Ethan Keene touchdown in overtime lifts Mt. Spokane over Central Valley; Wildcats keep pace in GSL title race

With Gonzaga Prep winning on Thursday, the rest of the contending teams in the Greater Spokane League 4A/3A division knew what was ahead of them: Win or fall behind. If you already had a loss in league, it was that much more crucial to come out of Week 6 with a win.

So when Mt. Spokane and Central Valley faced off at Union Stadium on Friday, only one team could come away with that win – and it was still not decided after 48 minutes.

Mt. Spokane’s Ethan Keene scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in overtime and the Wildcats’ defense held to defeat the Bears 35-28 at Union Stadium.

“I knew I could get it done,” Keene said. “I mean, we have four or five other guys that get it done, too. So, I mean, if any of us got the ball we would’ve got it done.”

Keene carried 13 times for 46 yards and had three catches for 71 yards. Keene has taken more of a utility role with an injury to slot receiver Blake Speer two weeks ago.

“He’s kind of our Swiss Army knife, since we lost Blake,” Mt. Spokane coach Terry Cloer said. “He can catch it and run it and throw it a little bit, too, if we needed him to do that.”

Cloer talked about the rivalry between the Wildcats (5-1, 5-0) and the Bears (3-3, 3-2).

“That’s three straight games with them that have just been epic battles back and forth,” he said. “They’re a great team. You know, (CV coach Ryan) Butner and I are friends off the field. It’s fun to compete against those guys that you really enjoy being off the field with, too.”

The game was delayed nearly 30 minutes in the third quarter due to an injury to Central Valley sophomore Kamden Lanphere, who was taken by ambulance with his parents to the hospital.

Central Valley coach Ryan Butner said Lanphere was alert and responding to the medical staff’s instructions.

“It’s pretty emotional. They see a kid on a stretcher and, you know, you never like to see that,” Butner said.

Mt. Spokane took the ball first in overtime and came out in the Wildcat formation with Keene as the back. After a short first-down gain by Matteo Saccomanno, Keene ran four straight times, the last a 1-yard plunge for a score. The extra point made it a seven-point game.

“Last year, toward the end the season, we put in that Wildcat and that works pretty well,” Keene said. “With Speer hurting, we miss him a lot. But now we have to run the Wildcat more and get the ball to our other guys.”

CV quarterback Dylan Gravelle fumbled the first-down snap and recovered for a loss, then on second down he was sacked for a nearly 20-yard loss. On fourth-and-32 at the 47, his desperation heave to the end zone was intercepted by Boden Gardner.

“This is our second overtime in three weeks,” Butner said. “We’ve now lost three games by a total of 14 points total.

“It’s depressing, but at the same time our guys fight really, really hard and play to the end.”

Gravelle finished 16 of 38 for 265 yards with three TD passes.

Mt. Spokane and Gonzaga Prep remain the only undefeated teams in league with a showdown scheduled for Oct. 21.

“We’re where we want to be after this,” Cloer said. “You know, this was the big one.”

On the game’s first play from scrimmage, Mt. Spokane quarterback T.J. Haberman looked for a receiver on a short slant route, but defensive end Aiden Labrosse stepped in front of it, hauled it in and took the interception 20 yards for a touchdown for an early 7-0 lead.

The Wildcats answered right back. Haberman connected with Keene for 28 yards into CV territory, then hit Boden Gardner on a fly pattern for a 27-yard touchdown pass to tie it.

Midway through the quarter, CV receiver Hudson Dayton got behind the defense and Gravelle found him for a 68-yard catch-and-run touchdown to make it 14-7.

Dayton had 5 catches for 124 yards.

On CV’s next possession, Gravelle looked to go deep again but was picked off by Devonn Khaleel, who returned it to the CV 21. Three plays later, Jackson Hale broke a tackle, bounced it outside and went 8 yards for a score to tie it back up.

CV embarked on a 19-play drive, culminated by a leaping catch in the back corner of the end zone by Elliot Beal for a 9-yard score to put CV up 21-14 with just more than 5 minutes left in the half.

The Bears got the ball back with 3 minutes, 23 seconds left. Gravelle hit Danner Smith on a screen that went for 37 yards, then found Kaden Harkin for a 12-yard TD pass with 35.5 seconds left for a 28-14 lead at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, Haberman connected with Keene for 42 yards to the CV 8. On the next play, Saccomanno went around right end for a score to trim the Wildcats’ deficit to 7.

On the first play back from the injury delay, Haberman went deep to Bradley Runge on a 70-yard TD pass to tie it.

Haberman finished 9 of 31 for 257 yards.

Mt. Spokane travels to Cheney next week before ending its season with games at Gonzaga Prep and against Mead in the “Battle of the Bell” at Union Stadium. 

Central Valley hosts G-Prep next week before hosting Ferris and playing at University to close the regular season.