Austin Clark powers West Valley past Deer Park 41-25 to remain unbeaten
It wasn’t the way West Valley coach Craig Whitney would have drawn it up, but he was nonetheless pleased his football team moved another step closer to securing a state playoff berth.
The Eagles got a second big road win in a row, topping the Deer Park Stags 41-25 in a Greater Spokane League 2A game Friday.
WV (7-0, 4-0 GSL) was coming off a 58-44 win at Clarkston in which senior running back Austin Clark rushed for 333 yards and scored eight touchdowns.
Clark was the key again Friday, scoring four touchdowns and gaining 219 yards on 22 carries.
“We still have things to work on,” Whitney said. “We have to clean a lot of things up – defensively, offensively, special teams. We kick an extra point and our tight end doesn’t even go out there. If you want to be a good team, you’ve got to do the little things correct.”
In other words, Whitney won’t sugarcoat his evaluation of the game film.
Whitney gave Deer Park (4-3, 2-2) much credit for fighting back in the second half after being down 20-3 at halftime.
“They were doing some good things,” Whitney said.
It took WV just one play to get going, and it was predictable who got the Eagles going. Clark took got the ball on the Eagles’ first play, bouncing outside untouched and rambling 52 yards.
Clark added a second touchdown when he raced 24 yards for 14-0 lead.
The Eagles extended the lead to 20-0 on their final possession of the second quarter when quarterback Nathan Zettle lobbed a 13-yard jump ball to Austin Griffith for a third TD with 3:38 to go before halftime.
Deer Park, which came in hoping to take time off the clock and keep the ball away from WV, got on the board when Zane Moss hit a 22-yard field goal with 25 seconds before half, making it 20-3.
In the fourth quarter, the Stags pulled within 27-18 when quarterback Aidan Martin hit Brock Berger on a 4-yard TD pass with 10 minutes to play.
That’s when WV simplified things, going to a Wildcat set with the direct snap to Clark. The Eagles scored in five plays, all runs by Clark, to go ahead 34-18 with 7:35 to go.
“We’re a win closer to the playoffs,” Whitney said. “We played well last week and it’s hard to go back-to-back weeks and be on fire. We were dialed in last week and they played really hard and physical.
“This week, we didn’t play as well and Deer Park could be the reason why.”