University rallies from halftime deficit to beat Ridgeline 39-20

Kaleb Madison shook his head and glanced toward the opposite sideline, where Greater Spokane League 4A/3A rival Ridgeline had spent most of Friday night.

Madison’s University Titans started a string of three consecutive home games to close out their regular season by hosting a team still looking for its first victory in Week 7 and found themselves trailing 20-18 at halftime.

“That’s why you play on Friday nights,” he said.

The Titans made key adjustments in their defensive secondary and tweaked their pass-rush schemes during halftime, then went out and blanked the Falcons over the final two quarters to earn a 39-20 victory.

In the first half, Ridgeline used a quick passing game to drive for three touchdowns.

Sophomore Landon Garner triggered an attack that featured four wide receivers, usually stacked on top of each other, by finding the open man.

Caleb Wolcott fired a 17-yard touchdown pass on U-Hi’s first possession, but the Falcons scored back-to-back touchdowns, taking a 13-6 lead on a 27-yard touchdown to Brayden Allen after one quarter.

Ridgeline pushed the lead to 20-6 before University scored twice in the second quarter on a Malaki Miller run and a Wolcott-to-Dominic Longo touchdown to get within two at the half.

“They (the Falcons) are a well-coached squad,” Madison said. “They took advantage of what we were doing. We made some changes at halftime and our kids did a good job of executing it.”

The changes paid off quickly.

The Ridgeline passing game sputtered on the first possession of the second half and never again got untracked.

Quick passes into open space weren’t available, and Garner found himself throwing into double- and triple-team coverage the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, the Titans’ pass rush began to find cracks in the Ridgeline offensive line and Garner was flushed from the pocket or tackled by a bull-rushing lineman.

Garner fumbled the snap on the Falcons’ second possession of the second half and the Titans scooped up the loose ball and scored the go-ahead touchdown 4 minutes into the third quarter.

Miller added the 2-point conversion to give the Titans a 26-20 lead.

From there, the Titans were content to ride the strong legs of Miller.

“He’s the most amazing running back I’ve ever had,” Madison said. “He’s so strong and so smooth.”

Wolcott added a 7-yard touchdown pass to his brother, sophomore Peyton Wolcott, who had a ball that tipped off a Titans receiver at the goal line and caromed into his waiting hands at the end line.

Miller said he’s happy to put his team on his shoulders.

“I’m happy to do it,” he said. “If I hadn’t hurt my ankle during the spring season, I would be a lot farther ahead at this point. What I want is to just get myself healthy and, if there’s some interest from a college program, to go on and play at the next level.”