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Prosser Mustang recap |
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Prosser too much for Pullman
PROSSER — With the preliminaries of its season attended to with swift and brutal ease, Prosser's football team literally ached for a fight Friday night. And did it ever get one. Finally, here was someone in their face. A challenger who had the nerve and ability to beat the Mustangs on their own field just a year ago. Thoughts of vengeance and a needed stirring of resolve provided hot-blooded emotions after three months of coolly dispatching all comers, and Prosser feasted on the feeling for a hard-fought 41-19 victory over Pullman in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs. The fearless Greyhounds outgained Prosser's prolific offense thanks to the playmaking of quarterback J.T. Levenseller and rallied from a three-touchdown deficit to get within 21-13 in the third quarter and 28-19 in the final period. After carving into Prosser's lead yet again with 10:47 left in the game, the overflow crowd at Fiker Stadium really drew a deep breath — Pullman's defense forced a three-and-out. But the Mustangs, who have eased up at the end for 10 straight weeks in a season of routs, answered Pullman's challenge decisively as running back Jarid Leighty turned in the game of his career with 163 yards and touchdowns on Prosser's final two possessions. "We had to play all four quarters, and I knew I had to do some tough running," said Leighty, who scored on a 47-yard burst with 5:01 left and a 6-yard capper with 3:29 to go. "It was relieving breaking that long one and getting the margin back up there. Pullman plays hard — we knew they would be good." Even though Pullman graduated 17 seniors off last year's state 2A title team, which beat Prosser here 35-28, Levenseller did return and he was a burden on Prosser's defense all night. He ran for 169 yards and a touchdown, passed for 147 yards and two scores and helped the Greyhounds outgain Prosser 402-383. "Levenseller is a real good player, and we had to really work to get out of this," said senior defensive standout Josh Beck, who returned a fumble for a touchdown in the first period and came up with a fourth-quarter interception. "This was definitely different from the games we've had — we had a few setbacks." On a windy night with intermittent rain, Prosser quarterback Kellen Moore turned in mortal numbers by his standards, completing 18 of 28 passes for 206 yards for three touchdowns. After throwing just three interceptions all season, he was picked off twice and both came deep in Pullman territory. The Greyhounds directed much of their secondary focus on Moore's favorite target Cody Bruns, who managed just two catches for 26 yards. But Kellen had no trouble finding his brother, Kirby, who collected nine passes for 106 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns as Prosser opened a 21-0 lead. But through the pesky rain and Pullman's rally, the one constant for Prosser was Leighty, a statistical afterthought this season in the shadow of numerous state and national passing records. The 165-pounder took shots, spun out of tackles, reached for extra yards and generally made Pullman pay for blanketing the Mustangs' receivers. He carried the ball a season-high 23 times, including 15 totes in the second half. "I figured I would get a few more carries tonight, especially with it raining," Leighty said. "It was a tough game, but fun. We've looked forward to a game like this." Prosser got its biggest jolt in the third quarter — a period in which the Mustangs had outscored opponents 182-7 this season. Pullman not only held the top-ranked team scoreless but drew within 21-13 on Levenseller's second scoring pass to T.C. Peterson. But Kody Frank gave the Mustangs just the spark they needed — a 63-yard kickoff return that saw the Greyhounds have at least four direct shots at bringing him down before they finally did. Two plays later, Kellen Moore pitched his 61st touchdown pass of the season — a 22-yarder to Bruns, his 25th score of the season. "Kody does that a lot," Beck praised. "That changed the pace of the game." "I saw an opening and just broke for daylight," Frank said. "I broke a tackle and just kept spinning when I felt a hand on me. Just give our offense good field position — that's all I was thinking." Prosser (11-0) moves on to the 2A quarterfinals and will play today's Hoquiam-Archbishop Murphy winner likely next Saturday at Kennewick's Lampson Stadium.
Pullman 0 7 6 6 — 19 Prosser 14 7 0 20 — 41 Pro — Kirby Moore 8 pass from Kellen Moore (Trevor Fox kick) Pro — Josh Beck 24 fumble return (Fox kick) Pro — Ki. Moore 24 pass from Ke. Moore (Fox kick) Pull — T.C. Peterson 20 pass from J.T. Levenseller (Derek Heim kick) Pull — Levenseller 70 run (kick failed) Pro — Cody Bruns 22 pass from Ke. Moore (Fox kick) Pull — Peterson 31 pass from Levenseller (pass failed) Pro — Jarid Leighty 47 run (Fox kick) Pro — Leighty 6 run (kick failed) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Pullman, Levenseller 18-169, Mike Meines 12-41, Cody Weber 9-23, Matt Kincaid 4-11, Trevor Peterson 1-6, Tim Krautkraemer 1-5. Prosser, Leighty 23-163, Ke. Moore 2-14. PASSING — Pullman, Levenseller 8-17-1-147. Prosser, Ke. Moore 18-28-2-206. RECEIVING — Pullman, T.C. Peterson 2-51, Meines 2-36, Jed Adams 1-23, Trevor Peterson 1-14, Weber 1-12, Joel Turtle 1-11. Prosser, Ki. Moore 9-106, Serg Torres 3-37, Bruns 2-26, Corey Engbretson 1-19, Andy Moore 1-9, Nick Boydston 1-8, Kody Frank 1-1.
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Prosser continues to roll, defeats Pullman 41-19This story was published Saturday, November 11th, 2006 By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer PROSSER -- The postseason was supposed to be nothing more than a coronation for the Prosser football team. Nobody told that to Pullman. The Greyhounds provided Prosser with its sternest test to date Friday night in the first round of the 2A state playoffs, pushing the Mustangs for 3 1/2 quarters before Prosser pulled away to a 41-19 victory at Art Fiker Stadium. After rolling over opponents at a 57-point clip during the regular season, the Mustangs (11-0) led Pullman only 28-19 with 7:49 to play, causing a few nervous moments on the Prosser sideline. "That was definitely different than the rest of our games," said Mustangs linebacker Josh Beck. "They really tested us. We had a few setbacks, but we came back in this one." Prosser survived to face the winner of today's Hoquiam-Archbishop Murphy game next Saturday despite an off night for Kellen Moore -- at least by the senior's predigious standards (18-of-28, 206 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions). The Mustangs got a big game from senior Jarod Leighty, who rushed for a career-high 163 yards and two TDs as Pullman dropped seven or eight players in coverage on almost every play. "It's the playoffs. It's time to step it up," said Leighty, whose 47-yard TD run with 5:01 to play finally gave Prosser some breathing room. The Mustangs led 21-0 late in the second quarter after holding Pullman (9-2) on fourth down to stop a 20-play, nine-minute drive, then answering with a 24-yard TD pass from Kellen Moore to younger brother Kirby. But Pullman refused to wilt. Led by senior quarterback JT Levenseller, the Greyhounds struck right before halftime. Levenseller's 54-yard scamper around left end set up his first TD pass, a 20-yarder to TC Peterson with 26 seconds left. Pullman then held Prosser scoreless in the third -- the first time all season the Mustangs starters failed to score in a quarter -- and closed to within 21-13 on a 70-yard Levenseller run. "We sensed coming in this wasn't going to be three quarters and gone," Kellen Moore said. "We made some mistakes, but we can learn a lot from this." Prosser responded quickly as Kody Frank dipsy-dooed through five tackles on the ensuing kickoff return, finally bouncing outside and before getting tripped up at the Greyhounds 28 for a 63-yard play. "I got hit once and then just went with the flow," Frank said. "I was spinning around, trying to find daylight and finally did." Two plays later, Moore hit Cody Bruns for a 22-yard touchdown -- Bruns' 25th TD reception to give him sole possession of the single-season state record. It also put Bruns atop the single-season yardage list with 1,697. But again, Levenseller brought Pullman back. He hit Mike Meines on a 34-yard pass between two defenders, then hit Peterson on a 31-yard post pattern to draw the Greyhounds to within 28-19 with almost the entire fourth quarter to go. "We thought we could come in here and give them the toughest game of their lives," said Levenseller, who finished with 165 yards on the ground and 147 through the air. "We thought we'd be able to run the ball and take as much clock out of the game as we could. We were pretty successful doing that. We just shot ourselves in the foot at the end." Levenseller was referring particularly to his two miscues -- the first-quarter fumbled snap that Beck returned 24 yards for his first career touchdown, and the pass he threw that Beck picked off at the Pullman 29 as Ben Sipe was dragging him to the ground. Beck's interception led to Leighty's second score, a 6-yard run with 3:29 to play. Keegan Pilot led Prosser's defense with 11 tackles and a sack. Aaron Galvan added nine tackles and Nick Boydston eight.
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