Garfield/Palouse opened their 2017 high school football season Sept. 1 with 32-8 home win over non-league Troy.
Quarterback Evan Weagraff led the team, rushing for 173 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns. He also went 7-for-8 passing for 118 yards.
The game opened with a 0-0 tie in the first quarter before the Vikings scored early in the second.
Troy’s defense held Gar/Pal to a longest-run-of-the-night of 23 yards. In turn, Palouse wound time off the clock in extended drives. They led 14-0 at halftime and 20-0 at the end of the third quarter.
Troy scored in the fourth on a kickoff return against the Gar/Pal backups.
Coach Will Woltering was pleased, while noticing a particular statistic: 70 yards in penalties.
“Aggressive penalties, at least, but we need to get that taken care of,” he said. “They were penalties trying to play football, not offsides, etcetera.”
Weagraff, a senior, threw most to Caden Sanderson and Daniel Orfe, who both had three receptions.
“It was Evan’s best game ever, I think,” said Woltering. “He played great on defense too.”
Weagraff, a defensive back, and linebacker Nathan Astin lead in tackles while linebacker Chad Hanson recovered a fumble.
On offense, junior Orfe ran for 49 yards on nine carries while Travis Knauff delivered key blocks for Weagraff and ran for 44 yards himself.
Garfield/Palouse will now hope to play again Friday night at home against Odessa/Harrington – air quality permitting. The Titans advanced to the state 1B quarterfinals last year, losing to Almira/Coulee/Hartline.
“They’re gonna be tough,” Woltering said. “What I’d like to see is us give them one heck of a good test.”
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