Brady Hill leads Mt. Spokane to fourth straight 3A GSL title

It took a little, while but once Mt. Spokane got rolling it was hard to stop.

Brady Hill rushed for two touchdowns, Cody McDonald kicked three field goals and the Wildcats won their fourth straight Greater Spokane League 3A title, downing Shadle Park 30-0 at Albi Stadium on Thursday.

“We’ve done it four times now,” coach Terry Cloer said of the league title. “That was the goal at the start of the season. Now we start the postseason.”

Hill went 11 of 17 for 126 yards and rushed nine times for 46 yards, while Cole Hattenburg had 46 yards rushing with a touchdown on eight carries and added four catches for 40 yards.

McDonald made kicks of 30, 26 and 39 yards – and barely missed on a 46-yard attempt – with several touchbacks on kickoffs.

“Feels great,” Hill said after ensuring the Wildcats (7-2, 3-0) wouldn’t have to be subjected to a crossover game on Tuesday. “The team played well today. We had a great week of practice and we’re looking good heading into playoffs.”

Mt. Spokane hosts the Metro League sixth seed on Nov. 3 or 4 at 7 p.m. at Albi Stadium.

Shadle Park (3-5, 2-1) will face the Mid-Columbia Conference third-place team on Tuesday. The winner will travel to Seattle on Nov. 4 to stare down O’Dea (7-1, 4-1) – which finished second in the Metro League Mountain division – in the 3A Week 10 playoffs.

Shadle had some trouble right off the bat, calling time out before calling a play. Mt. Spokane forced a punt and took over at its 45. Six plays later Hattenburg cut one up the middle from the 6 and coasted into the end zone for an early 7-0 lead.

“We made enough plays to get a score on the first drive and kind of gave us a little bit of a cushion to make some plays throughout the game,” Cloer said of the scoring drive on his team’s first possession.

Shadle Park started at its 7 on the next drive and took it into Wildcats territory, but turned it over on downs at the 33.

Mt. Spokane then took it the length of the field and had first-and-goal at the 6. Jacob Adams took it on a dive but the ball was ripped from his hands by Dane Rypien and Shadle Park thwarted the drive and took the ball back.

A three-and-out – including a false start penalty – kept the Highlanders in the shadow of the goalpost and was forced to punt from their 4.

After a short punt, the Wildcats took over at the Shadle 33. Hill hit Adams for 7 yards then picked up a first down on third-and-1 with a sneak. After an incomplete pass, Hill took a quarterback draw up the middle, then cut outside and took it to the goal line.

As he stretched for the line he was tackled and the ball popped out, but the officials ruled he broke the plane before the ball came loose and it was ruled a touchdown with 1:11 left in the half.

Shadle tried to get something going on the ensuing possession. Carson Doyle looked for Xavier Atkins downfield but his pass hung up and Isaac Adams swept in for an interception to protect the Wildcats 14-0 lead at intermission.

On the first play of the second half, Mt. Spokane’s Pat O’Leary took a wide receiver screen to the Shadle 21 for a 44-yard catch-and-run.

On fourth-and-goal from the 2, Hill rolled to his right and tried to find Tanner Brooks in the end zone but his throw was short and incomplete and the Wildcats turned it over on downs.

“We were a little bit choppy to start (the second half),” Hill said. “But we settled down and had a great second half. We had a few messups but we ended with a good game.”

After taking over, Shadle faced fourth-and-1 at its 11 and went for it, running a sprint pitch to Xavier Wicks. He was met by a wave of Wildcats defenders before the sticks. He coughed it up on the tackle, but wouldn’t have had the line regardless, and the Wildcats took over at the 9.

Mt. Spokane limited Wicks to 62 yards on 19 carries.

The Highlanders defense stood tall, though, and held Mt. Spokane to McDonald’s 29-yard field goal and the Wildcats led 17-0 with 5:44 left in the third.

“They’ve got a good defense,” Cloer said of the Highlanders. “They’ve got good players at all levels of their defense and they were flying around making plays. Give credit to them for showing up and playing well.”

Mt. Spokane forced a three-and-out and got the ball back at the Shadle 41. On third-and-16 Hill lobbed one down the sidelines to Quinten Ayers for a 26-yard completion to the Shadle 12.

Hill ran a keeper right and on the tackle was flipped head-over-heels to the 1. On the next play he bulled his way into the end zone on a sneak and Mt. Spokane went up 24-0 with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.

At the start of the fourth, a short punt set the Wildcats up at the Shadle 30. Mt. Spokane couldn’t get any traction tough and McDonald’s 45-yard field goal attempt had enough leg but was pushed just wide left.

Shadle later muffed a punt and Mt. Spokane returned the less-than 10-yarderto the Shadle 12. This time, McDonald added a 27-yard field goal and a 27-0 lead with 7:30 left in the game.

“We like to actually go ahead and kick instead of just going for it on fourth down,” McDonald said. “We actually use our kicker, so that’s nice.”

“You get on the other side of the 50 and you’re able to get some points on the board,” Cloer said, calling his kicker a “luxury” at this level.

“He does a great job on kickoffs and puts most of them into the end zone. He’s got a lot of stickers on that helmet because of it.”

“I’ve only missed a couple field goals this season,” McDonald said, “so it’s nice to be called a luxury.”

McDonald’s third field goal, a 39-yarder, came after another turnover on downs in Shadle Park territory.

North Central 35, Rogers 21

Michael Stacy carried 29 times for 218 yards with four touchdowns and the Indians (2-7, 1-2) beat the Pirates (2-6, 0-3) at Albi.