2B Football: Haight, Loggers Crush PWV

ONALASKA — Ashton Haight doesn’t get too worked up about the numbers.

On Friday, as he’s done more often than not this season, he produced a truckload of those numbers — only to shrug and grin.

“I just go with it,” he said. “However it goes, it goes, I guess.”

The shrug came from his experience and comfort as the fullback in Onalaska’s ground-and-pound offense. The grin came from the 52-14 final score in a non-divisional SWW 2B League matchup with Pe Ell-Willapa Valley, and the fact that it pushed the Loggers’ record to 4-0 on the season.

“That was our … I don’t know what you’d call it. Our week to show what’s going on,” he said. “We got it done tonight, and it went really well.”

Onalaska scored on four of its five possessions in the first half, including a 1-yard Haight touchdown run seconds before the first-half horn that put the Loggers up 28-6 at the break. Quarterback Lucas Kreger then zipped 46 yards for a touchdown 26 seconds into the third quarter, and the Loggers pulled ahead 36-6 and wouldn’t let the lead get below 30 the rest of the way.

The Logger offense piled up 501 total yards, with Haight taking 29 carries for 251 yards and four touchdowns.

“The kid runs hard. That doesn’t surprise us. In this offense, the fullback’s going to get carries, and yeah, that’s a hell of a night for him,” Logger coach Mazen Saade said. “That’s good for our offensive line. Our offensive linemen are going to be excited about those numbers.”

Haight was quick to praise that offensive line, made up of Spencer Hamilton, Tristen Lawrence, Alex Frazier, Joaquin Patraca and B.J. Cleveland-Barrera.

“They block everything out great,” he said. “They’re great people.”

Saade highlighted the entire backfield unit, with Haight at fullback, Kreger at quarterback and Hazen Inman and Cade Lawrence throwing blocks from their halfback spots.

“Since their freshman year, they’ve been running it as a group set, and it’s pretty fun with those guys,” Saade said. “That’s powerful stuff. That’s the corps of those backs just working together.”

Inman, who finished with 65 yards on seven carries, open the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run, and Haight got his first touchdown midway through the second quarter. The fullback broke off a 36-yard scoring run on the second play of the Loggers’ next drive to pull ahead 22-0.

The Titans, with sophomore Logan Walker starting under center with regular quarterback Matt Pearson injured, found an offensive rhythm just before halftime. Walker hit on three straight passes, the last of which went to Sam Western for a 27-yard touchdown that made it 22-6.

Walker went 9 of 16 passing for 85 yards and two touchdowns, adding a 16-yard touchdown pass to Max Smith late in the third quarter.

The Titans (2-2) were also without running back Peter Hamilton, who led the team with 244 rushing yards through their first three games but was injured in a Week 3 win over Raymond.

Smith, a junior, finished with 11 carries for 49 yards to lead PWV’s offense.

Lawrence added 43 rushing yards and a touchdown for Onalaska, while Kreger ran for 79 yards and completed one of his two pass attempts for 14 yards. He also ran for a 24-yard touchdown on the Loggers’ first drive that was called back due to an inadvertent whistle when Kreger’s fake handoff was a little too believable.

Onalaska opens SWW 2B League Mountain Division play on Friday in Randle, facing Morton-White Pass in a matchup of two unbeaten teams.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley (1-0 Coastal Division) hosts Chief Leschi, in Pe Ell, on Friday in a divisional contest.