Post Falls scores late for win

SPOKANE VALLEY - Welcome back, Seth McLeod.

You too, Alex Gibson.

McLeod, a junior who missed the last two games with an ankle injury, rushed for two touchdowns, including the go-ahead 2-yard score with 3 minutes, 53 seconds left.

Gibson, a senior lineman who missed the first three games following a concussion, recovered a fumble on the Post Falls 10-yard line with 1:03 remaining to clinch the Trojans' 21-15 nonleague victory at East Valley on Friday night.

Still, Jeff Hinz of Post Falls sounded more like the losing coach. The Trojans committed 13 penalties, several of which kept East Valley drives alive. And Post Falls missed all three extra-point kicks - two of them blocked by Alex Bowdish of East Valley.

"After that first game against Capital, I thought we took two steps forward," Hinz said. "Improved against Graham-Kapowsin and improved against Sandpoint, but this week, I thought we took a step backwards a little bit. Just execution, mistakes, snap issues - you name it, it happened today."

Still, Post Falls (2-2) won for the second straight week, gathering some momentum heading into next week's 5A Inland Empire League opener at home vs. Lake City.

East Valley (1-2) scored first, William Nixdorf bursting over the left side and racing down the sidelines for a 33-yard touchdown. The Knights successfully went for two and led 8-0 just over four minutes in.

Post Falls drove from its 14 to as deep as the East Valley 7, before settling for Richie Hauser's 29-yard field goal.

Post Falls then took over at the Knights' 42 after a short punt. The Trojans ran the ball seven straight plays, capped by backup quarterback Dalton Thompson's 20-yard keeper to the right on the read option. The PAT was blocked, leaving the Trojans with a 9-8 lead.

East Valley drove to the Post Falls 1, then missed a 22-yard field goal. Thompson did most of the directing on an 80-yard drive, capped by McLeod's 6-yard TD run with 54 seconds left in the half. McLeod slammed into two East Valley players at the 2, both of them went down, and he continued on into the end zone. But the kick was blocked again, leaving Post Falls with a 15-8 halftime lead.

East Valley tied it early in the fourth quarter. On fourth and 1 at the Post Falls 31, Dante Bryant, the third QB of the night for the Knights, hit Bowdish on a quick pass in the left flat. Bowdish broke a tackle and sped to the end zone to pull EV within one.

The Knights originally lined up to go for two, but were called for illegal procedure. Pushed back 5 yards, they opted to kick the PAT and tie the game with 9:31 left.

Post Falls began its go-ahead drive at the 41. Starting QB Joey Pfennigs connected with Braden Davenport on a fade route for 26 yards, then hit Thompson for 14 more to the East Valley 22. On second and goal at the 10, Pfennigs connected with Davenport for 8 yards to the 2. On the next play, McLeod swept the left side untouched for the go-ahead points. That PAT was missed wide left.

East Valley drove from its 17 to the Post Falls 6 in the waning seconds. But on first and goal, Bryant fumbled the snap in the shotgun and Gibson pounced on the loose ball to secure the win.

"I am proud of our guys in that aspect - we could have let it slip through our fingers and we didn't. We found a way," Hinz said. "Defense did a great job bending but not breaking at that point."

All told, the teams combined to use five quarterbacks - including Joey Pfennigs and Thompson for Post Falls. EV starter Connor Ramm left in the first half with a knee injury, replaced by J.T. Phelan, normally a receiver/defensive back. Phelan moved back to receiver midway through the second half and Bryant, a sophomore, guided the Knights to the tying score.

Star East Valley receiver Gage Burland missed the game with a concussion.

"We did a better job of competing in the second half," East Valley coach Adam Fisher said. "We had the ball two times inside the 10 in the second half, with no points. That's it. We battled well, just didn't make enough plays."

Post Falls 3 12 0 6 - 21

East Valley 8 0 0 7 - 15

EV - William Nixdorf 33 run (J.T. Phelan pass from Connor Ramm), 7:41

PF - FG Richie Hauser 29, :43

PF - Dalton Thompson 20 run (kick blocked), 8:29

PF - Seth McLeod 6 run (kick blocked), :54

EV - Alex Bowdish 31 pass from Dante Bryant (Bowdish kick), 9:13

PF - McLeod 2 run (kick failed), 3:53.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - PF, Agueros 11-44, Pfennigs 9-5, McLeod 11-36, Morris 3-33, Thompson 4-32, Conradi 4-14. EV, Nixdorf 18-71, Ramm 2-(minus 11), Graham 1-4, Phelan 3-10, Jordan 8-47, Bryant 1-(minus 4).

PASSING - PF, Pfennigs 5-13-0-63, Thompson 4-8-0-45. EV, Ramm 2-5-0-15, Phelan 5-13-0-84, Bryant 4-6-0-58.

RECEIVING - PF, McKeown 2-26, Stroh 2-27, Conradi 1-(minus 1), Morris 1-8, Davenport 2-34, Thompson 1-14. EV, Bowdish 6-90, Keplin-Jensen 3-45, Phelan 2-22.