Prep roundup: Pullman football’s offense finds groove, defense shuts out North Central

The Pullman offense might have taken a bit to get started, but once it did there was no stopping it.

Caleb Northcroft completed 13 of 17 passes for 140 yards with three touchdown passes and the Greyhounds shut out North Central 37-0 in a Greater Spokane League 2A game at Union Stadium on Saturday.

“I thought Caleb Northcraft did a great job leading us today,” Pullman coach David Cofer said. “Especially after last week – he got banged up a little bit and we didn’t know if he was going to be able to go.

“But him coming out and leading our offense in that way was great.”

Brady Coulter rushed for 78 yards on 10 carries and had two touchdown catches while Terran Page carried 14 times for 89 yards and a 25-yard TD run.

Pullman rushed for 235 yards and finished with 375 yards total.

“I thought we really clicked offensively,” Cofer said. “I thought we kind of figured our defense out last week and offensively, we were able to move the ball kind of how I had envisioned for us from the start of the year.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Pullman (2-1, 1-0) took the ball midway through the second quarter at its 22 following a turnover on downs.

The Greyhounds started a 18-play drive, bolstered by a helmet-to-helmet penalty, which culminated in a 6-yard play-action TD pass from Northcroft to Coulter.

“We want to be a team that can run the football,” Cofer said, “and then that opens up our bootleg. I love bootleg at the goal line. It’s a great play for us.”

Page took the second-half kick back for an apparent touchdown, but it was called back on a blindside block penalty and the Greyhounds started at the 50.

Hunter Ashby took a counter 22 yards to the NC 25 and three plays later, Northcroft hit Coulter with the same play-action pass they used in the first half, this time from 13 yards for a 14-0 lead.

“We had our backup in there that ended up catching those two touchdowns in Brady Coulter and he stepped up in a big way,” Cofer said.

North Central (0-2, 0-1) attempted to punt from its 31, but the snap went over the head of punter Ezra Camacho. The ball carried all the way to the end zone, where Camacho fell on it for a safety to make it 16-0.

Pullman had a 13-play drive stall at the NC 13 and a fourth-down pass went incomplete. The Wolfpack went three-and-out and a short punt gave Pullman the ball back at the NC 26.

On fourth-and-8 at the 14, Northcroft scrambled to buy time, then found Gavin Brown in the back corner of the end zone for his third TD pass of the afternoon.

Later in the fourth, Page took a pitch 25 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-0.

“Tarren brings it every single day,” Cofer said. “It doesn’t matter what we’re doing. He’s gonna practice hard. He’s gonna go hard in the weight room. He prepares himself for these moments. It was great to see him get as many carries as he did and just continue to fight hard for us.”

Girls soccer

University 3, Coeur d’Alene 0: Aubree Carpenter made four saves and the Titans (5-1) beat the visiting Vikings (2-6-1) in a nonleague match.

McKinley Ullman assisted on all three U-Hi goals.