GSL football: Lee Colomb scores on offense and defense; Mead finds focus in 38-9 win over Ferris

After a tough loss in their rivalry game last week, the Mead Panthers had a short week to prepare for another Greater Spokane League opponent. But Thursday’s home matchup against winless Ferris gave the Panthers a chance to “refocus,” according to coach Kyle Snell.

Junior Lee Colomb scored two touchdowns, one by reception and one by interception, and Mead beat the Saxons 38-9 at Union Stadium.

Colomb finished with three catches for 69 yards, 46 coming on his first quarter TD catch-and-run.

He was more excited about the pick-6 though, Mead’s second of the night, which came midway through the third quarter.

“It’s my first one,” he said. “We did a pretty good job of treating (Ferris) like a new game. It still counts to our season. Like, we still got to go. But we did good work this week, and it showed.”

“I think there’s some things that we didn’t do well that we can correct, and hopefully that continues to allow us to get better and move us forward,” Snell said. “The kids played hard. There hasn’t been any question over their effort. I think we just really have to get better with our execution.”

Though the final score was lopsided, it was made worse by the two defensive touchdowns. Mead managed just six first downs on offense, compared to Ferris’ four. Panthers QB Landon Thomas went 8 of 19 for 149 yards and Mead rushed for just 82 yards. They committed eight penalties for 88 yards. 

The defense paved the way. In addition to the two scores, the Panthers had three interceptions total and six sacks, limiting Ferris to 128 total yards. The Saxons won the time of possession battle, holding the ball 35 minutes to Mead’s 15. 

Snell said this week was all about “focus.”

“I think a Thursday night’s a challenge no matter what, because you don’t get the prep, and sometimes you don’t get the full recovery, because you got to speed everything up during the week,” Snell said. “But I think, hopefully, tonight got us there. I’m not sure we were there at the start.”

On Ferris’ first possession, the Mead defense sacked quarterback Sam Colton on consecutive plays to force a punt from the end zone. The Panthers got good field position and on third down Landon Thomas hit a steaking Colomb down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead.

Mead (4-1) forced another punt and took over at its 44. On fourth-and-10 Thomas connected with Trevelle Jones on an out, and Jones slipped a tackle and went 30 yards to the 7. Three plays later Thomas kept it around left end for an 8-yard TD run.

Ferris (0-5) was faced with third-and-20 from its 12 and Colton’s pass to the outside was intercepted by Kyle Killman and returned for a touchdown with 18 seconds left in the quarter.

Panthers linebacker Benaiah Faagau picked off Colton and returned it to the Ferris 43. Mead got to the Ferris 5, but a holding penalty stalled the drive and Donovan Damiano booted a 31-yard field goal for a 24-0 lead early in the second quarter.

On Mead’s first possession of the third quarter, Thomas had a pass blocked by the interior of the Saxons defensive line. Thomas caught the deflection but was tackled in the end zone for a safety.

Ferris got the ball back near midfield, but Colton rolled to his left and was picked off by Colomb, who went 52 yards for a score and 31-2 lead.

“He works his tail off and does everything that’s asked of him,” Snell said of Colomb. “He’s gonna have a really nice career here at Mead.”

On Mead’s next possession, Thomas hit Hayden Koohns in the flat and he rumbled into the end zone from 22 yards to put the Panthers up 38-2.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Ferris finally found some traction on offense, going on a 12-play, 55-yard drive culminated by Colton’s 2-yard plunge with 4:35 left in the game.