Good season all around

The 2006-07 high school football season was a year when all five Spokane Valley teams finished the season with at least a .500 league or overall record.

East Valley qualified for the postseason for the third straight season. Freeman captured a fourth straight Northeast A League title. Neither advanced to state

The Knights saw West Valley of Yakima stage a fourth-quarter comeback and dropped a 28-17 decision on its home field.

Freeman, playing short-handed and hobbled by injuries, fell to Omak in a rain-soaked Class 1A play-in game.

Here’s a recap of highlights:

East Valley

East Valley finished with a 7-3 record, 6-2 in the GSL. League losses to both Ferris and Mead were by a total of 11 points.

Senior running back Ryan Campbell finished his season with 815 yards rushing (the fifth-best total in the league this season) and 90 points scored (second behind Mt. Spokane’s Brandon Jared, who scored 102). Both totals moved him up on the all-time GSL career rankings.

In three years in the East Valley backfield, Campbell rushed for 2,924 yards, the fifth-best career total for a GSL running back, 1,013 yards behind all-time leader Tyree Clowe of Central Valley and 416 yards behind the career numbers posted by his brother, Scott, at East Valley.

Campbell’s 284 career points rank him third all-time, behind only Clowe’s career mark of 342 points and Mead’s Skylar Jessen, who finished with 324.

Kicker Josh Polello booted 31 extra points in his second year on the varsity. His two-year total is 71, leaving him third all-time. Only Gonzaga Prep’s Mat Barker, with 33, kicked more extra points. Polello also converted five of 12 field goal attempts.

Senior quarterback Russell Woodworth completed 71 of 121 passes for 871 yards, the third-highest total in the league. He completed 59 percent of his passes, with five going for touchdowns, while helping to groom his replacement, junior Lonnie Quirk.

Sam Hale led the team in receiving with 403 yards on 26 catches, two of them for touchdowns. The senior averaged 15.5 yards per catch.

Central Valley

Central Valley (4-6 overall) was 4-4 in the GSL. The Bears lost nonleague games with Lake City and Wenatchee.

The season highlight for the Bears was Tyler Cochran’s touchdown run to score a 20-17 come-from-behind victory over rival University in the GSL finale for both schools.

Running back Shon Davis rushed for 872 yards, the second-highest total in the league and pulled in 107 receiving yards to finish with a combined total of 979 yards.

Despite getting a late start while recovering from a dislocated knee cap, junior quarterback Luke Clift passed for 771 yards, completing 59 of 131 attempts for 10 touchdowns.

Senior kicker Connor Janhunen converted 21 of 22 extra points and connected on six of nine field goal attempts. Punter Austin Askins was the league’s best, averaging 35.35 yards per kick.

University

University also finished with a 4-4 league record and 4-6 overall.

The Titans had the league’s top rusher in junior Tyler Carlson, who ran for 974 yards and collected 1,013 combined yards, the fifth-best league total. His 72 points scored was the fourth-best total in the league.

In his second season as the team’s starting quarterback, junior Dan Jordan threw for 716 yards, completing 83 of 162 attempts.

Ken Wood led the Titans in receiving with 26 catches for 385 yards and a pair of touchdowns, an average of 14.8 yards per catch. Travis Clark caught another 18 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown.

As a kicker, Wood was a perfect 5-for-5 on field goals and converted 14 of 16 extra point attempts. He also averaged 34.54 yards per punt.

West Valley

West Valley completed its first season in the Great Northern League with a 5-5 overall record, 3-4 in league.

It was the Eagles’ best record in a decade.

The Eagles battled undefeated league champion Colville to a 27-27 tie in the fourth quarter of their game at Colville, only to see the home team score twice to take a 41-27 decision.

Camron Bowman (550 rushing yards) and Tommy Peterson (528) led WV’s ground game. Bryan Peterson, Tommy’s cousin, completed 99 of 173 passes for 1,474 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Leading receivers were Bowman (27 catches, 471 yards) and ends Parker Flynn (24 catches, 432 yards, five TDs) and Casey Sherrill (18 catches, 321 yards, five TDs). Sherrill also had four interceptions.

Tim Pring had 122 tackles, including 65 solo stops. Corey Lewis had 123, 40 of them solo.

Freeman

Freeman lost its season opener to visiting Kettle Falls, then rolled off eight consecutive victories to win its fourth straight Northeast A League title.

All four titles came with a member of the Dresback family at quarterback. Jon Dresback led the Scotties to the State 1A title game in his senior season. Brother Andrew took over as a sophomore and guided the team to three straight titles – quarterbacking his team to a 45-14 clinching victory over Colfax with a separated shoulder.

Senior running back Chris Davis led the team in rushing with several 100-yard games including one of 335. He scored 16 touchdowns including two four-TD games.

Receiver Scott Ferguson had 13 touchdowns during the season.