CV drubs Post Falls

It was the kind of football game the Central Valley Bears needed with a big showdown looming.

Central Valley coach Rick Giampietri, in fact, called it one of the best games his Bears have played this season.

The Bears provided plenty of fireworks to complement the postgame fireworks Friday as Central Valley spoiled Post Falls’ homecoming 33-7.

CV (6-0) plays host to Ferris (6-0) on Friday in a game that will decide sole possession of first place in the Greater Spokane League.

Before Giampietri started thinking ahead, though, he took a few moments to savor the win at Post Falls.

“It was an exceptional game,” Giampietri said. “We’ve been looking forward to (Ferris) for a while, and we’ve just been keeping it on the backburner. Now it’s here and I’m glad. We’ve got good momentum going into it.”

If CV was looking ahead, one wouldn’t have been able to tell it by the way the Bears moved up and down the field. They finished with 457 yards total offense.

Then in the second half, the Bears’ defense put the final clamps on a good Post Falls (2-4) offense.

The play of the game, though, came with no time on the clock before halftime. A roughing the punter penalty as time expired gave CV a first down at its 42-yard-line and allowed the Bears one untimed play before intermission.

That’s when Giampietri went to his bag of tricks and called for a hook-and-ladder play. Quarterback Blake Bledsoe hit J.C. Agen for an 11-yard gain and he lateraled to Greg Barnes, who dashed the final 47 yards to extend the Bears’ lead to 21-7.

“That gave us a big lift at halftime,” Giampietri said.

It seemed to wipe away any steam the Trojans had left.

Twice in the first half, CV had interceptions in the end zone to stop PF drives.

“The turnovers, some costly penalties (and) jumping offsides and keeping their drives alive at times,” PF coach Jeff Hinz said. “Just simple mistakes that I thought we had cleaned up, but we didn’t clean them up tonight.”

Hinz said the challenge is before his team, which lost a 5A Inland Empire League opener to Lake City last week. The Trojans travel to Lewiston next week. Lewiston knocked off Coeur d’Alene 33-27 in a league opener for both teams Friday.

“We’ve got three games left to play,” Hinz said. “At times we feel like we’re this close or that close. But it’s not enough being close anymore. We’ve got to decide to get it done.”