The defining theme of Week 6 could be, in a word, ‘oops.’
Grid Picks, our weekly “here’s who we think is going to win this game involving a local team” feature (it’s on page 4 every Thursday), was a disaster. As a panel, the six prognosticators went 40-26; the best record all week was by guest Shane Pier. Only one panelists managed to get either of the two college games listed (UW at USC and WSU at Oregon) correctly — and that was visuals editor Pete Caster picking WSU’s upset of Oregon. Pete, by the way, has picked WSU to win every time they’ve been on the Grid Picks board since the 2009 season, and his correct outcome of Saturday’s game was a perfect example of even a broken clock being correct twice a day. (Every time someone complains about Pete’s unabashed WSU support in Grid Picks, I point out that he’s been correct every time the Cougs have upset someone. The last time he was right Lane Kiffin lost his job; this time Steve Sarkisian’s on a leave of absence. He’s like a harbinger of unemployment for Pac-12 coaches.)
What’s the got to do with Lewis County Fantasy Football? Almost nothing, thankfully. The hypothetical league charged forward with no regard for final scores, but plenty of appreciation for eye-popping performances. Win or lose, the key players in LCFF still managed to get their points — with C2BL running backs Braiden Elledge (Morton-White Pass) and Stone Whitney (Onalaska) engaging in a long-range shootout to lead this week’s scoring.
Elledge, against Mossyrock, ran for 281 yards, scored four touchdowns and ran in a conversion for a cool 54 points; Whitney, at Wahkiakum, ran for 231 yards, scored four touchdowns (one on an interception), and ran in three conversions for 53 points.
Even more so than normal, however, there were plenty of big LCFF performances.
Week 6 Stars
Big nights from Elledge and Whitney outshined a few other impressive games: Toledo’s Taylor Hicks, no stranger to this column, ran for 203 yards and three touchdowns against Napavine (38 points); Adna’s Isaac Ingle ran for 248 yards and four touchdowns (48 points); Tenino’s Thomas Pier ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns (33 points); and W.F. West’s Elijah Johnson ran for three touchdowns and 98 yards, while passing for another touchdown and 109 passing yards for 35 points in the type of big win over Kelso that should kick-start the Bearcats in the final third of their season. ... Centralia’s Nolan Wasson, despite a tough matchup with Tumwater, managed 43 receiving yards and a the Tigers’ lone touchdown for 10 points. … Mossyrock’s James Cheney ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns (26 points) in the loss to MWP. . … Rochester’s Nick Taylor ran in two touchdowns on his way to 114 yards, passed for 38 yards and kicked an extra point for 25 points in a win over Eatonville. … Pe Ell-Willapa Valley made short work of Toutle Lake, leading 42-0 at halftime. Trevor Cook and Kaelin Jurek did most of the damage; Cook ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns with an 18-yard TD catch (31 points), while Jurek ran for 98 yards and two touchdowns (21 points).
Waiver Finds
Onalaska’s Ernie Roque ran for 63 yards and a touchdown and caught a 72-yard touchdown pass for 25 points. … Zack Elswick added 74 rushing yards and two touchdowns for MWP (19 points). … PWV receiver Jason Fluke had 53 receiving yards and a score for 11 points. … Tenino got its usual pile of rushing yards in a 38-7 win over Aberdeen. Kaleb Strawn added 70 rushing yards and a touchdown (13 points), while Calvin Guzman ran for 65 yards and a score and passed for 30 yards (13 points). … Napavine’s offense had its lowest output of the season in a loss to Toledo, though running back Cole Van Wyck ran in a touchdown with 82 rushing yards for 14 points. Mac Fagerness added 80 receiving yards and 21 rushing yards for 10 points.
Up Next
Centralia and W.F. West both hit the road for nonleague games, with the Tigers headed north to Bremerton and the Bearcats headed south to Prairie. Both defenses, however, should be more forgiving than the teams’ Week 6 matchups. … Tenino hosts Eatonville, which should be another chance for Pier and Co. to run wild. … Rochester, with a solid 4-2 record, hosts an always-tough Montesano squad. … Morton-White Pass kicks off a tough final chunk of the season, playing at Adna. Elledge and Ingle are, again, in line for big outputs. … Toledo hosts Mossyrock, which is a good matchup for Hicks; Whitney and Elledge both had huge nights against the Vikings. … Napavine will try to get things back on track with a winnable game at Toutle Lake. … Onalaska heads west to face the Titans in Pe Ell, which should mean tougher sledding for Whitney, but nothing seems to slow down PWV’s backfield. … Winlock will host a winless Wahkiakum squad, which means Cardinal running backs Derek Chilcoate and Seth Lindsay are in line for big games.
