Prep Football Notebook | Ferris seeking cracks in Spartans' armor

After watching Skyline's impressive 38-2 quarterfinal victory against Auburn last weekend, coaches from Ferris High School spent their return trip to Spokane creatively scheming for a way to beat the top-ranked Spartans.

By the end of the ride home, Saxons coaches had all but installed a new offense and defense before they stopped themselves.

"It was all new schemes," Ferris coach Jim Sharkey said. "We had to laugh."

Instead, the Saxons will stick with what got them to Saturday's 1 p.m. Class 4A semifinal game against the Spartans (12-0) at Albi Stadium in Spokane.

"We're going to do what brought us to this point in the season," Sharkey said.

That means a reliance on the passing game, which has helped the fifth-ranked Saxons to an 11-1 record.

But Sharkey acknowledges that "it's tough to find a [Skyline] weakness. With this team, in my 15 years of coaching, this might be my toughest task to find a weak spot to go after."

Several teams have tried to run on Skyline and play keepaway, but never with positive results. The Spartans' first-team defense has allowed only one score this season. Last Saturday against Auburn, they held the No. 3 Trojans more than 200 yards under their regular-season rushing average.

"We've got to find something, if we can run it just a little bit, to keep them off balance," Sharkey said.

Ferris' passing game begins with quarterback Connor Halliday, a transfer from Lewis and Clark who has thrown for 19 touchdowns in 10 games. Receiver and defensive back Aaron Roberts is one of 11 returning starters who played in last year's semifinal game against Bothell, which the Saxons lost 14-7. Ferris lost several Division I college athletes from that team, including Washington State receiver Jared Karstetter, yet the Saxons came back to win the Greater Spokane League again.

"They wanted to get out of the shadow of last year's seniors," Sharkey said of his players.

Winning still

a habit for Lakes

Union of Vancouver is the youngest football program in the state playoffs as a second-year school.

Lakes, on the other hand, is a traditional power with 11 playoff trips in the past 12 years. The teams square off in the 3A semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at the Tacoma Dome.

But few people know how young Lakes is, with only two senior starters on offense and three on defense. The juniors, however, are no strangers to success. Their freshman and sophomore teams were undefeated, and this year's varsity is 12-0.

"They've never lost as Lakes football players," coach Dave Miller said. "Hopefully, we can keep that going."

Archbishop Murphy

not lacking motive

Archbishop Murphy faces a familiar opponent Saturday in a 10 a.m. Class 2A semifinal at the Tacoma Dome. The Wildcats will play Lynden, a team they beat 26-15 in the season opener.

Coach Dave Ward of Archbishop Murphy (12-0) thinks the rematch only favors the Lions (10-2) from the Northwest Conference.

"They say the advantage is to the team that lost," Ward said. "The team that lost usually comes in more determined. It's the team that won before that has to find the motivation again."

But after being disqualified from last year's state playoffs despite an unbeaten record, motivation hasn't been a problem for the Wildcats.

In addition to forfeiting games because of an administrative issue, the Wildcats last season had to endure the death in September of their coach, the legendary Terry Ennis.

"We know we're playing for Coach Ennis and the seniors that got screwed last year," said senior C.J. Milburn. "There's a lot to motivate us. Losing isn't something we think about."

Add another

hyphen, please

Lacrosse-Washtucna, the Southeast Washington eight-man power that won four straight 1B titles and set a state record with 49 consecutive wins before losing in 2006, is back in the semifinals with a new name. The Tigercats are now Lacrosse-Washtucna-Kahlotus.

Kahlotus was unable to field its own team and has contributed two players — both all-league defensive selections — to the Tigercats. They are Gary Marmes, a junior defensive end, and Garrett Whitney, a sophomore linebacker who also plays tight end.

L-W-K (11-0) plays Cusick (12-0) Saturday in Spokane.

The three-school arrangement won't continue into basketball season as Kahlotus will have its own team.

Notes

• It will be black Friday in Tacoma for Union of Vancouver. Titans fans will wear black for the game against Lakes. Union's colors are silver, black and scarlet.

• Troy O'Neill, who began the season as Burlington-Edison's starting quarterback before switching to tight end, caught the go-ahead, 79-yard TD pass from Dylan Boe in a 14-7 quarterfinal win over Pullman. The Tigers play Prosser on Saturday in a rematch of last year's 2A title game.

• Prosser QB Jordan Durbin threw five TD passes in a 33-28 quarterfinal win over Othello, but only one was to Kirby Moore, the Mustangs' Boise State-bound receiver. Dominic Garza, a 150-pound sophomore, had two TD catches, including the winning 50-yarder with 3:22 remaining.

• Naselle is in the semifinals for the first time. The Class 2B Comets from Pacific County, east of Long Beach, lost in the quarterfinals last year.

Times staff reporters Craig Smith and Sandy Ringer and freelancer Joshua Mayers contributed to this report.