Mead defense holds Lewis and Clark in check until Landon Thomas, Panthers offense gets rolling

It took a little time, but Mead finally figured things out on offense Thursday night. What didn’t need figuring out was their defense.

Landon Thomas passed for two touchdowns, ran for another, and the Panthers beat Lewis and Clark 42-14 in a Greater Spokane League 4A/3A game at ONE Spokane Stadium. 

Thomas finished 15 of 23 for 136 yards. Mead (2-0) had four different players with rushing touchdowns, and five had 30-or-more yards rushing as the Panthers spread the ball around on offense. 

The Panthers defense held LC to 209 yards of total offense – 70 coming on its last drive. 

The Tigers (0-2) played Mead to a scoreless draw after one quarter before Mead got on track.

“I was admittedly frustrated offensively, especially the first quarter, feeling like we had opportunities that were there and we weren’t taking advantage of them,” Mead coach Kyle Snell said. “The defense obviously provided great field position … our defensive staff have done an amazing job with the kids that we have.”

Snell coached LC to the postseason last year before taking the Mead job during the offseason. 

“I still have relationships with a lot of their coaches that I coached with last year, and a lot of the kids,” he said. “This was a challenge, because there’s great kids there that were really receptive to me coming in (last year).”

Mead forced punts on each of LC’s first three possessions but didn’t get rolling on offense until late in the first quarter, when it used three plays of 15 yards or more to move into Tigers territory.

On the first play of the second quarter, Thomas burst through the line and took it eight yards for a score. 

“Landon’s a really smart football player, and he grasps our offense as well as anyone,” Snell said. “He does a really nice job of not just communicating with the line or the running backs around them, but does a good job of dictating all 11 on the field.”

The Panthers forced another punt and took over at its 32 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the half. They went on a 13-play drive, culminated with Thomas hitting Max Faagau with a 6-yard swing pass for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 1:37 to go. 

Mead recovered a pooch kickoff at the LC 30 and Thomas found Garrett Miller on an out route to the LC 11. Two plays later Faagau took a direct snap and barreled off-tackle for his second TD of the game, and the Panthers led 21-0 at halftime.

“I think there’s still some pieces of how we make sure we put our best 11 offensively consistently, and that’s a great problem to have,” Snell said. “But trying to understand that different teams are going to match up differently, and right now we have the ability to kind of match that in some multiple ways.”

The Panthers received the second half kick and methodically worked down field, churning up 80 yards over 13 plays, with seven different players gaining yardage. On third-and-4 at the LC 13, Thomas connected with Miller again in the middle of the field for a TD and a 28-0 lead. 

LC fumbled on the second play of its next possession and Mead took over at the LC 28. Six plays later, on the second play of the fourth quarter, Hayden Koohns carried it in from 4 yards to make it 35-0. 

The Tigers got a long completion from Ben Conklin to Peter Dix and a 20-yard run by Ryan Schwartz to get into Mead territory, then Conklin used his speed to go around the end and hustle 31 yards LC’s first score of the game. 

But Mead went on another 80-yard drive, with backup QB Evan Drew taking it the last 9 yards to put the Panthers up 42-7.

LC didn’t fold and went on a 70-yard drive with Caden Cassell scoring from the 2 late in the game to provide the final margin.

Cassell led LC with 67 yards on 11 carries. 

Mead hosts Central Valley on Friday while LC plays at Ridgeline.