KIRKLAND — W.F. West had more than a puncher’s chance here Friday night, but couldn’t quite knock off undefeated Lake Washington in a 28-23 nonleague football loss.
The Kangaroos took what proved to be the final 28-23 lead midway through the fourth quarter on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Michael Buchanan to Jeff Young, but with just under three minutes left to play Bearcat linebacker Camden Bull ripped the ball out of a Lake Washington running back’s hands and packed it back to the 24-yard line.
The Bearcats wound up with four shots at the end zone in the game’s final seconds, with one particularly close call on third down. Quarterback Nole Wollan found receiver Brandon White in the corner of the end zone, only to have the officials judge White out of bounds.
“The side judge had him in, and the back judge said no,” W.F. West coach Bob Wollan said. “It would have been a pretty amazing finish. We had one more throw, and just didn’t get there.”
Still, though, the Bearcats could find plenty of positives in the loss to a bigger 3A program.
“Like I told our kids, I thought the best thing about tonight was they proved that they were exactly who I thought they were,” Wollan said. “They’re fighters, and they were tough. … We went out against a really good team, we hung in there and we gave ourselves a really good chance to win the game.”
W.F. West’s Dakota Hawkins ran an interception back 20 yards for a first-quarter touchdown, but twin rushing touchdowns from Ryan Clifford gave the hosts a 14-7 advantage at halftime.
After the break, though, Nole Wollan connected with Jordan Thomas for a 53-yard touchdown, and Ka’imi Henry’s 12-yard scoring run put W.F. West back in the lead.
“We had nothing at all going for us in the first half, and we just kind of opened it up in the second half and hit on some shots down the field,” Wollan said. “We ran the the ball a little bit better, and I thought our defense — other than, I bet they have 180 of their yards on three catches — I thought our guys were amazing.”
Buchanan answered with the first of his two touchdowns to Young, but kicker Cory Davis nailed a 38-yard field goal that put the Bearcats up 23-21 before the second Buchanan-to-Young score.
Nole Wollan finished 15 of 30 passing for 198 yards, and added 55 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Clifford ran 23 times for 104 yards, and Buchanan completed 15 of 26 passes for 237 yards. Four of those went to Young for 90 yards.
“We had some injury situations we had to play through, all the things you talk about in football — next man up — and I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Wollan said. “In the second half, it was amazing what we did.”
W.F. West (3-1) hosts Aberdeen on Friday in its Evergreen 2A Conference opener.
Montesano Trounces Rochester
ROCHESTER — Montesano racked up 435 yards of total offense, cruising past Rochester 54-19 in a nonleague football game here on Friday night.
The Bulldogs totaled 302 yards on the ground, while Rochester managed just 39 rushing yards and 158 yards of total offense.
Enrique Sanchez led the Warriors with six carries for 43 yards and Grayson Johnson added 13 yards on four carries.
Quarterback Bryce Lollar was 5 of 14 passing for 95 yards and added a rushing touchdown. Patrick Riley was the leading receiver for the Warriors, with five catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.
The Warriors got on the board first, as Johnson punched it into the end zone from 5 yards out for a 7-0 advantage. Montesano scored the next 35 points to take the lead, though the Warriors finally got back on the scoreboard with Lollar’s 1-yard run. The Bulldogs scored one more time before halftime, taking a 41-13 lead into the locker room.
Montesano scored 13 points in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Rochester scored once more, with Sanchez passing to Riley for a 24-yard touchdown.
Rochester (2-2) hosts Elma on Friday in a nonleague game.
