W.F. West's Hunter Fuchs, left, celebrates with Brody Holcomb after Holcomb's touchdown reception in the fourth quarter of a non league football game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Friday night.
W.F. West players celebrate with Brody Holcomb after Holcomb's touchdown reception in the fourth quarter of a non league football game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Friday night.
W.F. West's Brody Holcomb celebrates after tackling a Kingston player in the backfield in the fourth quarter of a non league football game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Friday night.
W.F. West's Cody Miller celebrates after making a tackle in the Kingston backfield during a non league football game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Friday night.
W.F. West's Elijah Johnson runs past Kingston defenders during a non league football game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Friday night.
Images from W.F. West's 2015 season opener against Kingston on Friday, Sept. 4 at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
W.F. West receiver Garrett Yarter reaches out for a pass from Elijah Johnson during a non league football game against Kingston on Friday night at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis. The pass was incomplete.
Images from W.F. West's 2015 season opener against Kingston on Friday, Sept. 4 at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
W.F. West receiver Brody Holcomb reaches out for a pass from Elijah Johnson during a non league football game against Kingston on Friday night at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis. The pass was incomplete.
W.F. West's Roberto Alvarenga, Jr. (69) and Jacob Pettit (73) celebrate after the Bearcat defense recovered a fumble during the second quarter of a non league football game against Kingston on Friday at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
W.F. West's Elijah Johnson winds up to throw a pass during the second quarter of a non league football game against Kingston on Friday night at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
Images from W.F. West's 2015 season opener against Kingston on Friday, Sept. 4 at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
W.F. West quarterback Elijah Johnson (3) scrambles to retrieve a snap that went over his head on the first Bearcat possession of a non league football game against Kingston on Friday evening in Chehalis.
Images from W.F. West's 2015 season opener against Kingston on Friday, Sept. 4 at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
After catching a pass from quarterback Elijah Johnson, W.F. West's Garrett Yarter runs up field during a non league football game against Kingston on Friday night at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
After catching a pass from quarterback Elijah Johnson, W.F. West's Garrett Yarter is taken down by a gang of Kingston defenders during a non league football game on Friday night at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
Kingston's Alex Barrett, right, breaks up a pass intended for W.F. West's Brody Holcomb during the second quarter of a non league football game on Friday night at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis.
The first snap went over the quarterback’s head, and it didn’t get a whole lot better the rest of the first two quarters. As far as the Bearcats’ offense was concerned, the 2015 season didn’t start until just after the halftime horn Friday night in Chehalis.
Once that was in the past, though, W.F. West came out firing in a 14-3 nonleague win over Kingston to open the 2015 football season.
Austin Emery left his mark on the game with four big second-half runs, finishing with 112 yards on 11 carries, and the Bearcat defense was able to bottle up Kingston running back Alex Barrett in the second half.
“It was better,” W.F. West coach Bob Wollan said, of the second half. “It was something to build on, and now we know where we’re at.”
The first half, though, was an offensive struggle. W.F. West’s first series featured the aforementioned fumble, a snap that came on the wrong count and an incomplete pass. The Bearcats managed 34 yards on the ground, and completed just 1 of 10 pass attempts for 14 yards.
Barrett knocked through a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter for the entirety of the game’s first-half offense.
“We really had nothing going for us, trying to figure out personnel — what could possibly work, way too many penalties and negative yardage plays,” Wollan said. “But the defense held in there. Like I told our guys, the best thing about that half is it’s over and you’re only down 3-0.”
Things changed in the second half. On W.F. West’s second drive, Emery took an option pitch from quarterback Eljiah Johnson on the left side of the field and darted 19 yards for the Cats’ biggest play of the game to that point. Johnson kept the next snap and darted 27 yards before being brought down inches from the goal line, and punched it through on the next play.
Emery, a junior starting for the first time in the backfield, picked up 91 yards in the second half and got a bigger-than-expected workload with All-League running back Nathan Anglin out with a sprained ankle.
“He’s got a ton of talent,” Wollan said. “We’d certainly love to have Anglin out there — he’s a game-breaker type of guy — but was an opportunity for (Emery) to show what he can do, and I thought he did a really fine job.”
Halftime, Emery said, was a chance to refocus.
“We just talked about that we needed to get focused and communicate,” he said. “We just got together as a team — teamwork’s key — and we just got together and worked hard.”
The offensive line, too, improved in the second half.
“The line did amazing,” Emery said. “I really like it. They brought it together the second half, perfect.”
All in all, W.F. West managed 201 yards of offense in the second half, after gaining 48 yards in the first.
“I think our depth kind of wore them down, and offensively we started to assert ourselves just running the football,” Wollan said. “Emery, (Kolby) Steen and Elijah, we kind of went to that one little package, and had some success running the football.”
That package was working in the fourth quarter, when the Bearcats’ put together a nine-play, 68-yard scoring drive — with three runs from Johnson, two from Emery for a total of 22 yards, a run by Steen and a 10-yard completion to Garrett Yarter before Johnson found Brody Holcomb wide open on a fade route for a 25-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead with just under 5 minutes left to play.
W.F. West then forced an incomplete pass on fourth down, and needed just a few plays to run out the clock and seal the win.
Johnson finished with 49 rushing yards, while Steen added 32, but the Bearcats completed just 4 of 15 passes for 47 yards.
“I don’t think we protected very well, and then … some of our decisions on where we threw were not great, but it’s a collective effort,” Wollan said. “It’s all got to get better.”
Steen and Tanner Morang, Wollan added both played well at linebacker.
Barrett finished with 100 rushing yards on 13 carries for Kingston, after running for 89 yards on nine carries in the first half.
W.F. West (1-0) will play at North Kitsap on Friday.
