Gsl’s Postseason Prospects Bleak

Football

Three weeks into the Greater Spokane League football season it appears that local fans are in for some great fun and games.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see the GSL’s second-place team finish with at least two losses, or the last-place team with two wins. That’s crowding eight teams between 6-2 and 2-6, with three of them joining the eventual league champion in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, it appears it will be 10 weeks and out for all but one GSL school.

The GSL is evenly balanced, a polite way of saying mediocre, which may be a compliment.

In a year when the playoff pool is doubled, giving the GSL four berths, conventional wisdom suggests that expansion will do nothing more than provide Big Nine teams with more opportunities to beat up on Spokane teams.

Until then, however, the balance within the GSL should produce some entertaining football.

Mead is going to win the league, putting the Panthers in the playoffs for the eighth straight year. Only once, though, has Mead won a first-round playoff game. That should change this year when the Panthers play the No. 4 Big Nine team at Albi. And if the Panthers accept what they are - a simple offense behind the running of battering ram Scott McGlocklin and a solid defense - and just try to perfect that, they may survive a round or two of playoff games.

But just getting into the playoffs is probably going to be the highlight for the rest of the GSL teams that qualify.

Everyone else in the league has too many holes to be a long-range threat. But on a weekly basis, mediocrity vs. mediocrity could prove very entertaining.

Early showdown

The focal point should be on quarterbacks when second-ranked Odessa opens its Northeast B-8 schedule at 3 p.m. Friday at Inchelium.

Over the years, Odessa (3-0) has relied on its passing game to reach 12 state playoff games. This year, however, the Tigers have used running and defense to win while waiting for senior quarterback Randy Carlson to find his touch.

“I wouldn’t put the blame on anyone, other than we’re having a team breakdown in the passing game,” said Odessa coach Myron Kramer.

When Carlson has time to pass, Kramer said, the receivers have run shaky routes. When the routes are crisp, Carlson has been under pressure to throw.

Inchelium (2-1, 1-0 NEB) squeaked past Cusick in its league opener last Friday, thanks to a lategame touchdown pass by Jesse Schumacher.

Although the 200-pound Schumacher provides a challenge to any defense, the Hornets would rather have J.D. Finley under center.

Finley sprained his knee during the season-opener against St. John-Endicott, then tried to come back too soon against LaCrosse-Washtucna. He’ll start at defensive back Friday.

“We’re hoping he’s going to work his way back, where he’s 100 percent,” said Inchelium co-coach Duane Gatlin. “We’re working him in as a receiver, slowly working him back into the offense.”

“That throws off their dynamics because (Schumacher) is their lead blocker,” Kramer said.

Between them, Odessa and Inchelium have three state titles in the last seven years.

Long time coming

Colville’s 28-11 victory over Cheney last Friday was its first victory over the Blackhawks in 32 years.

Colville’s last win came in 1964 when both schools were in the Northeast A League.

“I knew it was the only Frontier League team I hadn’t beaten,” said Indians coach Ken Emmil.

It was cause for wild celebration after the game.

“Over the past few years there have not been a ton of wins,” said Emmil. “You get pretty excited about every one we get.”

The Indians play at West Valley Friday at 7:30 and Emmil cautioned that one victory, no matter how significant it might seem at the time, means little in big picture.

“That was one step in the process,” he said of the Cheney win. “But it’s not like we have a great tradition. We haven’t won that many that we can be overconfident.”

A game or a season

Brad Hilse of North Kitsap had a decent game Friday.

Besides rushing for 357 yards, he scored every point in a 45-36 win over Bremerton.

Hilse, a 5-foot-8, 185-pound junior, had touchdown runs of 11, 2, 8, 1 and 50 yards among his 31 carries. He also caught a 4-yard TD pass, kicked a 29-yard field goal, kicked four extra-points and hauled in a two-point conversion pass.

The rushing record for 11-man football is 407 yards by Davenport’s Ralph Edwards in 1976; Ray Eckman of Lincoln High in Seattle scored nine touchdowns in a 1918 game. Hilse is No. 2 on the AAA single-game rushing list, No. 12 overall.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ALL-TIME RUSHING LEADERS Single-game rushing leaders in Washington high school history.

Name School Year Yards Ralph Edwards Davenport 1976 407 Bob Simpson Reardan 1953 406 Ron Gerard Lake Roosevelt 1980 395 Frank Norwest White Swam 1978 393 Clark Bippers Palouse 1963 393