2B Football: Shorthanded Showdown

NAPAVINE — The Tigers were shorthanded — missing, specifically, injured All-State quarterback Wyatt Stanley — heading into Friday’s Central 2B League rivalry matchup against Adna, a team tied with Napavine for second place in the league standing.

Where other teams would wallow in their misfortune, Napavine simply plugged in a new signal caller and got busy. The result was a resounding 24-0 victory over a pesky Pirate squad — which also wound up playing without its star quarterback — here Friday night.

While Stanley, who suffered a hip injury in a win over Onalaska a week early, prowled the sidelines in casual wear and a set of accessory crutches, his sophomore replacement Randy Kinswa looked poised under duress on the field of play. Kinswa wound up throwing the ball 10 times for 117 yards and just one interception, which came on a try-or-go-home fourth-down heave.

“We make a real strong emphasis in the spring that we aren't going to win or lose with just 11 guys,” explained Napavine coach Josh Fay, who praised Kinswa’s intelligence. “The best part is that we don't have to change anything up for him. Our coaching staff just has tremendous confidence in him.”

In reality, the Tigers probably ran the ball a few times more than usual, but on the whole the package looked rather familiar. Much of that approach this week revolved around sophomore running back Cole Van Wyck, who ran for 169 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Van Wyck punched in the Tigers’ first score of the evening early in the second quarter on an 11-yard hesitation slash up the middle to cap off a 55-yard Napavine drive.

On the other end of the quarter, with 1:23 remaining, Noah Lantz connected on a 20-yard field goal try to give Napavine a 10-0 lead.

Unwilling to settle, the younger of the two Van Wyck brothers on the Tiger roster interjected himself into the action once more before the end of the half, this time on defense. With just 3 seconds on the clock Adna dropped back deep to pass. When Adna's Conner Weed — a sophomore filling in for starting Pirate quarterback David Young — lofted a pass to the right flat, Van Wyck stepped in for an interception before galloping 50 yards to give Napavine a 17-0 lead.

“We've been talking about having a spark plug on this team and I think he's trying to be that guy,” noted Fay.

The momentum carried over to the second half. Receiving the second-half kickoff at his own 20-yard line, Mac Fagerness scampered 80 yards, untouched, for another Tiger score.

With all of 18 seconds of time off of the game clock, Napavine managed to turn a 10-0 ballgame into a 24-0 route, and Adna was hurting.

The Pirates’ main offensive weapon, the aforementioned Young, was sidelined in the first half with a neck stinger serious enough to bring the emergency ambulance over to the Adna bench and keep Young sidelined for the rest of the game.

Isaac Ingle carried the brunt of the Pirates’ offensive burden with 50 yards on 11 carries, while wide receiver Phoenix Millhollen-Elwood hauled in four passes from Weed for 69 yards.

Mac Fagerness notched 160 all-purpose yards, along with his touchdown, and added an interception and recovered fumble.

“He's a very athletic kid,” said Fay of Fagerness. “With Stanley out it's going to be a little harder to get him the ball, but he knows his opportunity is going to come. We've just got to figure out how to make that happen.”

Fay noted the original timeline for Stanley’s return was between three and six weeks, which leaves the quarterback doubtful for the Tigers’ tilt with Toledo — a rematch of last year’s State 2B semifinals.

“We're all about the next man up in this program,” said Fay of his team. “We put the next guy in and we go.”

Napavine (4-1) plays at Toledo on Friday. Adna (3-2) plays at Winlock the same night.