe, who completed 13 of 19 passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns.

What was bothersome to Bears coach Rick Giampietri was the two touchdowns his team had called back in the third quarter because of penalties.

“We felt like we were in control, but we just couldn’t put them away,” Giampietri said.

Southridge, which went scoreless in the second half for the second straight game, had few chances to cut into the Bears’ lead during the second half.

After having its 16-play, 65-yard, 51/2-minute drive end in a missed field goal to start the third quarter, the Suns held the ball for just 6 more minutes on their next five possessions of the second half, and crossed midfield just one more time.

Southridge had three of those drives end in Mendenhall interceptions.

He completed 15 of 28 passes for 241 yards, 80 of which came on a second-quarter touchdown pass to Devin Jones that tied the score at 14.

“We were right there,” said running back Cam Sanders, who carried the ball 12 times for 62 yards.

CV, which fell behind Richland 14-0 last week, took an early 6-0 lead on a 50-yard interception return by JC Agen.

The Suns responded on their next drive when Jones snatched the ball with one hand for a 9-yard TD reception to make the score 7-6.

The Bears got the lead right back, when Greg Barnes capped a four-play, 68-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown catch with 11:18 left in the first half.

On the next play, Jones hauled in an 80-yard catch and run to tie the game at 14. The Suns went scoreless over the next 35:16.

“This is definitely not how we wanted this to end,” Sanders said.