For the first time this season, the Pullman Greyhounds won ugly. And that's just fine with them, because part of becoming a great team is finding ways to win when you don't play your best football.
The Hounds racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense, but turnovers and miscues held them out of the endzone on a number of drives. In the end it didn't matter, as a tipped punt and three crucial turnovers allowed Pullman to preserve a 33-27 win over Clarkston on Friday night to move to 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in league.
In typical Pullman fashion, the Hounds started out flat and fell behind early, as Austin Hansen found Zac Dwyer for a 9-yard touchdown strike to make it 7-0 late in the first quarter.
"I don't know how to fix that," Pullman coach Dan Lucier said. "I think it's just us believing we can do it - that's it, having the faith we can do it. We did what we wanted to do to about the (20 or 25-yard line) on about three drives."
None of those drives led to points, as an interception by Justin Cillay and either penalties or missed blocking assignments led to drives stalling.
"It taught me a lesson," Lucier said. "We've got to be a little bit more prepared for adversity than I was."
It wasn't until just under six minutes left in the half that Pullman finally got on the board with a 10-yard touchdown run by Cillay.
And from there, it seemed the scoring would never stop.
Just three plays later, Clarkston reached paydirt to answer when Hansen found a wide open Carson Holman streaking down the field for a 55-yard strike to make it 13-6.
Not to be outdone, the Hounds scored twice more in the half - on a 6-yard run by Cillay and a 3-yard run by Jackson Kincaid - to take a lead into halftime at 19-13.
The scoring barrage led to four touchdowns in less than four minutes, and marked the height of the two teams' offensive efficiency. The offense could have been even more explosive if it hadn't been for David Ungerer intercepting his third pass in two games in the endzone to stop a Clarkston drive inside the redzone.
Both coaching staffs must have made the proper adjustments because the offenses struggled a bit the rest of the way.
Pullman found ways to put points on the board the hard way.
The Hounds turned a Jake Staniszewski interception into a quick Cillay-to-Ungerer 7-yard touchdown pass midway through the third to make it 26-13.
The Bantams' next possession quickly stalled, and a blocked punt by Kincaid again gave the Hounds a short field to work with.
Cillay's offense made use of the momentum, as he found Staniszewski for a 50-yard touchdown to seemingly put the game away at 33-13.
"It was momentum. When something happens, our offense feeds on the momentum created by our defense or special teams," Lucier said.
Clarkston, however, wasn't ready to go away quietly.
The Bantams rattled off 14-straight points to make it 33-27 and were going in for another score with just under seven minutes to go before the opportunistic Hounds' defense again made a play to save a game.
On first-and-10 from the 25-yard line, Clarkston ran a simple play up the middle, but linebacker Henry Meneses stripped the ball and Kincaid fell on it to give Pullman possession.
"Again, it was somebody finding a way somehow, some way, somewhere to change the tide," Lucier said.
"We needed to make a play and we made it," senior lineman Bailey Poitra added. "It really helped and was a weight off our shoulders,"
From there, the Hounds offensive line went to work, allowing Pullman to rack up first down after first down on the ground, running out over six minutes of clock to end the contest.
"For some reason it feels really anti-climatic," Lucier said.
Despite the flat ending, Cillay finished the night throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 80 yards and another pair of scores. Ungerer added to the ground game with a 100-yard effort, as well as a receiving touchdown, and Staniszewski caught five passes for 158 yards and a score of his own.
It would be easy to credit the playmakers for all the yards, but tenacious blocking by all 10 men without the ball led to several plays going for big gains when they seemed to stall out at the point of attack.
"It was huge. We may not have scored on (Jake's) touchdown if they didn't block downfield," Lucier said. "Had we not scored, we'd have gotten beat by one. That just shows how critical it is to do that."
In a game that saw so many explosive plays to end the half, the air did seem to go out of the ball late, as the defenses adjusted and limited big plays in the second half.
It wasn't pretty, but it was a win - Pullman's fifth.
Being a great team isn't always about blowout wins. Sometimes it's about finding ways to get a "W" when not playing your best. For Pullman, it's just another step on its way to becoming great.
"We're having fun playing football," Poitra said.
First quarter
C - Zach Dwyer 9-yard pass from Austin Hansen (Adam Babino kick), 3:06
Second quarter
P - Justin Cillay 10-yard run (run failed), 5:54
C - Carson Holman 55-yard pass from Hansen, 5:23
P - Cillay 6-yard run (Justin Pintak kick), 2:41
P - Jackson Kincaid 3-yard run (kick failed), 1:07
Third quarter
P - David Ungerer 7-yard pass from Cillay (Pintak kick), 8:54
P - Jake Staniszewski 50-yard pass from Cillay (Pintak kick), 6:23
C - Dwyer 8-yard pass from Hansen (Babino kick), 4:34
Fourth quarter
C - Robby DeVleming 43-yard pass from Hansen (Babino kick), 11:44
Andrew Nemec can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 231, or by email to anemec@dnews.com.
