Defending champion G-Prep handles Mead

There’s a reason the Gonzaga Bullpups are the defending Greater Spokane League 4A champions, and they showed why Friday night.

The Bullpups’ athletic defense was stellar from start to finish and the offense took over as the game progressed, culminating in a 30-7 decision over the Mead Panthers at Albi Stadium.

Among several standouts for G-Prep (3-0) were linebacker Jack Machtolf and tailback Mason Plese, both seniors.

Machtolf got things rolling when, rushing from the middle of the line, he blocked a punt to set up G-Prep’s first touchdown.

“Basically, what I’m supposed to do there is get as low as I can,” Machtolf said. “All of a sudden I looked up and his foot was there so I put my hand on it. It was awesome to get some momentum our way early in the game.”

Plese, who moved into the starting lineup this season, finished with a game-high 142 yards on 26 attempts.

Mead (2-1), which had scored 43 and 39 points in its first two games, couldn’t find any traction against G-Prep.

While certainly pleased overall, G-Prep coach Dave McKenna talked about the things the Bullpups must shore up – penalties – particularly on offense. He wants his team to be moving the chains not playing behind them.

“We’ve got to eliminate mistakes,” McKenna said. “Too many penalties and turnovers. We’ll get better. We had holding penalties and we’re not good enough to go backwards.”

And that’s the scary thing. G-Prep’s upside is huge.

After G-Prep took advantage of the blocked punt, Mead evened things at 7-7 on its best offensive series of the game.

Mead used 11 plays to go 94 yards. Quarterback Thomas Dammarell scored on a 27-yard scamper with 9:13 to go before halftime.

Jared Kutsch put G-Prep ahead 10-7 with a 33-yard field goal 4 minutes later.

Then with 26 seconds to go before half, Bullpups quarterback Liam Bell got the first of three TD passes when he hit 6-foot-4 sophomore Devin Culp, who finished off the 67-yard scoring play to extend the lead to 16-7 at intermission.

Plese shared credit for his production.

“It’s my offensive line. I wouldn’t get any yards without them,” Plese said. “And the defense did their part only allowing 7. We’ve got a lot of guys out there who can play, and they play as a unit and it’s fun to watch.”

After a scoreless third quarter, G-Prep got some separation. On the first play of the final period, Bell found Nick Johnson on a 12-yard TD pass. Johnson made a nice one-hand stab on the pass.

Bell’s final TD came with 44 seconds to go when he hit a wide-open JD Gruber over the middle.

“Defensively, we tackled well and they (the Panthers) have great speed,” McKenna said. “Mead does some nice things offensively, and they’re no different defensively. They fly to the ball and hit you.”

Mead coach Benji Sonnichsen said his team will chalk the loss up to a learning experience.

“We played a quality program that’s well-coached,” Sonnichsen said. “The caliber of athlete we saw was better than the first two weeks. They exposed some of our weaknesses.”

Sonnichsen expects to gain a lot moving forward.

“What I’ve been telling the kids is adversity is coming and let’s see how we handle it,” he said. “I told them don’t get too high and don’t get too low. It’s Week 3.”