Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Gar Pal football
The Garfield-Palouse football season ended last Saturday in a place they haven’t been since 1988.
Playing Liberty Christian in a state quarterfinal game at Pasco, the Vikings lost 62-20.
"A lot of kids weren’t ready for basketball yet," said senior lineman Gabe Cocking of Gar-Pal’s playoff run, the last of four brothers to play football for the Vikings. "My team didn’t quit on me."
The game at Edgar Brown Stadium began with a quick 16-0 lead for Liberty Christian before quarterback Hunter Woltering scored first for Gar-Pal in the second quarter.
With Viking fans calling out first downs and Liberty Christian chanting "Win!" after huddles with coach Mike Olson – who wore shorts in the cold – L.C. scored again before Gar-Pal’s Cole Sanderson crossed the goal-line on a two-yard run.
Down 22-14, the Viking defense configured again with 1:33 left in the half but couldn’t get to the locker room before another Patriots’ score. Junior John Lesser ran in a quarterback-keeper with 19 seconds remaining.
Coming out after halftime with a 30-14 lead, Lesser took his team down the field again, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown run for 38-14. Two drives later, Liberty Christian’s Cody Daniels ran for an 8-yard score and 44-14.
Gar-Pal’s basketball season loomed.
But the Vikings kept mustering yards on the ground, with carries from Sanderson and young freshman Travis Knauff. Woltering then found Sanderson through the air on a 33-yard touchdown pass.
Up on the scoreboard, the 26-point deficit held until 10 seconds later, when Lesser threw to a wide open Mitch Godwin for a 49-yard Patriots touchdown.
Liberty Christian led 52-20 with 11:42 remaining in the game.
On Gar-Pal’s next drive, junior receiver Ian Niebergs went down to the turf after an incomplete pass.
Staying down, Gar-Pal assistant Dan Parrish came out to attend to him and the Patriots quickly gathered in a circle on one knee to say a prayer.
Two minutes later, Niebergs limped to the sidelines with Parrish and the game resumed.
L.C. scored once more before the night was over, a 22-yard run from freshman Nico Shupe.
The Patriots now advance to play Republic Nov. 29 in a 1B state semifinal game, again at Edgar Brown in Pasco. Neah Bay will face Lummi at the Tacoma Dome in the other semifinal.
Gar-Pal concludes a season in which it rotated its six seniors as captains throughout the year: Woltering, Cocking, Sanderson, Mitch Jamison, Tyler Thurman and Trapper Askins.
This year's quarterfinal was the Vikings’ longest run in the playoffs since they won the state B championship in 1986 and 1987.
Their last state appearance was at the 2B level when they got beat at White Swan, a team led by Andy Bush, the coach who took Garfield-Palouse to the two state B titles.
Broncos advance
to semi-finals
The Lind/Ritzville/ Sprague Broncos are the last 2B NE League football team still playing after last week's quarterfinal round of the 2B state playoffs. They won 17-14 Friday over Waitsburg/Prescott, the last SE team in action, at Pasco. They will now play Okanogan at 4 p.m. in the semifinal round.
Okanogan, which stopped Reardan in the first round, eliminated another NE League contender last week with a 55-18 win over Davenport at Moses Lake.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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