Silver Valley Sports Wrap Oct. 23-29
Skye Gallaway makes the catch for one of his four touchdowns during Mullan’s loss to Clark Fork. Photo by Chanse Watson
Photo by Chanse Watson/ Mullan quarterback Gryphon Todd rolls out to make a throw during the Tiger’s game with Clark Fork last Friday.
The Wallace swim team recently wrapped up their season at the district meet in Coeur d’Alene. Courtesy photo
Mullan High School
FOOTBALL
Clark Fork 76, Mullan 42
MULLAN — The Tigers and Wampus Cats played one of the most entertaining games of the year on Friday as they put on an 8-man offensive clinic.
Mullan scored first, but Clark Fork fired back immediately, which sparked into a tit-for-tat explosion of points.
Coach Stetson Spooner felt the full range of emotions during a game where his team was down by as many as 40 and as close to coming back as 10, as the Mullan leaned heavily on their stars.
“Our last game was a continuous effort to keep the ball in (Skye) Gallaway’s and (Gryphon) Todd's hands as much as possible because in our last two games those too combined for 15 touchdowns,” Spooner said. “Gallaway had 10 touchdowns in last two games as a sophomore, which is insane. Todd led this team like a star late in the season, making great decisions and showing his maturity.”
The Tigers will be losing seniors Todd and Royal Barnes, but they have a substantial influx of youth on its way up to join the talented team Spooner will have in place.
“Our standout freshman Riley Trogden grew a lot on the year and had some amazing plays throughout the year,” Spooner said. “Kash Truitt, our junior nose tackle and center, tore it up this year. We are glad to be getting him back next year. Chandler Holling stepped up big for us this year also. Matt Peite, Sam Hess and Wyett King will be coming back as well, these are all selfless team player-type guys.
“All of our guys are tough kids though, none of them are built like lineman and all can catch and run a bit but understand where they would help our team most and you can't coach that kind of dedication to their teammates. We’ll be gaining a stud freshman in Luke Trogden next season which will help us big time.”
Mullan will finish with a 1-6 record, but after having no program in 2015 and then playing 6-man football in 2016, getting a competitive 8-man team back on the field in 2017 was a huge win for the Tigers.
“We grew a lot as a team this year and we are excited to hit the off season and get ready to continue where we left off next year,” Spooner said. “We like how we ended this one though, with a win one week and then a great competitive game against a well coached, and talented, Clark Fork team.”
Spooner will need to find a replacement at quarterback and find someone who can play both sides of the ball as Barnes did.
“Senior Royal Barnes will be missed big time, as will Gryphon,” Spooner said. “Behind the scenes those guys were just a total joy to coach.”
Wallace High School
FOOTBALL
Troy 42, Wallace 32
TROY — The Miners concluded their season with a tough road loss to the Trojans last Friday.
Wallace was playing shorthanded after several injuries had ravaged the Miners over the last few weeks, but they didn’t let that keep them from competing with their pride on the line.
“Offensively the kids had to learn a new offense in three days, and for the practice we had, our wing-T like offense looked pretty good,” coach Jared Young said. “We had to run things a little different this week from all the injuries we had this year. I was proud of how are kids battled.”
Wallace found themselves down early, but battled back and nearly capped off the comeback effort, but it wasn’t to be.
“Our players played hard and played with heart and almost pulled off a dramatic comeback after being down three scores in the fourth quarter to give themselves a chance to pull within a touchdown late in the game,” Young said. “We had a chance at the onside kick, just were unsuccessful in the recovery. Our defense played well most of the night and our kids tackled better than we had been.”
Zayne Hunter stepped in to reprise his role as quarterback from last year, throwing for more than 100 yards and a touchdown, while running for one as well.
Jaden Dimitroff capped off his senior year with 2 touchdowns, one a 80-yard kick return and the other on the ground for the Miners
Wallace will finish the season with a record of 3-6, a frustrating finish to a season that began 3-0, but the pain of losing isn’t what coach Young will remember most about this season.
“It will be tough losing a good group of seniors we had this year,” Young said. “They will be missed.”
SWIMMING
COEUR d’ALENE –– The Wallace swim team competed at their district meet at the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene.
The Miners competed well, but were unable to qualify any swimmers to state competition.
Freshman Eli Bishop notched personal bests in both 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle events with times of 38.48 and 1:29.81 respectively.
Sophomore Kegan Larson also set personal bests in the same events with times 36.33 and 1:29.72 respectively.
Senior Brayden Peyer finished with a time of 32.73 in the 50-yard freestyle event and then set his season record of 1:23.62 in the 100-yard backstroke.
Coach Ed Chilgren thanked the team’s supporters and would encourage any student from the Silver Valley to contact him if they would like to join the team.