Spokane-Plus HS Boys Weekly Report - April 27

Central Valley celebrates clinching top spot in the Greater Spokane League Friday night

Teams are still scrapping for the regular season title going into the final week or so of play in the Great Northern League and the Northeast A League, but the top spot is all settled in the Greater Spokane League following a fantastic showdown Friday evening at Joe Albi Stadium that finished with the Central Valley Bears clinching the crown. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, Pullman ended a long drought versus Cheney and ROGERS ended a four-plus years long winless run with a victory Friday.

LEAGUE PLAY :: April 21-24 

Greater Spokane League - The week opened with a couple of interesting entanglements and came to a close with a dramatic battle for first with the regular season GSL title on the line.

St John posted shutout in Rogers' streak-breaker

Rogers came close to finally getting that elusive win Wednesday in a narrow 1-0 loss to North Central, but the drought lifted Friday afternoon at home in a 1-0 victory against Mt Spokane. With a goal in the 32nd minute, Megh Gurung ended a winless stretch that dated back to March of 2011 for the Pirates. Vince St. John recorded the shutout.

In other close contests Wednesday, Lewis & Clark and Gonzaga Prep escaped upsets with the Tigers narrowly winning at University and the Bullpups avoiding a stunner at Joe Albi, getting two points via a shootout after a scoreless draw in which they also had to rally from a deficit in the tiebreaker.

Terry Cox (R) celebrates opening goal versus CV

The league favorites, meanwhile, cruised to easy wins with Ferris taking a 3-1 victory at Mt Spokane and Central Valley blanking visiting Mead 4-0. The scoring was shared for the Saxons while the Bears were led by a goal and assist each from JD Hauenstein and Nathan Grinalds.

The two then squared off in Friday's nightcap at Joe Albi Stadium in a thriller. The Bears held the better of play in the opening 10 minutes, but it was the Saxons getting on the board first when a Mick Thompson free kick from about 30 yards out on the right side found the head of Terry Cox off the far outside corner of the six, where he nodded down back toward the near post to put Ferris in front after 12 minutes.

Hauenstein (R) celebrates after his go-ahead goal

Central Valley responded quickly and in spades. Grinalds evened matters just three minutes later via Brian Choate and then turned provider for Hauenstein, who tallied his eighth league goal in the 17th to put the Bears in front.

The match continued to be a back-and-forth contest with Central Valley having the more consistent attack and Ferris looking dangerous on set pieces in the final third. Evan Kern notched his sixth league assist of the season in the 64th, finding Mark McClain for some insurance in the 3-1 win and clinching the regular season GSL championship for Central Valley.

In addition to Rogers' win earlier in the day, Gonzaga Prep bounced out of their two game goal scoring drought with a superb performance against North Central in a 6-2 win at Albi. Meanwhile, University stomped Shadle 4-0 and Mead posted a mid-table upset against Lewis & Clark, nabbing a 2-0 victory. Austin Sterner had assists on the two first half goals for U-Hi while G-Prep was powered by Drew Mosman with two goals and assists and Hunter McKenna's brace.

Scores
Wednesday - Rogers 0 :: 1 North Central
Wednesday - Ferris 3 :: 1 Mt Spokane
Wednesday - Mead 0 :: 4 Central Valley
Wednesday - Gonzaga Prep 1 :: SO :: 0 Shadle Park
Wednesday - Lewis & Clark 1 :: 0 University
Friday - Lewis & Clark 0 :: 2 Mead
Friday - Mt Spokane 0 :: 1 Rogers
Friday - Gonzaga Prep 6 :: 2 North Central
Friday - Shadle Park 0 :: 4 University
Friday - Central Valley 3 :: 1 Ferris

Despite good efforts, Newport couldn't deny Kyllo (L)

Northeast A League -  Newport travelled to Lakeside Tuesday and nearly played the role of spoiler, giving the Eagles quite a bit of trouble in the contest having the better of play for a good part of the first half. The hosts, though, took the lead in the 52nd minute on a goal from leading scorer Kelly Kyllo. Initially frustrated that they gave up the goal despite containing the star striker for most of the game, the Grizzlies bounced back quickly with a goal two minutes later to tie it up. The game looked headed to overtime and potentially a shootout when Kyllo struck again with just over a minute remaining, dashing the hopes for Newport of an upset.

Meanwhile, in Medical Lake the Cardinals created a three-way tie for first in the NEA by handing Colville its first loss of the campaign in another thriller. The unbeaten Indians opened the scoring 15 minutes in only to see the hosts answer four minutes later. Nick Rosenbeck gave Medical Lake the lead a minute into the second half with Colville equalizing in the 69th, sending the match to overtime where Rosenbeck provided the 3-2 winner with just over a minute remaining.

Tuesday also marked a showdown between the winless sides. Riverside came out on top in a back-and-forth 5-3 victory against Deer Park. The Rams opened the scoring via Antonio Mele and held the advantage going into the break, 2-1, thanks to a goal from Jeff Thompson. The Stags, however, came out of the intermission and claimed the lead with two goals in the first 11 minutes of the half. From there, though, it was all Riverside as Mele added a second and Thompson provided two more.

Thursday's contests went largely as expected with Colville crushing Riverside 10-0 and Lakeside dominating Deer Park 4-1. Kelly Kyllo scored two more for Lakeside, giving him a run of nine consecutive for the Eagles before Ole Stole got on the board to end the streak. In Medical Lake, Newport nearly pulled off another upset. This time Kai Thomas, Tuesday's goal scorer, put them on the board first in the second half. Ryan Spangler, though, tied it up and then Rosenbeck scored his second overtime winner, 2-1, of the week in the first minute of extra play.

Scores
Tuesday - Newport 1 :: 2 Lakeside
Tuesday - Colville 2 :: OT :: 3 Medical Lake
Tuesday - Deer Park 3 :: 5 Riverside
Thursday - Riverside 0 :: 10 Colville
Thursday - Lakeside 4 :: 1 Deer Park
Thursday - Newport 1 :: OT :: 2 Medical Lake

Sam Druffel

Great Northern League - The top three tangled this week in the GNL. First off, the Cheney Blackhawks avenged their earlier shootout loss at East Valley with a 2-0 blanking of the Knights Tuesday on goals from Spencer Yeager and Kelby Holland while the Pullman Greyhounds sprinted past West Valley in the Spokane Valley in a surprising 7-1 blowout in which Robby Allen scored twice with five others scoring the rest.

On Thursday, West Valley rebounded with a 4-1 win at Clarkston with scoring spread throughout the squad, but the bigger contest was the battle for first in Pullman, where the Greyhounds topped Cheney 1-0 to claim sole possession of the top spot in the table. Pullman's first win over the Blackhawks since 2011 was courtesy of a Sam Druffel winner in the 31st minute on a ball from Mason Petrino that split the defense. Meanwhile, Will Pitzer kept the perennial power off the board with his first complete game shutout of the year, the team's fifth clean sheet.

Scores
Tuesday - East Valley 0 :: 2 Cheney
Tuesday - Pullman 7 :: 1 West Valley
Thursday - West Valley 4 :: 1 Clarkston
Thursday - Cheney 0 :: 1 Pullman

PHOTO GALLERIES

Tuesday - Newport @ Lakeside [+]
Wednesday - Rogers @ North Central [+]
Wednesday - Gonzaga Prep @ Shadle Park [+]
Wednesday - Mead @ Central Valley [+]
Friday - Gonzaga Prep @ North Central [+]
Friday - Central Valley v Ferris - INWsn [+]    ESP [+]

FIVE STARS - Top performers of the Week

Nathan Grinalds (R)

Nathan Grinalds (Central Valley) :: All he did was tally a goal and assist in each of the Bears' wins on the week. He scored third and set up the fourth in the 4-0 win against Mead and on Friday he scored the quick equalizer versus Ferris before setting up the game-winner in the 3-1 win to give them the regular season title.

JD Hauenstein (Central Valley) :: Provided the assist on the opening goal and scored the final tally in a 4-0 victory over Mead Wednesday. He followed it up by scoring what held as the game-winner in a 3-1 victory over Ferris Friday to help clinch the regular season league title.

Drew Mosman (C)

Drew Mosman (Gonzaga Prep) :: Was a dominant force in the Bullpups' win Friday, tallying the opening goal and then adding a goal and assist later in a convincing 6-2 win against Shadle Park.

Nick Rosenbeck (Medical Lake) :: He helped lead Medical Lake to a 3-2 overtime win against Colville, handing the visitors their first loss of the season. Rosenbeck put the Cardinals in front in the second half and then provided the winner a minute before the game was to be decided by a shootout Tuesday. On Thursday, helped the side avoid an upset to Newport, scoring another overtime winner, this time one minute into extra time, for a 2-1 victory.

Vince St John (Rogers) :: The Pirates have come close to ending the winless streak a few times this season, but the goalkeeper allowed just one goal in a narrow 1-0 loss to University Wednesday and then recorded the crucial shutout in the surprise 1-0 victory over Mt Spokane Friday to give them their first win since 2011.

STANDINGS & STATS (league games only)

REMAINING SCHEDULES (subject to change)

Greater Spokane League
Wednesday, April 29: Rogers v Lewis & Clark; Ferris v Shadle Park; Gonzaga Prep v Mt Spokane; Mead v University; North Central v Central Valley
Friday, May 1: Ferris v Lewis & Clark; Mt Spokane v North Central; Shadle Park v Mead; Rogers v Central Valley; University v Gonzaga Prep

Great Northern League
Tuesday, April 28: Clarkston v Cheney; Pullman v East Valley
Thursday, April 30: Cheney v West Valley; East Valley v Clarkston
Saturday, May 2: West Valley v East Valley; Pullman v Clarkston

Northeast A League
Tuesday, April 28: Colville v Newport; Deer Park v Medical Lake; Lakeside v Riverside
Thursday, April 30: Deer Park v Colville; Medical Lake v Lakeside; Newport v Riverside
Tuesday, May 5: Colville v Lakeside; Newport v Deer Park; Riverside v Medical Lake
Thursday, May 7: Medical Lake v Colville; Riverside v Deer Park; Lakeside v Newport

#INWsoccernews