SPOKANE -- There was nothing particularly fancy about Southridge's offensive attack.
Quarterback Stephen Garcia either handed it off to Dallin Palmer or he kept it.
But the Mead defense could not get a handle on them for a half and fell 14-10 on Friday night in a state play-in football game at Joe Albi Stadium.
The duo combined for 32 carries and 161 yards in the first half.
"The kids really played well, and defense did what they've done all year," said Suns coach Andy Troxel. "Offensively, we made mistakes early but made the big plays when we needed to. Our kids were resilient and didn't collapse when they made mistakes. They bounced back and played hard for four quarters."
The Suns play at Eisenhower in the first round of the state playoffs next week.
Southridge missed several scoring chances because of turnovers. But the Suns defense more than made up for it.
"We know our defense is that good and won't beat itself," Troxel said. "We put them in bad situations and they responded."
When the Suns were flawless on offense, they proved unstoppable, primarily because of the push of their line at the point of attack, but also because of the shiftiness and speed of 5-foot-10, 155-pound Palmer and the power of 6-3, 206 Garcia.
Following turnovers on their first two series, Palmer and Garcia alternated 11 plays and covered 70 yards to tie the game at 7 four minutes into the second quarter.
Mead responded with Marc David's 33-yard field goal.
At that point, Mead coach Sean Carty thought his team was in good shape.
"We were still managing the game and I thought we'd go into halftime ahead 10-7," he said.
Particularly after Southridge fumbled away the ball at midfield with 3 minutes, 32 seconds left until intermission.
But the Suns got the ball back with 2 minutes left, and Garcia hit Tyrell McGee from 15 yards out for a touchdown in the final minute before the half.
That was the last scoring of the night.
Southridge (8-2) finished with 240 yards, with only 44 of those coming in the second half. Mead had 110 total.
Southridge 0 14 0 0 -- 14
Mead 7 3 0 0 -- 10
SCORING PLAYS
M--Monahan 58 fumble return (David Kick)
S--Garcia 6 run (Mertens kick)
M--FG David 33
S--McGee 15 pass from Garcia (Mertens kick)
STATISTICS
RUSHING--S, Palmer 36-131, Garcia 16-60. M, Smtih 15-82, Pounder 2-10, Tully 2-2, Wetzel 4-(minus 12).
PASSING--S, Garcia 5-9-1-49. M, Wetzel 5-16-4-15.
RECEIVING--S, Buffington 1-20, McGee 1-15, Whitney 1-9, Palmer 1-(minus 4). M, Kayser 4-22, Tully 1-(minus 7).
FIRST DOWNS--S 16, M 5. FUMBLES-LOST--S 2-2, M 0-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--S 1-5, M 4-35.
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