Mt. Spokane too much for Hanford

RICHLAND -- Hanford football coach Rob Oram had no trouble assessing his team's 48-14 loss to Greater Spokane League Champion Mount Spokane in the first round of the state 3A playoffs at Fran Rish Stadium on Friday night.

"Mount Spokane has excellent skill players who make plays," Oram said. "It seems so simple, but that's it."

Despite the loss, Oram took solace in the fact that his team was still playing on the second weekend of November. The Falcons finish the season 4-7, but can claim a regional playoff win against East Valley last week and a game effort against a big, strong, talented Mount Spokane team last night.

"The nice thing about making the playoffs is that you get one more week with the kids," Oram said. "That's been our battle cry the last two weeks: Let's practice next week."

Oram's point about Mount Spokane's skill players was illustrated by the Wildcats' balanced attack. Senior Quarterback Travis Ward passed for 280 yards, connecting on 19 or 27 passes to eight different receivers. Chip Propp was on the receiving end of four Ward passes for 97 yards.

Oram cited one play in particular.

With Mount Spokane already leading 21-0, Hanford quarterback Brenton Griffin hit Cameron Wagar with a swing pass to the right side of the field. But as Wagar turned up field, Mount Spokane's Colton Williams stripped the ball away from Wagar and headed back up field for a 45-yard touchdown.

"He just took the ball out of Cameron's arms," an incredulous Oram said. "To do that to a guy as strong as Wagar, a kid has to be pretty darn good."

Mount Spokane opened the scoring when Williams capped a five-play, 49 yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown run in the dying moments of the first quarter.

Then Ward would finish off a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 17-yard TD pass to Propp to Put Mount Spokane up 14-0 with 5:11 in the first half.

Mount Spokane extended its lead to 21-0 on the opening possession of the second half when Nathan Blackham raced 49 yards down the left sideline with 9:31 remaining in the third quarter. After Williams' return TD, Ward scored on a two-yard keeper with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter to put his team up by five touchdowns.

Wagar gave the frigid Falcons faithful a glimmer of hope with a 15-yard touchdown run that finished off a 65-yard Falcons' drive that was marred by 55 yards in Mount Spokane penalties, including two for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Ward hit Evan Poynor with a 22-yard touchdown strike with 6:12 left in the game. He then connected with Carson Blumenthal on a 49-yard touchdown reception with 3:00 left to finish off the Wildcat scoring.

Wagar collected 51 of his game-high 119 rushing yards on the Falcons' final TD drive.

"You know," Oram said. "This is the proudest I've been. We're not the most talented team out there, and we don't have the most depth, but we played hard and we competed."

Mt. Spokane 48, Hanford 14

Mt. Spokane 14 7 14 13 -- 48

Hanford 0 0 0 14 -- 14

SCORING PLAYS

MS--Williams 15 run (kick good)

MS--Propp 17 pass from Ward (kick good)

MS--Nathan Blackham 49 run (kick good)

MS--Colton Williams 45 fumble return (kick good)

MS--Ward 2 run (kick good)

H--Cam Wagar 15 run (kick good)

MS--Evan Poynor 22 pass from Ward (kick failed)

MS--Carson Blumenthal 49 pass from Ward (kick good)

H--Shawn Van DeMark 10 run (kick good)

STATISTICS

RUSHING--MS, Ward 8-42, Blackham 5-63, Williams 15-88, Naccarato 4-43. H, Griffin 6-14, Wagar 14-119, VanDeMark 8-32.

PASSING--MS, Ward 19-27-280. H, Griffin 8-20-85.

RECEIVING--MS, Williams 4-21, Propp 4-97, Murphy 4-53, Blackham 2-24, Clute 1-5, Naccarato 2-26, Poynor 1-22, Blumenthal 1-34. H, Cichy 2-18, Wagar 2-24, Clements 1-25, VanDeMark 2-18.