Enjoyable Knight
East Valley hadn’t touched the football for nearly 8 fourth-quarter minutes Thursday and was clinging tenuously to an 11-point lead with Mt. Spokane attempting to rally with its second straight onside kick.
Recovering one has been something of an adventure for EV’s Knights over the years, although, said coach Adam Fisher, “it’s not for lack of trying.”
After one miss a couple of minutes earlier, EV covered this one and it took just 11 seconds for Case Parker to secure a 35-17 triumph and the Greater Spokane League’s 3A state playoff berth.
The reserve running back’s 70-yard scoring dash, untouched up the middle, was the third lightning bolt to strike the Wildcats and dash their hopes.
Early in the second quarter the Knights (4-2) struck twice in 20 seconds for touchdowns to break a 7-all tie and ultimately build a 28-7 halftime edge.
That lead stood up before Mt. Spokane’s keep-away comeback in the final period cut the lead to 28-17 with 3:27 remaining, following its first onside kick recovery.
“We’d have been fine, but we didn’t have the ball enough. They did an excellent job of controlling it,” said Fisher. “But the moral of the story is we won.”
The first half was a story of turnovers after the Knights scored on the game’s first possession. Ryan Campbell had rushes of 22 and 36 yards during the six-play, 70-yard march before plunging in.
Thereafter, in a span of a minute, the teams traded the ball three times, either via fumble or interception. EV’s second turnover set up Mt. Spokane’s tying score just before quarter’s end.
The Knights roared back on a 31-yard Tanner Hamilton fullback dash. Immediately thereafter, he recovered another Wildcats fumble. Campbell went 30 yards on EV’s first scrimmage try for the 21-7 lead with 9:25 left until half. The team added another touchdown with 2:55 remaining.
EV’s defense had a hand in the lead, paced by linebacker Caleb Gillespie. All-GSL as a junior, the 6-foot-1, 207-pounder was in on numerous tackles, either harassing quarterback Kyle Redmon or helping to bottle up slotback Brandon Jared.
Gillespie admitted to cramping up, but with the Knights down to backup linebackers because of injury, he couldn’t leave the field.
He also took a bullish turn at fullback, carrying twice for 31 yards and was the lead blocker on Parker’s decisive touchdown.
“I turned around and all of a sudden he was in the end zone,” Gillespie said.
Beating the Wildcats (2-4) for a two-game lead over them with two to play, was a relief, he added.
“It was kind of ugly, but it was a win,” Gillespie said.
EV came out passing against the Wildcats to set up the run and it worked. The Knights finished with 263 yards on the ground. Campbell, who had 118 yards at halftime, finished with 112.
Mt. Spokane’s Redmon completed 21 of 38 passes for 220 of his team’s 254 yards. EV, for the most part, bent but didn’t break.
Ferris 7, Mead 3: The victorious Saxons (5-1, 4-1) unveiled a new offensive threat in a defensive standout and made good on their one scoring opportunity.
Defensive end Pat Parham took his turn on the other side of the ball, scoring the winning TD to cap a time-consuming, third-quarter-opening drive.
Parham lined up at fullback and had three carries for 27 yards. But it was his catch for a 3-yard TD with 6:21 to play in the quarter that gave Ferris its winning points.
The Saxons also pulled out a little shotgun offense razzle-dazzle to begin the 65-yard march. A pair of direct snaps to running back McKenzie Murphy accounted for the first 27 yards.
Mead (2-4, 2-3) answered with a field goal 4 minutes later, but the rest of the game was about missed opportunities.
The Panthers controlled the football for 9 minutes of the first quarter, reaching the Ferris 12-yard line, and drove to the 7- and 5-yard lines in the second period only to come up short each time.
Twice they were stopped on fourth-and-1, once they were intercepted in the end zone and another time they fumbled at the 5, negating a good defensive half.
The Saxons had gained only 60 yards by intermission.
Most of their total yardage for the night came from quarterback Jeff Minnerly, who rushed 19 times for 80 yards and passed for 49 more and the winning score.