Diezel Wilkinson rushes for three TDs, passes for two more as East Valley downs North Central 40-14

Diezel Wilkinson rushed for three touchdowns and connected for two passing TDs and East Valley snapped a 0-for-5 September streak to post a 40-14 victory over winless North Central on Friday night.

“It’s good to get a win on homecoming,” Wilkinson said. “We’ve been thinking about this game all week. It’s good that we can give our fans a win.”

The teams certainly gave the fans a wild first quarter.

NC’s Nicholas Elliott returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and the Wolfpack had a long touchdown pass called back on a holding penalty on their second play from scrimmage.

Between those two plays, Wilkinson had a 67-yard touchdown run called back after the side judge ruled he stepped out of bounds near midfield.

It was the second straight game the Knights have allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown.

“That’s kind of our Achilles’ heel,” coach Tom Griggs said. “We’re still working on it.”

A year after reaching the State 2A playoffs, the Knights opened the season with five straight losses – falling to Deer Park, Lakeside, Clarkston, Bonners Ferry and West Valley.

In righting the ship on a night of celebration at East Valley, the Knights answered North Central’s opening score by putting up 40 consecutive points before the Wolfpack found the end zone again.

“This has been a year where we’ve dealt with injuries and grades and a number of issues,” Griggs said. “We lost our JV team, so we’ve been getting those kids into games as much as we can. That’s the nice thing about tonight – every kid in a green helmet played in this game.

“If you look at the film of those first few games and look at where we are now, we’ve gotten better. We’re going to keep working.”

Wilkinson came out of the game early in the second half and the junior was pleased with the performance of the team’s freshmen and sophomores.

“They did a nice job and it was good to see them get a chance to play,” he said. “I know they kind of look up to us and we try to set a good example for them.”

The first half set a good example.

Wilkinson sandwiched a pair of short touchdown runs around a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Owen Spendlove, who found plenty of space behind the North Central defensive backfield.

Meanwhile, the EV defense found a way to shut down a North Central passing game that was unable to break open a big play.

“That’s where we see some real improvement,” Griggs said. “We weren’t tackling very well in those first few games.”

It was the second straight year East Valley posted a win over North Central.

Last year, after subbing Wilkinson for senior quarterback Ryan Conrath at halftime, the Knights breezed to a 50-18 victory.

Wilkinson said the team will put this win behind them and get back to work on Monday, looking to carry some momentum into its game with Rogers on Friday at Mead’s Union Stadium before closing out the season at Pullman and at home against Shadle Park.

“If we can close out the season with four straight wins, we can salvage a pretty good season,” Wilkinson said.