Flawless - for a while
POST FALLS — Outside of a missed extra point, it might have been the best half of football that the Post Falls football team has played all season.
Offensively, putting up 41 points, including a drive that spanned two plays and 98 yards.
Defensively, a shutout.
“Other than that one extra point we missed, we played a complete first half,” Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “And that’s a good option offense. Moses Lake is a good offense, but our defense shut them out. We were getting the ball to the guys we need to on the perimeter and our running backs were running hard. We really did play a complete first half. It was one of those halves to look at and say, ‘wow, that’s how it’s supposed to be’.”
Then the rain came, along with mini 27-point rally by Moses Lake spanning the third and fourth quarter.
Derek Pearse finished with 278 yards passing and six touchdowns and Tommy Hauser had 10 receptions for 190 yards as the Trojans beat the Chiefs 48-27 in a nonleague game on Friday at Trojan Stadium.
Eli Gondo ran for 162 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter for Post Falls (3-1), which hosts Lakeland next Friday. Nic McLeod ran for 37 for Post Falls after Gondo sat out the second half.
“We’ve been practicing a lot,” Pearse said. “This game tonight, it was because of our offensive line. They blocked really well and it gave me a lot of time to find some guys in open space.”
“Gondo’s our guy,” Bennett said. “He’s a hard runner. He’s physical and we’re trying to keep him fresh. McLeod does an excellent job when he’s in there, and I thought Derek played an excellent first half. He was finding the open players in the redzone and down the field. And our offensive line was dominating the line of scrimmage. It was a good first half.”
Then, Moses Lake stormed back late as Everett Ashley hit Brandon Johnson with a 35-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 41-27 with 3:57 remaining. Post Falls capped the scoring on a 18-yard touchdown pass from Pearse to Hauser.”
Moses Lake falls to 0-3.
“Moses Lake is a good football team, even though they haven’t got the wins,” Bennett said. “But in that second half, you could see they were a good football team. To have a shutout in that first half, the defensive staff did a great job this week.”
Post Falls has won two straight after a setback to Mead on Sept. 6 at Whitworth University.
“Now we know what some players can do,” Bennett said. “Now we’re trying to put them into a place where they can be successful.”
Moses Lake 0 0 6 21 — 27
Post Falls 14 27 0 7 — 48
First quarter
PF — Eli Gondo 1 run (Josh Brisendine kick) 8:46
PF — Tommy Hauser 50 pass from Derek Pearse (Brisendine kick), 5:41
Second quarter
PF — Hauser 10 pass from Pearse (Brisendine kick), 11:54
PF — Jake Burton 10 pass fro Pearse (Brisendine kick), 7:34
PF — Hauser 22 pass from Pearse (Brisendine kick), 5:00
PF — James Lee 12 pass from Pearse (kick failed), :01
Third quarter
ML — Lerenz Thomas 8 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
ML — Kayton Carmack 8 pass from Everett Ashley (Brayden Millard kick), 8:19
ML — Thomas 20 run (Millard kick), 4:20
ML — Brandon Johnson 35 pass from Ashley (Millard kick), 3:57
PF — Hauser 18 pass from Pearse (Brisendine kick), 1:38
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — ML, Thomas 10-100, Garza 18-79, Purcell 3-18, Sperline 2-(-3), Johnson 1-2, Ashley 4-7. PF, Gondo 18-162, McLeod 14-37, Hauser 1-0.
PASSING — ML, Sperline, 9-17-0-72, Ashley, 6-11-1-103. PF, Pearse, 21-32-0-278, Anderson, 1-1-0-4.
RECEIVING — ML, Thomas 4-39, Purcell 2-4, Queen 1-6, Carmack 3-50, Visker 2-26, Garza 1-0, Johnson 1-35. PF, Sessions 3-12, Hauser 10-190, Rodriguez 5-28, Burton 4-37, Lee 3-27.