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QHS grad leads Rams to WFL title
Kurtis J. Wood/Post-Register
Matt Sligar threw for 98 yards and a touchdown in Saturday's 14-7 win over Spokane.
EAST WENATCHEE – You can finally call Matt Sligar a champion. That also goes for most of his teammates after a 14-7 victory over the Wolfpack of Spokane on Saturday night at Eastmont High School.
The Wenatchee Valley Rams (8-2) strung together six straight wins to reach the Washington Football League title game. Then they redeemed a week three 13-10 loss to Spokane win the WFL title.
Sligar, a 1995 graduate of Quincy High School, gave credit to his offensive line and props to the defense for the seven-game win streak, which includes the title game this past weekend.
“We have such a phenomenal offensive line and good defense,” Sligar said. “It was the first championship for most of us. In the huddle after the game they asked who hadn’t won a championship and most everyone raised their hand.”
The title was jump started by the defense after forcing a three-and-out on the Wolfpack's opening series. Wenatchee Valley rammed the ball down Spokane’s throat with an eight-play drive. Jacob Deluna (20-96, TD) toted the ball five times on the drive and capped it with a 14-yard run for the 7-0 lead.
“They weren’t quite ready for the plays we had,” Sligar said. “They adjusted and held us for the next two and a half quarters.”
Both teams were unable to find the end zone for the rest of the first half. But the Rams adjusted their offense and Sligar (7-14-0-98, TD) heated up. He missed his first six passes in the opening half, but went 7-for-8 in the second half after a few adjustments.
“Some of it was from vertical routes to stopping routes,” Sligar said. “They had a great secondary.
“As a team we're typically a second-half team.”
That was evident with their second touchdown. Sligar had a trio of passes for more than 10 yards each, including a 14-yard pass to tight end Lance Ballew up the middle, through traffic for the score. Ballew graduated from Cascade High School in Leavenworth.
“That used to be one of our biggest pass plays, but the other team starting catching on. We hadn’t used it in several weeks,” Sligar said. “It was pretty tight in there. There were two guys swatting at it.”
The score rolled to 14-0 with the entire fourth quarter to be played. The Wolfpack finally broke through on a 14-yard pass from quarterback Tim Mitrovich to Jeff Prendergast with just under 10 minutes to go. But the Ram offense went back to work, this time just to chew up the clock. They ran the clock down to about three minutes and the defense took over, forcing a turnover on downs. Sligar took a couple of knees and the team celebrated their first title, a title Sligar nearly missed out on.
He almost called it quits last season, but decided to give the Rams one more season. It was a good thing Sligar, who owns his own excavating business, decided to play one more year, because he is and always will be known as a champion.
“The No. 1 reason I came back, because I am a Christian, was the Lord wanted me to play one more season,” Sligar said. “The No. 2 reason was I really wanted to win a championship.”
Check and check.
