HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Trojans handle Knights
SPOKANE VALLEY — Post Falls High had the inside slant on East Valley on Friday night.
And the defense.
And the special teams …
Zach Hillman caught four touchdown passes from Mark Haines, all on similar play calls from offensive coordinator Sean Dorris, as the Post Falls Trojans rolled past the East Valley Knights 42-7 in a nonleague high school football game at East Valley.
“Coach calling good plays, the safety was staying over, the corner was playing off and the inside was open,” said Hillman, a senior who finished with seven catches for 137 yards. “He (the corner) was playing outside leverage on me, and the inside was open, and Mark Haines was throwing great balls to me.”
Haines, a junior who played the second and third quarters, was 16 of 19 for 244 yards and the four touchdowns.
“They were really doing a good job taking away our run; they were loading the box up pretty well on us,” said Dorris, subbing as head coach for the second straight week for the ailing Jeff Hinz, who is in the hospital as he continues to battle cancer. “We had to go to the air a little more than we had anticipated, but our quarterbacks did a nice job reading, finding the open receivers, and really put the ball on guys really well.”
If that wasn’t impressive enough, there was the Post Falls (2-2) defense. Cornerback Preston Bourgard had three interceptions — two in the first half — giving him five picks in two games. The Trojans also blocked a field goal, blocked a punt and forced a fumble — all in the first half.
“Defense did a great job; gave us great field position,” Dorris said. “It was really good for us, after having such a slow night on offense last week (in a 14-7 loss to University), we really needed to get some confidence going, and the defense put is in great field position, and once we got things going a little bit, our kids really started rolling.”
East Valley’s first six drives resulted in: A blocked field goal, a missed field goal, an interception by Bourgard, a blocked punt by Nate Degraw, a fumble recovered by Austin Jackson, and another pick by Bourgard.
Hunter Harmon sped down the left sideline and hauled in a 66-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Gregory for the game’s first score, nearly eight minutes into the game.
Then Haines and Hillman went to work, connecting on passes of 29, 11 and 8 yards en route to a 28-7 halftime lead. They hooked up again early in the third quarter on a 49-yard pass and run to make it 35-7.
Post Falls totaled 446 yards, 326 through the air. East Valley (2-1) finished with 301 total yards.
Post Falls plays host to Lakeland next Friday.
Post Falls 7 21 7 7 — 42
East Valley 0 7 0 0 — 7
First quarter
PF — Hunter Harmon 66 pass from Nathan Gregory (Braden Vaughan kick), 4:05
Second quarter
PF — Zach Hillman 29 pass from Mark Haines (Vaughan kick), 9:23
PF — Hillman 11 pass from Haines (Vaughan kick), 7:20
PF — Hillman 8 pass from Haines (Vaughan kick), 1:35
EV — Michael Jensen 35 pass from Dante Clayton (Devonte Gorman kick), :33
Third quarter
PF — Hillman 49 pass from Haines (Vaughan kick), 8:14
Fourth quarter
PF — Collin Hildreth 1 run (Vaughan kick), 11:18
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — PF, Harmon 2-2, Vaughan 5-9, Nelson 5-46, Gregory 3-(minus 3), Jackson 4-10, Haines 4-27, Hildreth 2-6, Schulze 7-23. EV, Spendlove 1-18, Sumpter 7-27, Gorman 1-5, Berezay 13-64, Smith 1-0, Clayton 3-(minus 1), Ervin 3-5.
PASSING — PF, Gregory 3-4-0-82, Haines 16-19-1-244. EV, Clayton 13-34-3-183.
RECEIVING — Harmon 3-91, McCullough 2-49, Hillman 7-137, Brown 3-20, Vaughan 1-7, Walton 2-20, Welker 1-2. EV, Jensen 5-100, Gorman 3-39, Meyer 1-12, Spendlove 1-0, Berezay 1-11, Jacobs 2-21.