Third quarter turnovers, Noah Holman inside running help Gonzaga Prep outlast Mead 28-21 for GSL championship

There’s nothing like a couple of undefeated teams squaring off in Week 8. And it felt like all season it was building toward the inevitable on Friday at Union Stadium.

After an early flurry of scoring, the defenses took over. That is, until the offenses woke back up in the fourth.

Senior Noah Holman carried 18 times for 144 yards with three touchdowns and the No. 4-ranked Gonzaga Prep Bullpups beat the No. 6-ranked Mead Panthers 28-21 in the de facto Greater Spokane League championship game.

Gonzaga Prep converted two turnovers at the start of the third quarter into 13 points to take all the momentum from the Panthers.

“It turned into a little bit of a shootout,” Gonzaga Prep coach Nate Graham said. “Our kids played with a lot of courage tonight. Very, very, very proud of all of them. It was a battle. That was a war. So kind of what we expected. I think it’s what everybody kind of expected.”

Gonzaga Prep earns the league’s top seed to the Round of 32 in Week 10 and will most likely host that week. Mead should be in a good place to host as well, but it will come down to how the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association seeding committee shakes things out.

The Bullpups, who average well over 200 yards per game rushing, managed 187 yards on 38 carries – most of which came after the intermission.

“That’s the name of the game right now,”Graham said. “The O-line just keeps grinding and grinding and grinding and grinding. Those guys up front deserve a ton of credit.”

The win was extra sweet for Holman, who missed all of his junior season due to injury.

“It feels so incredible,” he said. “I mean, last year we won GSL but I didn’t have much of a part in it, besides, you know, cheering them on. It feels great to be in here and be a big part of it tonight.”

Mead took the ball at its 35 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game trailing 20-15. On second down, JJ Leman went deep for Matt McShane, who hauled in the pass in stride, then broke a tackle to go the distance. The 2-point try was stopped, and the Panthers went up 21-20 with 4 minutes, 44 seconds to go.

Jonah Keller returned the kickoff 80 yards for an apparent touchdown, but Gonzaga Prep’s 11th penalty of the game brought it back to the Mead 48. Sam Kincaid hit Isaiah Docken for 24 yards to the Panthers 14. After a loss, Holman burst through the middle for a 15-yard score. G-Prep went for two, and Docken made a diving catch at the boundary to make it 28-21 with 2:53 to go.

“I saw an open hole, and the end zone, and then I had two people coming in from each side,” Holman said. “So I put two hands on the ball. There was no way I wasn’t gonna get in there.”

The Bullpups recovered a pop-up kickoff at midfield, picked up a pair of first downs with Holman and ran out the clock.

“The defense stepped up. They’ve kind of done that a couple times for us,” Graham said. “They keep us in games. Offensively, we go through some lulls, but the defense definitely stepped up and kept us in it.”

On its first drive of the game, G-Prep used a halfback pass from Docken to Jonah Keller for 36 yards to the Mead 17. A couple of plays later, Holman barged in from the 1 for a 7-0 lead.

Mead’s Keegan Mallon (24 carries, 128 yards) took a carry 38 yards to the G-Prep 20, then on second-and-goal took a direct snap for a 1-yard TD to tie it.

Mead forced a three-and-out then went 59 yards in 10 plays – eight carries by Mallon, including a 5-yard touchdown run. The Panthers converted the 2-point attempt and led 15-7 after one.

Things slowed down considerably in the second quarter, with the defenses stiffening and the teams trading punts, and the Panthers held an eight-point lead at the half. Mead limited G-Prep to 39 rushing yards in the half, while Mallon had 16 carries for 107 yards.

Gonzaga Prep’s defense turned the tide immediately in the second half.

On the third play of the third quarter, G-Prep linebacker Luke Hills picked off Leman at the Mead 46. Holman busted up the middle for 29 yards to the 13, then Kincaid found Docken from 9 yards out to make it 15-14.

“Going into halftime, we were really thinking that we needed to get a lot of turnovers to really get the momentum going,” G-Prep defensive back Jacobe McClelland said.

The Bullpups forced and recovered a fumble on the next possession, and G-Prep started at the Panthers’ 20. Four plays later, Holman barreled in from the 4. An unsportsmanlike penalty pushed the extra point back to the 18, and the try was pushed left. Gonzaga Prep led 20-15 with 6:44 left in the third.

The respective defenses continued to dominate the line of scrimmage through the remainder of the quarter and well into the fourth.

“Turnovers are the name of the game,” Graham said. “So we preach it. We preach it. We preach it. So it was big tonight.”