Friday Night (High)lights: Mt. Spokane, Gonzaga Prep win again to stay undefeated in league, march toward looming showdown
The Greater Spokane League will send two bids to the Week 10 crossovers from each of the three classifications this season.
The battle is still wide open for the second berths in 4A and 3A, with four teams tied with two league losses each, but the top spots can be clinched as early as next week.
The 2A spots are anybody’s guess with several key matchups yet to be played.
Here are our weekly five thoughts (plus one) about the football performances across the GSL and Eastern Washington.
Looming showdown
No. 5 Mt. Spokane outlasted Central Valley 23-13, leaning on its defense and a heavy workload from tailback Matteo Saccomanno, who ran for 132 yards on 19 carries with a fourth-quarter touchdown to put the Wildcats in the lead for good.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga Prep dispatched University 49-0 to keep pace with the Wildcats and keep both teams undefeated (5-0) in GSL play.
They both have a two-game lead over second place in their respective classifications with three games to play.
The Wildcats and Bullpups face each other on Oct. 20 at Union Stadium, which should stand as the de facto league championship game.
Eagles flying
West Valley needed a touchdown in overtime to escape with a nonleague win over Riverside, but the Eagles sit at 3-0 in league with three games to play.
They face winless North Central next week, a wounded Rogers team on Oct. 19 and finish at below-.500 Pullman to close the regular season.
Between quarterback Ethan Turley and running back Austin Clark, West Valley has a couple of different ways it can attack on offense. But it’s the Eagles’ defense that has them sitting in the driver’s seat midway through the season.
4A dilemma
The second GSL 4A team to advance to Week 10 has its work cut out for them, as it will have to play in the Tuesday play-in game before a weekend showdown against the Big 9 champ.
That doesn’t mean Lewis and Clark or Central Valley will turn down the task if presented with the opportunity.
Both have three league losses and seem to be going in opposite directions – LC has won two straight in convincing fashion while CV has lost three in a row.
But LC will have to win the race outright, since the Bears blanked the Tigers 38-0 on Sept. 8.
3A contenders
The second 3A bid is also tight. Ridgeline handled Cheney 46-6, and Mead took care of Ferris 35-7 to both stay with two league losses.
Ridgeline edged Mead earlier this season, giving it the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker, and it has two league games remaining next week against U-Hi and the finale at Ferris.
Mead has LC next week at ONE Spokane Stadium and Cheney on the road before the Battle of the Bell against Mt. Spokane closes the season at Union Stadium.
2A scramble
West Valley leads the pack as the only remaining undefeated team in league with an advantageous schedule ahead of it.
Shadle Park, which dominated Pullman in the second half to pull away 38-17, and Clarkston, which overwhelmed Rogers, which played without injured QB Aaron Kinsey, both have one league loss. Rogers, East Valley and Pullman have two losses apiece.
Shadle has two league games left, but the one to circle is on Oct. 20, as the Highlanders make the long road trip to face Clarkston in a game that could decide the second playoff spot.
The ‘A’s have it
No. 4 Lakeside got a big game out of QB Calvin Mikkelsen – 275 yards and four passing touchdowns – to top a game Newport squad and stay undefeated in league. Lakeside faces winless Medical Lake next week then faces off against two of the four one-loss teams – at home against Colville and at Riverside to end the season.
Add in one-loss Freeman to the mix, and the stretch race couldn’t be tighter in the NEA.