Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Southridge romps to crossover win

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- Southridge pulled out all the stops, trying to preserve its shutout.

The Suns threw some of their starters, who had been resting most of the second half, back on the field in the closing minutes. The game was well in hand, but the defense was just looking for another feather in its cap on a night in which it completely bottled up Eastmont.

The Wildcats eventually scored when Darren Spaeth made a slick over the shoulder catch in the closing seconds.

That was the lone highlight for Eastmont on the night where it was helpless against complete Suns' team.

Southridge, which promised not to overlook the Wildcats in a CBBN crossover game, blitzed its way to an impressive 48-7 win at Lampson Stadium.

"We're kind of bummed out (we didn't get the shutout)," said Graves, who had three sacks. "We take a lot pride in our defense."

Southridge (7-1), which carried the CBBN's top-rated defense into Friday's game, looked even better than the number indicated.

The Suns did not allow a first down until 9 minutes left in the game. They held Eastmont (3-9) to minus-10 yards of total offense in the first half. The Wildcats had 12 plays that netted negative yards and quarterback Lucas McGill was sacked five times.

When the sophomore wasn't being sacked, he was running for his life. He finished with 21 carries for 27 yards.

The Suns had one interception and blocked a punt. The only thing missing in the stat sheet was a forced fumble.

"They're unbelievable," said Southridge coach Andy Troxel, who defense allowed 74 yards of total offense in the game. "Those front guys drive the bus."

Not to be lost in the Suns shear dominance on defense, was Dallin Palmer.

The shifty, 5-foot-10 running back carved threw the Wildcats' defense with ease, racking up 172 yards on 15 carries and added three more touchdown to his season's total.

Palmer, in his first year at running back, went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season on his first carry of the night -- a 34-yard burst up the middle. Palmer, who is fourth in the league in rushing yards, has 1,168 on the season and 14 touchdowns.

His next run of the night was a 12-yard jaunt around the left side to give Southridge a quick 7-0 lead with 8:25 left in the first quarter.

"We didn't want to underestimate them," said Suns quarterback Stephen Garcia, who completed 8 of 13 passes for 59 yards and one touchdown. "We just came out and played."

Southridge scored touchdowns on four of its five first-half possessions and led 27-0 at halftime. The only thing that kept it from being worse than that was two holding penalites, both negated touchdown plays.

"I think we keep getting better," Troxel said. "But I don't think we have played our best game yet."

Eastmont 0 0 0 7 -- 7

Southridge 14 13 21 0 -- 48

SCORING PLAYS

S -- Dallin Palmer 12 run (Chandler Mertens kick)

S -- Austin Graves 1 run (Mertens kick)

S -- Palmer 34 run (kick failed)

S -- Chris Whitney 7 pass from Stephen Garcia (Mertens kick)

S -- Garcia 2 run (Mertens kick)

S -- Palmer 1 run (Mertens kick)

S -- Chris Haueter 44 run (Mertens kick)

E -- Darren Spath 17 pass from Lucas McGill (Daniel Romero kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING--E, Enrique Espinoza 3-10; McGill 21-27, Michael Perez 3-0. S, Palmer 15-172, Garcia 8-64, Graves 2-9, Whitney 1-(minus-1), Haueter 4-47. James Harrington 1-1, Matt Mendenhall 2-2.

PASSING--E, McGill 6-13-1-37. S, Garcia 8-13-0-59. Harrington 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--Darren Spaeth 4-36, Malachi Roberts 2-1. S, Rylie Dean 1-3, Tyrell McGee 2-23, Palmer 1-2, Whitney 3-20, AJ Henderson 1-10. Graves 1-8.

FIRST DOWNS--E 4, S16. FUMBLES-LOST--E 0-0, S 2-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--E 5-47, S 6-59.