Mead’s Loucks hits seven TD passes to beat Ferris 49-35

Behind seven touchdown passes from Mead’s Payton Loucks, the Panthers jumped all over Ferris early and then held on for a 49-35 Greater Spokane League victory Friday night.

After Ferris (3-5, 1-3 GSL) marched downfield to open the game and scored on a 1-yard Logan Bunker run, Loucks took no time at all to get his night started.

On Mead’s first play from scrimmage, Loucks hit Joseph Heitman, who outran the defense for an 82-yard scoring strike to tie the game. Loucks completed 16 of 25 passes for 409 yards and seven touchdowns.

“That’s got to be a school record,” Mead coach Benji Sonnichsen said of the seven touchdowns. “I don’t think (Loucks) has ever got 400 (yards) before. We have a big-play offense. We can get yards in chunks.”

Early in the second quarter, Loucks hit Vinny Saldana, who broke tackles on a 60-yard pitch-and-catch for another score. Referees threw a flag on the play, but waved it off and allowed score as Ferris coach Jim Sharkey fumed.

Loucks also had scoring passes of 2 and 79 yards to Thomas Dammarell, a 56-yarder to Heitman, a 7-yarder to Lucas Bacon and a 22-yarder to Michael Workman for Mead (5-3, 2-2 GSL).

Ferris scored 21 points in the fourth period to make it close. The Saxons’ Jonny Via ran for 165 yards on 32 carries and two touchdowns.

“They just kept playing,” Sonnichsen said of Ferris. “That was just a fun game.”

Near the end of the game, Loucks passed again to Dammarell for a score but the play was negated by a holding penalty.