Friday Night (High)lights: “Battle of the Bell” to decide GSL 4A/3A title; three-way playoff possible in 2As
If you missed out on high school football this week, you missed a lot.
But that’s why we’re here, every week of the season, to catch you up on everything that happened in the Greater Spokane League and across the region in high school football.
There was a clash of the titans over the weekend in both divisions of the league, with three-way ties for the top spot in each possible at the end of the regular season.
If you’re a fan of good football, you can’t ask for more than that. If you’re a fan of a particular team, you just want a win.
Let’s go around the league (and elsewhere) and take a look at five things that stood out to us in Week 8.
Cats over Pups
As it has been so many times in the past few years, the battle between the 4A top-seed Gonzaga Prep and 3A contender Mt. Spokane was a battle of wills.
The Bullpups want to run it, then run it some more. The Wildcats are stacked with deep threats and a junior QB with a strong arm. Both were successful on Friday, and it was a spectacular game.
Junior Tristan Olson – a player not as prominent on the depth chart earlier in the season – caught a late touchdown pass from T.J. Haberman, the Mt. Spokane defense created two turnovers in the fourth quarter and the Wildcats beat the Bullpups 31-27.
If you missed it, maybe you can catch a rerun somewhere. It’s worth the effort.
It was the biggest game of the year for Mt. Spokane – until next week. But we’ll get to that.
The Wildcats are in the driver’s seat in the league, alone at 7-0, while G-Prep and Mead sit one game back.
The Bullpups host Lewis and Clark (3-4) next week in the season finale, but it’s the second half of the equation that will have everyone’s attention.
Battle of the Bell
It doesn’t get bigger than this – in league play, anyway.
The game between school district rivals Mead and Mt. Spokane, which are 9 miles apart and share a stadium almost equidistant from each school, is always a big one. It’s not part of the Great American Rivalry Series for nothing.
If neither team wins a game all year, this is the one they would want.
But the Bell has never been scheduled for the last game of the season. Maybe it should be every year.
During our preseason visits with the teams in August, every coach and player pointed to this game. “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool …” the conversations would start.
Well, here it is. And it means everything.
If Mt. Spokane wins, it alone is the 4A/3A league champion and will be the league’s top seed to the 3A Week 10 state “Round of 32” with a chance to host a playoff game at Union Stadium.
If Mead wins, it’ll be a three-way tie for the league championship and the Panthers will own the top 3A seed with the hope to be awarded that home postseason game.
It’s all you ask for out of a high school football game.
Revenge game
Last year, Clarkston led Shadle Park 21-7 at halftime before the Highlanders came back to win 30-27 and snatch the GSL 2A title.
When the Bantams drove up to Spokane Valley early Saturday morning, all they could think about was one thing – returning the favor.
Shadle Park led 17-10 after three quarters, but the Bantams scored twice in the fourth, then stopped Shadle on fourth-and-goal with 25 seconds left to claim at least a share of the 2A title.
Clarkston’s league season is done at 5-1, while Shadle Park and West Valley have one loss apiece with one to play.
If the Highlanders top East Valley and the Eagles can knock off Pullman (3-2) at home, the 2As will need a three-way Kansas tiebreaker on the Tuesday after the regular season to decide the title.
That means something more than pride. The champ gets an automatic bid to state, while second and third have to play crossover games against the Central Washington Athletic Conference.
Holding serve
Resurgent Colville had something to prove hosting No. 3 Lakeside on Friday, but the Eagles withstood the challenge and downed the Crimson Hawks 30-13 to secure the Northeast A title.
Colville, with losses to Lakeside and Freeman, will most likely be relegated to a Week 10 crossover against a Caribou Trail League team.
Meanwhile, Freeman shut out Newport and likely claimed the second bye for the league to state.
Gem state update
Post Falls earned its first outright Inland Empire League 5A title with an exclamation point, handling Lake City 49-19. For their efforts, the Trojans were awarded the North’s top seed to the state playoffs and received a bye to the quarterfinals.
The second spot was claimed by Lewiston, which jumped out to a 33-0 lead and beat Coeur d’Alene 40-6 in what turned out to be an elimination game. It’s the first time since 2016 the Bengals topped the Vikings.