First-place CV holds off Ferris

On a night that further muddled things in the Greater Spokane League, Central Valley pulled out all the stops in its ongoing series of football thrillers with Ferris.

Opportunism and one big play served CV well, but there was also all manner of trickery that enabled the Bears to pull off a 34-31 triumph that wasn’t decided until time ran out.

The victory at Albi Stadium, coupled with the night’s other doings, kept CV (6-1, 6-0 GSL) undefeated in league, alone in first place and two games ahead of its 4A brethren.

And it became the powerful foot of kicker Jake Miller that ultimately spelled the difference.

Miller sent a booming 70-yard punt on the game’s first series that was touched by the Saxons and recovered by the Bears at the 1-yard line, leading to an early touchdown.

He also kicked field goals of 45 and 50 yards, the latter with 6 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the game that proved to be the winner.

And he capped things with the recovery of his onside kick and later a 55-yard punt that forced Ferris to travel 85 yards in search of the ultimate, but futile, comeback.

“When you have a quarterback of that caliber you have to take his turns away,” CV coach Rick Giampietri said of his decision to try all sorts of trickery during the game against Ferris and Connor Halliday. “It was our only chance to win, I thought.”

Although Ferris came right back to tie following CV’s game-opening score, by halftime the Bears had an 11-point lead, following a 71-yard Ryan Nungester lateral run and a score following Spencer Nichols’ interception.

The Bears went ahead 21-10 on a Gaven Deyarmin to Brandon Garcia pass.

Ferris quickly got itself back into the game in the third quarter, with Halliday completing 150 yards worth of passes that led to a 24-24 tie.

Central Valley marched 66 yards to go in front 31-24 three minutes into the fourth quarter.

Back came Ferris to tie less than 2 minutes later.

But a reverse on the kickoff led to a 59-yard return by Nick Lawrence, setting up Miller’s 50-yarder.

“The past two times we lost to Ferris, this time it didn’t happen,” Miller said. “At CV we know special teams are big. Last week they lost the game, this week they won it.”

Halliday threw for 395 yards for Ferris (5-2, 4-2), the third-best game in league history

This time, however, the comeback fell short when a field-goal attempt missed as time expired.

North Central 22, Rogers 21: Zac Hill passed the Indians to their first league victory since 2007, rallying the Indians (1-6, 1-6) past the Pirates (1-6, 1-5).

In the process, he gave first-year coach Brian Gardner his initial win as well.

“We knew coming in it would come down to a couple of big plays either way,” Gardner said.

Down 13-12 at half, NC parlayed a recovered fumble into a short field goal and Hill hit James Dreyer with a 20-yard pass for a nine-point lead early in the final quarter that held up. Hill hit Jared Campasino for a 64-yard score early in the game.

Mt. Spokane 56, East Valley 0: The visiting Wildcats (6-1, 5-1) secured top seeding into post-season. Colten Williams scored four touchdowns. The Knights (2-4, 2-4) were limited to 82 yards rushing