Prep football roundup: Shadle Park beats Rogers behind Tryson Town’s 160 rushing yards and 3 TD’s
Underneath a steady stream of rain and chill, visiting Shadle Park opened its Greater Spokane League season with a 42-20 victory against Rogers in the first game to be hosted at the high school since 2002.
“It feels good, especially getting into league (play),” said Shadle Park head coach Jim Mace, whose team earned its first win in three games this season. “We talked to the kids all week, you can be 0-2 or 2-0, it doesn’t really matter now. League is the only thing that matters for getting into the playoffs, and that’s our goal.”
Shadle Park’s line dominated early and often, leading the offense to 21 points in the first quarter and overshadowing Rogers’ Senior Game celebrations.
“Our whole week, we’ve talked about the first quarter,” Mace said. “We have got to come out, knock some people around on defense and score on offense, and we were able to do that.”
Senior running back Tryson Town, who had 160 rushing yards and ran for three touchdowns for the Highlanders, said they were anxious to get into the win column after two disappointing outings against Timberlake and Riverside in nonleague play.
“Coming in 0-2, we really had a chip on our shoulder,” Town said. “I feel like we really prepared for this week because we were sick of losing, so we had to take this one personally.”
Still, the biggest development of the game was the feeling of Shadle Park, “coming together as a team,” when it mattered most, according to Town. “The last two games, we were kind of off on our own, but this game we were really together more as a team and hyping each other up.
“There’s still some stuff we got to work on, just like every game. You’re always going to have something you’ve got to work on, so just bring it to practice, work on that, and bring it to the next week.”
Moving forward to next week’s game against East Valley (1-0), Mace aims to improve the passing game, saying, “We have some really outstanding receivers who just aren’t getting the ball as much as they should. So that would be a big thing for us.”
Rogers (0-3) saw strong performances by sophomore quarterback Deon Kinsey, who had 107 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 14 attempts, and senior Anthony Dearfield who had 41 yards on three receptions.
Next, the Pirates face North Central on Friday.
GSL 4A/3A
Mead 24, University 7: Colby Danielson ran for two touchdowns and the visiting Panthers (1-1) beat the Titans (1-2) in a GSL 4A/3A game.
Eastmont 55, Lewis and Clark 6: Gunnar Peterson ran for two touchdowns and the Wildcats (2-1) defeated the visiting Tigers (1-1) in a nonleague game.
Gentz Hilburn scored the only touchdown for Lewis and Clark on a 55-yard pass from Tyler Jones.
Idaho
Coeur d’Alene 43, North Creek 42: The visiting Vikings (2-1) made a stop at the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime to beat the Jaguars (2-1) in a nonleague game.