Raesean Eaton leads West Valley over North Central, Eagles remain in 2A playoff hunt

Greater Spokane League officials still don’t know for certain how many bids the 2A division will earn to the Week 10 playoffs against the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

Whether it turns out to be two or three, West Valley helped its chances on Thursday.

Led by dual-threat quarterback Raesean Eaton, the Eagles withstood an early challenge and pulled away from North Central 33-7 at Union Stadium.

“Thursday night game, only game in town,” West Valley coach Craig Whitney said. “Kind of cool to play up here at this field though.” 

“It was great,” Eaton said. “It was fun to go out there and win with my team and play as a team. Tough one.” 

West Valley improved to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the league. Shadle Park is 4-0 in league play with a nonleague game this week, while the other two one-loss teams – Clarkston and Pullman – face each other Friday night.

The plan, awaiting approval from the CWAC, would send the GSL champ through to state while the second- and third-place teams would cross over against the CWAC champion and second-place team. The CWAC has three teams in the top 11 in the state’s RPI system entering play Friday.

“I’ve heard we’re gonna get three, who knows if it’s gonna stay that,” Whitney said. “That’s something that I think should be to be determined before the season starts. Hopefully we ended up getting three and stick with that.” 

West Valley hosts Rogers next week and finishes the season at home against Pullman.

Eaton completed 12 of 16 for 159 yards and two touchdown passes and rushed for 90 yards and two scores on 17 carries. Grady Walker made nine catches for 125 yards with two TDs while Judah Clark rushed for 125 yards on 15 carries with a TD.

“(Eaton) did some really good things,” Whitney said. “There’s some things that we need to clean up. We didn’t play real great collectively – kind of sloppy. We’ve got to have a better week of practice next week and we’ll clean stuff up.” 

North Central (0-6, 0-5) started quickly, marching the opening possession 77 yards on nine plays, the last a 30-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Elliott to Cameron Dewey.

The Wolfpack recovered a fumble at the WV 46 and moved to the 12, but Brandon Huynh missed a 26-yard field goal attempt and the Eagles seemed to gain momentum.

“(NC) came out firing and our kids were caught on our heels a little bit. So, credit to them,” Whitney said. 

Eaton connected with Walker on a sideline route for 28 yards, then Clark took a pitch 12 yards for first-and-goal. On third-and-goal from the 1, Eaton plowed into the end zone to tie it at 7-7 early in the second quarter.

The Eagles got the ball back at their 33 and picked up a couple of first downs, then Eaton hit Walker on a fly pattern for a 41-yard touchdown pass. Walker missed the kick, and West Valley led 13-7.

“When I see ‘cover two’ or I see ‘man’ and I just read the defense – take what they give,” Eaton said. “Just have a good time out there.”

After another NC punt and good return, West Valley took over at its 43. On third-and-5 from the NC 41, Eaton connected with Walker again on their second 41-yard TD pass of the evening. Another missed extra point made it 19-7 at the half.

“I love Grady,” Whitney said. “We’ve got a lot of playmakers, we just got to get them the ball at the right time.”

“He just brings good size to the team,” Eaton said of Walker. “I mean, a 6-3 receiver out there that can play outside, inside, he can do whatever. It’s just it’s great to have him out there. And we’re a great duo together.”

West Valley received the second-half kick and on the first play, Clark went 30 yards to the NC 29. After a face-mask penalty, Eaton took a sweep in from the 8 and the Eagles lead built to 26-7.

Clark added an 18-yard scoring run on fourth down carry late in the third quarter.