Beau Butner rushes for 360 yards, six touchdowns; Central Valley pulls away from Ridgeline 66-35

With 10 teams in the Greater Spokane League 4A/3A division, every week is a chance to prove yourself. It’s also a chance to inch closer to securing a postseason berth, or at least gain an all-important head-to-head tiebreaker.

The GSL shares District 6’s four bids to the 3A Week 10 “Round of 32” with the Mid-Columbia Conference, which means just two of the six 3A teams in the league will claim one of those slots.

So even though it’s only Week 5, Friday’s matchup between host Ridgeline and Central Valley took on an extra importance to the big picture.

It was close through the first half, with both teams taking every opportunity to score. But the visitors found just enough defense in the third quarter to stretch their tenuous lead.

Oh, and senior Beau Butner had a game most high school football players could only dream about.

Butner rushed for 360 yards and six touchdowns on 23 carries and the Bears pulled away from the Falcons 66-35 to move two games ahead of their opponent – with the tiebreaker – with four games to play.

“I’m tired, but winning is pretty rejuvenating,” Butner said. “Our offensive line was amazing tonight. Every time we called a run play, I thought I was gonna break up for a touchdown. We had a great week of practice and obviously it translated. Really proud of them.”

Butner had scoring runs of 8, 28, 58, 79, 72 and 4 yards.

“He has the ability to have high explosive plays,” CV coach Ryan Butner said of his tailback – and son. “You give him a little bit of space, and that’s what he showed tonight.”

CV moves to 4-1 on the season, one game behind league leaders Gonzaga Prep and Mead and tied with Shadle Park for the top 3A spot.

“We try not to look at the big picture, as far as that’s concerned,” Ryan Butner said. “We just knew with as explosive of an offensive (Ridgeline is), we just needed to make sure that we were taking control of things we could. We made a couple of adjustments at halftime, which allowed us to keep them in check. And, yeah, those high explosives – that’s what we were looking for this week.”

Ridgeline senior receiver Brayden Allen finished with seven catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns, passing Shadle Park’s Tanner Pauly (2011-13) at the top of the GSL all-time receiving yards list. Allen also holds league records for game, season and career receptions.

Landon Garner went 15-of-33 passing for 262 yards with five touchdowns and Camden Haddad carried 14 times for 107 yards and added three receiving touchdowns.

CV led 38-28 at halftime and the second half started just as the first half transpired – trading touchdowns. Haddad took a swing pass 28 yards for a score, then Butner gathered a toss and went 78 yards in response.

Ridgeline had four consecutive incompletions to turn it over on downs at the CV 27. Butner then went off-tackle and romped 73 yards for his fifth touchdown of the game.

Ridgeline punted, and Butner ripped off runs of 14 and 12 yards to gain midfield. He ended the drive with a 4-yard score and the Bears cruised from there.

“It was just being confident in our game plan,” Beau Butner said. “Great coaching staff, great offensive line, again. Everyone around me made it so easy. It was just awesome. Hopefully we can replicate it next week.”

“We made a couple just minor (defensive) adjustments at halftime, just allowed us to play more base defense,” Ryan Butner said. “They had a couple of drives where they were playing behind the sticks. And so that hurts, you know – it’s a disadvantage to them, obviously. We got those stops, which were big because I thought that scoreboard wasn’t gonna stop rolling.”

The Bears play at one-win Cheney next week before a three week gauntlet to end the season against winning teams. Ridgeline doesn’t catch a break – it travels next week to undefeated Mead.

On the third play of the game, CV’s Tuff Ryan hit Tristan Pulliam on a slant and the receiver went 57 yards to the Ridgeline 8. Two plays later, Butner barreled in from there for the game’s first score.

Garner tried a swing pass to Haddad, but CV defensive back Joseph Demars read it the whole way. He batted the ball into the air then came down with it at the Ridgeline 19. The Bears had to settle for Tyler Bissell’s 25-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.

Ridgeline regrouped and went 66 yards in eight plays, culminated by a 13-yard TD pass from Garner to Haddad.

Two plays later, Ridgeline safety Tanner Guard picked off Ryan at the CV 28. Garner found Allen in the corner of the end zone for a 17-yard TD pass and the Falcons took a 14-10 lead.

On the next series, Haddad recovered a fumble at midfield, but Ridgeline went backward. The punt snap sailed over Braxton Dickerhoof’s head all the way to the end zone, where it was recovered for a touchdown and 17-14 lead with just more than 8 minutes left in the half.

A short punt gave CV the ball back at the Falcons’ 42. Three plays later, Butner raced 28 yards for his third TD of the game and a 24-14 lead.

Garner and Allen responded. The pair hooked up for a 27-yard completion, then a 20-yard TD pass to make it 24-21 with 4½ minutes left in the half.

But three plays later, Butner burst through the line and went 58 yards for his fourth score of the half and a 10-point lead.

Another short punt put CV at the Ridgeline 38. Butner broke off a 31-yard run to the 8, then Kamden Lanphere carried in from the 1 with 52 seconds left in the half.

That was enough time for Ridgeline though. Garner hit Guard for 32 and 24 yards to the CV 4. On second-and-goal, Haddad took a swing pass into the end zone to make it 38-28 at the half.

This story was edited to reflect updated statistics.