G-Prep has to get past Evergreen

Last year at this time, the Greater Spokane League representatives were doing what they had done for the past six years: watching the State 4A football playoffs.

And the Evergreen Plainsmen were doing what every GSL team has done the past six years: running into a brick wall from the Big Nine.

In Evergreen’s case, it was the Pasco Bulldogs who supplied the roadblock, defeating the Plainsmen from Vancouver 24-6 in a semifinal at Pasco’s Edgar Brown Stadium. But it was during that game a foundation for this season was built, a foundation that’s led to another state semifinal berth, at 3 p.m. today against Gonzaga Prep in Albi Stadium.

“It might help that our kids had to do it last year,” Evergreen coach Cale Piland said. “We’ve got experience in making the trip east. We are just going a little farther this time.”

Having to make another semifinal trip across the state doesn’t seem to faze Piland, but it did bother some Evergreen fans.

The Vancouver Columbian newspaper reported earlier this week some fans called the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s office wanting the game played at a neutral site.

Piland wasn’t one of them. He sees the trip as just another challenge on the road to the ultimate goal: a State 4A title.

After last season’s loss to Pasco, the Plainsmen knew the future was bright. After all, running back Taylor Rank was returning, as were a group of seniors any high school coach would covet.

Evergreen (12-0) starts 19 seniors this season, the brightest of which is Rank.

The 6-foot, 2-inch, 205-pound highly recruited running back has carried the ball 233 times for 1,676 yards and 27 touchdowns. He’s also caught 14 passes for another 196 yards and two more TDs.

But before you get the impression Rank is the entire offense, be aware the Plainsmen are averaging more than 41 points a game.

“The (Nick) Fleck kid, no one knew who he was,” Prep coach Dave Carson said of Evergreen’s quarterback. “He’s done what ever he’s had to do to lead them to victory.”

Fleck assumed the starting role this season and ran with it – or passed with it would be better. He’s thrown for 1,988 yards, completed 65 percent of his passes and found a receiver in the end zone 19 times.

Last week, when Curtis decided to stop Rank at all costs (he finished with 105 yards on 24 carries), Fleck teamed with David Reinikka for three scores (82, 77 and 54 yards) in a 28-14 win.

“Our defense has been peppered and tested all year,” Carson said of Evergreen’s balanced attack. “Whether we can react to these guys and their routes and what they do, you never know. That’s why you play the games.”

On the other side of the ball, the Plainsmen were just as dominating, yielding just 10 points a game.

“We’ve had a lot of success this year,” Piland said. “Teams have struggled running the football against us. Our front seven is pretty good, and we have a lot of experience in the secondary. Curtis tried to throw the ball against us last week, and we were able to defend the pass pretty well.

“It’s just an experienced defense. It’s sound and they have a good understanding of what our scheme is. It’s been a real team concept. It seems like it’s been a different guy each week who has made a number of plays. It just depends on how people try to attack it.”

All three Evergreen defensive linemen earned first-team All-Greater St. Helens League honors, with Greg Peach named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“They have some great players,” Carson said. “Anytime you have a defensive lineman who is MVP of the league, you’ve got to be doing something right.”

So Prep (12-1) has its work cut out if it wants to return to the State 4A finals for the first time since 1987, when Puyallup foiled the Pups chances for back-to-back titles, 27-21. But at least, for the first time since the state playoffs began in the 1970s, there is a chance for two East Side schools to make the final.

Thanks to lobbying by the Big Nine and others, the state brackets in football have been balanced out, meaning the East Side schools didn’t have to meet in the quarterfinals, as was the rule prior to this season.

“The thing that we appreciate is now everybody (around the state) realizes how hard it is to go through (the Big Nine),” Carson said. “Everybody else is getting a taste of Pasco. We haven’t been losing to the Little Sisters of the Poor.”

Pasco meets Skyline in the other 4A semifinal