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Mt. Spokane rallies to beat Ferris

Mt. Spokane’s Roy Hyatt, left, drags Ferris defenders Tim Kirby and James Mann (24) during Thursday night’s game at Albi Stadium. (Jesse Tinsley)
Mt. Spokane’s Roy Hyatt, left, drags Ferris defenders Tim Kirby and James Mann (24) during Thursday night’s game at Albi Stadium. (Jesse Tinsley)Buy a print of this photo
By Greg Lee

Undone the past two weeks by many of their own mistakes, the Mt. Spokane football team took advantage of a couple breaks late Thursday.

The Wildcats scored the go-ahead touchdown when quarterback Matt Pulliam darted 11 yards to put his team ahead 27-24 with 2:01 remaining as Mt. Spokane rallied to top the Ferris Saxons at Albi Stadium.

With the win, Mt. Spokane (3-2) snapped a two-game losing streak.

Pulliam came up big for the Wildcats, rushing for 114 yards and throwing for 164.

“It’s a really big win,” Pulliam said. “We’ve got a bunch of momentum going into our next game.”

That would be a matchup with district rival Mead. It may be a nonleague contest in the Greater Spokane League’s new format, but it carries much significance for both teams.

“That’s obviously a huge game,” Pulliam said.

Mt. Spokane defensive lineman Chase Gyllenhammer recovered a fumble by quarterback Mitch Pike at the Wildcats 28-yard line to secure the game with 49 seconds remaining.

Ferris had driven to Mt. Spokane’s 20 before Pike fumbled while being chased down.

Mt. Spokane began its game-winning drive after stopping the Saxons a yard short on a fake punt with 5:22 to go.

“We’ve done that the last couple of games,” Mt. Spokane coach Terry Cloer said of some drive-stopping mistakes. “They were close games too. Tonight we were able to stay in it and execute down the stretch and get a huge drive for the W.”

Ferris (1-4) threatened to turn the game into a runaway, opening an 18-3 lead.

But the Wildcats bounced back to score the final 17 points of the first half for a 20-18 lead.

The Saxons’ best drive was on their opening possession. They marched 80 yards on 11 plays with Pike scoring from 2 yards out.

Then Logan Johnston recovered a fumble on Mt. Spokane’s 34-yard line. Three plays later, Pike hit Jalen Hicks on a 32-yard touchdown pass for a 12-0 lead.

Mt. Spokane got on the scoreboard when Tucker Jones kicked a 36-yard field goal.

Hicks got loose for a 48-yard TD run, increasing Ferris’ lead to 18-3 with 9:26 to go before halftime.

Jones hit his second field goal, this time from 28 yards, to pull the Wildcats within 18-6.

Roy Hyatt finished a short Mt. Spokane drive with a 5-yard run, trimming the Saxons’ lead to 18-13 with 3:12 to go.

Mt. Spokane got the ball back one more time. The Wildcats used seven plays to cover 75 yards with Pulliam finding Dakota Hipes behind two Saxon defenders for a 20-yard TD connection for the 20-18 halftime lead.

Ferris didn’t score a conversion after a TD in the first half.

Cloer was shaking his head after Mt. Spokane fell into the 18-3 hole.

“I was wondering what the heck is going on,” Cloer said. “We didn’t get off the bus very well and they jumped on us early. We settled in in the second quarter and got some stops and started moving the ball on offense.”