CV hangs on
To the players and fans it’s the Greasy Pig, but the way the University-Central Valley football game played out for a standing-room crowd at Sig T. Hansen Field on a beautiful Friday night, Roommate Rumble seems fitting.
Old North Central and Eastern Washington teammates Rick Giampietri and Bill Diedrick squared off for the first time as head coaches in the Greater Spokane League with Giampietri’s Bears holding off Diedrick’s visiting Titans 28-21.
A turnover by the Titans (1-1, 1-1) with 20 seconds left sealed the game for the Bears (2-0, 2-0)
“I told Coach Diedrick, if that’s the first one, I don’t know what the rest are going to be like,” said Giampietri, in his 17th year at CV. “That was a great ballgame. It was just a great up and down game.”
“I was excited about this about six months ago,” said Diedrick, who coached at Rogers for seven years before embarking on a vagabond college and professional career. “I congratulate them or a heck of an effort and I feel really proud of our guys. They gave a great effort too. We probably made one or two many more mistakes than we can make in an even game like this.”
The Titans had one last chance when they got the ball on their 25 with 2:50 to play. A fourth-down pass interference on the Bears gave the Titans life and a roughing-the-quarterback penalty put the ball in CV territory.
Then quarterback Tony Tabish hit Brandtly Thornton for 22 yards to the CV 23. But CV linebacker Keegan Shea blitzed and forced a fumble that Branson Schmidt covered on the 30.
“I thought we were going to pick it up and score and go for two,” Diedrick said.
“It could have been overtime,” Giampietri said. “We wouldn’t have deserved that. We should have put it away earlier. It was a great play.”
The first half was interesting with both teams getting a gift because of errors in the punting game and putting together one long drive for a 14-14 tie.
The Bears took charge by scoring on their first two possessions of the second half, with Taylor Evans, who had 149 yards rushing and three scores on 31 carries scoring on 3- and 11-yard runs.
“It’s pretty easy running behind this line; they’re the best in the GSL,” said Evans, a senior who only carried the ball late in blowouts last year. “I feel like I’ve been ready for this for a lot of years and I’m finally getting the opportunity.
“We knew they’d come out and stack the box. We love off-tackle but we love running everything.” The Titans got untracked in the fourth quarter.
Tabish engineered a quick four-play, 79-yard scoring drive that made it 28-21 when he hit Jordan Curanan with a 4-yard strike with 6:31 to play.
Tabish finished 22 of 36 for 302 yards of the Titans’ 357 yards of offense. CV had 262 yards, 174 on the ground. Evans accounted for 149 yards on 31 carries.
East Valley 35, North Central 13: Alex Rockstrom returned the opening kickoff 96 yards and the Knights (1-1, 1-1) were never threatened by the visiting Indians (0-2, 0-2). Jackson Romney threw for 124 yards with touchdown passes of 35 yards to Ronnie Jarvis and 40 yards to Rich Mehlbrech. Jonathan Stratton had a 95-yard kickoff return for NC.
Mt. Spokane 33, Clarkston 13: Colten Williams carried nine times for 172 yards and three first-half touchdowns as the Wildcats (2-0) picked up the non-league win at Clarkston (0-2). Travis Ward threw for 157 yards with two third-quarter touchdowns, both to Chip Propp covering 43 and 16 yards. The Bantams’ Brady Arnone threw for 219 yards.