Rochester's Tiki Hickle grabs a touchdown pass from quarterback Nick Taylor in the first quarter of a nonleague football game between Centralia and the Warriors Friday in Rochester.
Rochester's Nick Taylor avoids the rush from the Centralia defense during nonleague football action between the Warriors and Tigers Friday in Rochester.
Centralia's Joe Finch hauls in a pass from quarterback Joey Aliff in the second quarter of nonleague football action between the Tigers and Warriors Friday in Rochester.
Centralia's Joey Aliff avoids the rush from Rochester's Tiki Hickle during nonleague football action Friday in Rochester.
ROCHESTER — The Warriors playoff outlook got a little bit brighter Friday night.
Rochester, with a tough set of criteria to earn a District 4 pigtail game, took the first step toward the postseason here with a 17-7 nonleague win over Centralia.
“It was a really big win,” Rochester coach Eric Snelson said. “The kids have worked really hard since November, and all that hard work and togetherness has finally paid off.”
Kage Thayer ran for 83 yards on 21 carries, Joseph Foley tallied 68 yards on the ground with a touchdown and first-time quarterback Nick Taylor passed for 72 yards and a score.
“Once he got under center he looked like a natural out there,” Snelson said. “He made very few mistakes, which I think was key to us being as successful as we were tonight. He led the team well, he rolled up about 40 yards rushing, and I thought he threw the ball very accurately and timely.”
Rochester needs to win 75 percent of its games in Evergreen 2A/1A League play, and play — and win — the remainder of its games against 2A opponents in order to have a playoff shot. That made Friday’s home opener against Centralia pertinent from a playoff standpoints.
The Warriors opened up the scoring when Taylor hit Tiki Hickle — a transfer over the summer from Elma — for a 16-yard touchdown. Foley added a 25-yard scoring scamper in the second frame, and Centralia quarterback Joey Aliff hit Riley Christensen with a 31-yard touchdown pass to send the Tigers into the half trailing 12-7.
In the fourth quarter, however, Centralia lined up to punt deep in its own territory, only to see the snap sail over the punter’s head and out the back of the end zone for a safety. Taylor then kicked through a 35-yard field goal to ice the game.
Rochester held an edge in total offense, with 259 yards to Centralia’s 238, and the Tigers lost three fumbles in the contest.
“It was a very good defensive performance,” Snelson said, “and I’m very gratified that these kids have kind of bought in to the philosophy and they’re executing it very well.”
Luke Kimbrell and Ben Slaymaker both played well at linebacker, Snelson added.
Rochester (1-0) will host Black Hills on Friday, while Centralia (0-1) will play a nonleague game at Aberdeen.
Pier Runs Wild As Tenino Thumps Charles Wright, 40-19
TENINO — Thomas Pier rushed for 331 yards and the Beavers were able to ground the high-flying antics of Charles Wright Academy in a 40-19 nonleague football victory here on Friday.
Pier carried the ball 32 times and found the end zone three times as Tenino rang in their newly renovated field and stadium.
“It was a great night, new field, new stadium,” Tenino coach Randy Swilley said. “We were able to get past the best quarterback in single-A.”
That quarterback was Charles Wright signal-caller Henry Cheney, who finished with 210 yards passing. The Tarriers, though, couldn’t find a way to stop Pier or the rushing attack. Tenino built a 21-13 halftime lead on all three of Pier’s rushing touchdowns, and iced the game with a 12-point third quarter thanks to a 5-yard touchdown run from Calvin Guzman and a 1-yard paydirt trip by Josh Eisken.
Kaleb Strawn, who finished with two sacks, 60 rushing yards and 37 receiving yards, rounded out the Beaver scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run.
“In terms of execution, we did a very good job but we just couldn’t get out of our way with some of these penalties,” Swilley said.
Perhaps the lone blemish on the evening was 120 yards going backwards from 12 yellow flags.
“But the whole team played really well and penalties are something we can control and work on,” Swilley added.
As a team, the Beavers finished 426 rushing yards along with 55 passing yards from Guzman.
Tenino (1-0) plays at Castle Rock next Friday.
