2B Football: Toledo Breaks Away to Beat Napavine

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TOLEDO — Heading into Friday night's Central 2B League tilt with Napavine, the Indians were perceived by many to be a slight underdog.

The aforementioned ‘many,’ however, did not include the Indians themselves, who basked in the glow of victory after a 27-13 win.

“We're not looking at it as an upset,” said Toledo coach Jeremy Thibault. “It's kind of an insult, really, with all of the guys that we are returning, to be picked to finish fourth in league.”

The win gave Toledo a big step towards securing a league finish — and District 4 crossover seed — higher than fourth. At 5-1 with a few key victories in their pocket, the Indians have an inside track to second-place in the C2BL, which would provide Toledo with a favorable crossover matchup against the No. 5 team out of the Pacific 2B League.

“It means a ton just to get out of your own league,” explained Thibault.

The man of the evening for the Indians was their familiar and formidable workhorse: Senior running back Taylor Hicks, who ran the ball a whopping 34 times for 209 yards and three touchdowns. The first came in the first quarter when Hicks punched in a 5-yard jaunt that capped a 12-play, 49-yard drive that lasted nearly six minutes.

Napavine, meanwhile, couldn’t keep its wheels from slipping as fumbles, an interception and penalties wrought havoc on its offensive scheme, leaving the Tigers down 7-0 at halftime.

In the second half Dalton Yoder got things going again for the Indians, turning a quarterback sneak into a 26-yard touchdown run while hauling a Tiger defender across the goal line for a 14-0 lead.

The Tigers, though, responded, taking two plays to score as Cole Van Wyck found the end zone on a 26-yard run midway through the third, and scored early in the fourth when Randy Kinswa found paydirt on a quarterback draw. The Tigers’ PAT kick, however, was blocked, leaving Toledo with a 1-point lead.

Toledo took the momentum and ran with it, with Hicks scoring a touchdown a minute later from 27 yards out for a 21-13 lead.

Napavine was unable to move the ball on its next possession, but looked poised for one last drive when it held up the Indians near midfield with just over a minute left. Hicks, though, lined up in the punt formation, and Toledo ran a fake punt sweep to the right and Hicks rode his turbo supply to a 47-yard game sealing touchdown.

“We were never going to punt that,” said Thibault. “(Napavine kick returner) Mac Fagerness is one of the best athletes in this league and we're not going to give him that opportunity.”

Hicks, of course, had packed fake punts for big plays before, and was happy with the outcome Friday.

“I knew coming into this season that Pe Ell-Willapa Valley and Napavine would be the biggest games of the year,” he said. “We let one of them get away already so I wasn't going to let that happen again.”

Dakota Robins, who notched an interception on the evening in addition to some timely big-yard runs, said that sharing a field with Hicks “is an honor,” because of the tenacity with which he plays every down.

“I learned to never, ever give up,” said Robins of watching Hicks carry the ball. “I think he had more yards after contact than regular yards rushing.”

Cole Van Wyck led Napavine with 82 rushing yards, while Fagerness finished with five catches for 80 yards and 21 rushing yards.

Toledo (5-1) will host Mossyrock on Friday. Napavine (4-2) will play at Toutle Lake.

Elledge, MWP Rally Past Mossyrock

By The Chronicle

RANDLE — It took a quarter for the Timberwolves to snap out of a funk, but once the second quarter rolled around they were off to the races in a 46-21 win over East Lewis County rival Mossyrock here Friday in Central 2B League football action.

Braiden Elledge ran for 281 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries for MWP, while James Cheney tallied 147 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns for Mossyrock.

The Vikings led 21-12 after the first quarter, with Cheney and Elledge each scoring twice and Viking quarterback Timmy Allen keeping the ball for a 1-yard score.

“I thought we played pretty good for 2 ½ quarters, but there early we were terrible,” MWP coach Aaron Poquette said. “It was like we just didn’t want to be there. We were just completely disinterested in the game. Mossyrock was flying around having fun, and that first quarter showed it.”

Zach Elswick’s 8-yard touchdown run pulled MWP to within 21-20 at halftime, and Elswick ran back the second-half kickoff a school-record 90 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

“That was a big momentum swing for us,” Poquette said. “We were rolling from there.”

Elledge added two more touchdowns in the third quarter, and Matt Poquette caught 19-yard touchdown pass from Kaleb Rashoff in the fourth quarter.



“Braiden’s a stud. I’d put him right up there with the top running backs in our league,” Poquette said of Elledge, who has been playing in an arm cast for nearly a month. “He’s a special player.”

Morton-White Pass (4-2) will play at Adna on Friday. Mossyrock (1-5) will play at Toledo on Friday.

Whitney, Loggers Pound Mules, 59-0

CATHLAMET — The Loggers were looking for a bounce-back game after last week’s loss to Toledo, and a trip to Wahkiakum County was the perfect remedy.

Stone Whitney ran for 231 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries and added a 50-yard interception return, and Onalaska hammered the Mules 59-0 here Friday in C2BL football action.

“I was really impressed with how we played,” Logger coach Mazen Saade said. “I thought our coaching staff had a good defensive plan for Wahkiakum, and we came out offensively and executed. It felt good today to come down here and get a win.”

Whitney’s touchdowns came on runs of 3, 14 and 57 yards. Ernie Roque added 63 rushing yards and a touchdown on three carries and a 72-yard score on a pass from Hunter Blair, who added a rushing touchdown of his own in the fourth quarter.

Trace Lawrence ran twice for 71 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Saade said, linebackers Whitney and Jacob Huffman played well, as did cornerbacks Roque and Lazaro Rodriguez.

Onalaska (3-3) will play Pe Ell-Willapa Valley at Pe Ell on Friday.

Charged-Up Pirates Blank Cards, 56-0

WINLOCK — In the aftermath of quarterback David Young's injury last Friday, the Pirates came in with a fueled purpose with the unlucky Cardinals in their path. Adna beat Winlock 56-0 here in Central 2B League football action on Friday.

Before the game, Adna captains went to midfield with a No. 2 jersey in tow as tribute to Young. From there, it didn't take long before the Pirates broke open the scoring frenzy with a 20-yard touchdown run from Zak Smith.

"Adna is a great team and they had momentum going in," Winlock coach Ben Suhrbier said. "They just stayed with smash-mouth football and we couldn't tackle. That was our biggest problem."

The Pirates stuck to the ground, torching the Cardinals with 419 rushing yards. At the head of the pack was Isaac Ingle, who scored on four separate occasions and racked up 246 rushing yards on 20 carries.

Adna completed one pass on five attempts, a pass that so happened to be a 40-yard score from Conner Weed to Tyson Gray. Alec Brattain and Brady Collins also found the end zone on carries for long yardage.

The Cardinals managed to record 129 rushing yards and 162 total yards, despite not being able to convert those numbers to the scoreboard.

"Offensively, I thought we had some fairly good drives but we'd bog down," Suhrbier said. "We've got to break some habits with our kids and they need to understand that if something goes bad in a game, they have to bounce back on the next play. We have to get a little more fire in our belly."

Winlock (1-5) will host Wahkiakum on Friday, while Adna (4-2) will host Morton-White Pass.

Titans Steamroll Ducks, 49-0

PE ELL — Pe Ell-Willapa Valley added another win to its dominant season with a 49-0 C2BL victory over Toutle Lake here on Friday.

"They started out with a good drive on us and we had to buckle down," Titan coach Josh Fluke said. "The tides turned and we were rolling from there."

The Titans indeed began to roll, scoring via a Trevor Cook punch from 3 yards out and ending the first quarter with a 20-yard pass from quarterback Red Arrington to Jason Fluke.

The Titans followed up by doubling their scoring output in the second frame, with two more Cook touchdowns and a pair of rushing scores from Kaelin Jurek, one of which came on a 68-yard punt return.

Cook ended the night with an efficient 120 yards on just four carries, while Jurek had 98 yards on eight rushes. Arrington threw for 71 yards on 5 of 6 completions. Dustin Lusk ran back a 55-yard interception return touchdown.

Fluke credited his defensive line, consisting of Seth Flemetis, Matt Mitton, Tyler Shepherd and Johnny Woods, for their performance, as well. The Ducks managed just 91 yards of offense.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley (6-0) will host Onalaska in Pe Ell on Friday.