Shadle Park rolls by Rogers

If there was any lingering disappointment from the week before it wasn’t evident with the Shadle Park football team Thursday.

The Highlanders came out in businesslike fashion, rolling up a 41-0 lead before settling for a 41-14 win over the Rogers Pirates in a Greater Spokane League 3A opener at Albi Stadium.

Ferris knocked off Shadle 43-34 last Friday.

“I told our guys all week that this was going to be a big game for us in terms of how we respond after a loss,” Shadle Park quarterback Brett Rypien said. “We played really well all around as a team. That’s what we needed coming off a tough loss.”

It also didn’t hurt that Rypien had his full complement of receivers. Starters Cam Duty and Jayden Nguyen returned from injuries after missing the Ferris game.

In the first half, Rypien completed 21 of 26 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns. Seven Highlanders caught passes, led by George Pilimai, who had five receptions for 83 yards and a TD.

Rypien played one series in the second half but didn’t attempt any passes.

Shadle (5-2) didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard, moving 54 yards on six plays with the drive capped by a 6-yard pass to Pilimai.

“We finally came out and sustained a good drive early in the game,” Rypien said.

Moments later free safety Matt Keenan made it 14-0 when he returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown.

TJ Trout and Michael Morris also had interceptions for Shadle.

Shadle went ahead 21-0 when Darius Savick Batters dashed 18 yards.

On their next possession, the Highlanders marched from their 16-yard line before Zaq Munson scored from 5 yards out for a 28-0 lead with 31 seconds to go in the first quarter.

Shadle used four passes to cover 85 yards for a fifth TD when Rypien found Munson on a 2-yard swing pass.

The Highlanders extended their lead to 41-0 when Sam Stratton got loose for an 11-yard TD reception from Rypien.

On its last possession of the first half, Rogers (0-7) got untracked. The Pirates used 10 plays to drive 71 yards. Kahlil Winfrey pulled in a 3-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Austyn Holm.

Holm started in place of Cole Shafer, who suffered a concussion last week.

The second half was played with a running clock.

“I think we definitely got better,” Rypien said. “We had probably our best week of practice. We’ve got to be playing our best football by the time we play Mt. Spokane (in two weeks) and start getting ready for the playoffs. We have to just keep getting better.”