It was a bad night to be in the way of the W.F. West Bearcats Friday night.
Capital just happened to be on the other end of a team determined to prove its Week 1 loss to North Kitsap wouldn’t become a trend.
One week after the 23-15 defeat in which they outgained their opponent in every category but points and turnovers, the Bearcats came into their Week 2 contest against Capital hot, both in temper and in energy. Players let the disappointment burn in their hearts but not in their minds, a perfect balance in a 41-0 thumping of the 3A Cougars in Chehalis.
Sophomore quarterback Wyatt Hoffman, minus his top wideout Connor Coleman, lit up the scoreboard for five total touchdowns and 329 total yards, including a 95-yard score with his legs.
“I personally think it’s a statement game. Going out, losing to North Kitsap and coming back and having a shutout, it’s a great game for us to win,” Hoffman said.
Capital learned quickly that the Bearcats were not to be messed with, as Hoffman intercepted Cougars quarterback Nolan Potts on the third snap of the game to set W.F. West up at the Capital 23. Hoffman’s first throw found Graysen Serl, who landed at the 12, and Hoffman took it to the end zone himself from 7 yards out after a defensive penalty.
Following a Cougars three-and-out, the Bearcats’ offense churned out chunk play after chunk play en route to a Hoffman 1-yard touchdown toss to junior receiver Holden Kunz. But the biggest and most insurmountable jab of the night came from Hoffman on W.F. West’s next drive.
Backed up at their own five, the Bearcats called an option run, with Hoffman faking a handoff to Miles Martin before pulling the ball and sprinting up toward the right sideline, only to find an empty secondary and nothing but green grass. The wide-eyed signal-caller, aware of a Cougars defender making up ground behind him, finished off the 95-yard touchdown — a signature play in his young career.
“That’s the farthest I’ve ever run in my life,” Hoffman said. “They had the read guy, and I knew that he was gonna bite on the fake handoff. I was expecting to pull it. Then I set up a block downfield. One of my linemen got out and had a great block for me, and I just ran the rest of the way. At about the 30-yard line, I started running in zig zags because I was like, ‘I gotta get in the end zone.’”
The Bearcats entered the second quarter up 20-0 and just kept punching. Freshman defensive back Jalen Amoroso stepped in front of a fourth-down pass by Potts to give W.F. West the ball back. Hoffman and Kunz connected for the second time in the red zone with 3:21 left in the first half, and W.F. West cruised into the locker room up 27-0.
Kunz was motivated to step up in place of the injured Coleman, who was sidelined due to swelling in his left knee. Coleman missed all of last year with a torn ACL in that knee, but head coach Dan Hill expects to have his senior wideout back. Although the Bearcats would’ve loved to have their star wideout on the gridiron, they know they have another contributor in Kunz, who notched his first career two-touchdown game at the varsity level.
“I knew with him being out, I was trying to make plays myself. I wanted to go out there and keep playing hard,” Kunz said. “Wyatt and I have been on the same page a lot lately.”
W.F. West, which scored on all four of its first-half drives, kept up its perfect mark with touchdowns on its fifth and sixth drives to start the second half. On a fourth-and-11 in the third, Hoffman threw a dart to an open Serl to make it 34-0, and Martin capped off the scoring with a 3-yard run.
Kunz led all Bearcats with eight receptions and 82 yards to go along with his two touchdowns. Hoffman finished the day completing 19 of his 25 passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 103 yards on 10 carries with another two trips to the end zone. He also picked off a pass before he even took a snap on offense.
“He’s a heck of a football player. He’s very savvy and very smart. His preparation this week and all his effort that he’s put in throughout camp up until now was showcased tonight,” Hill said. “He had a great performance.”
Meanwhile, the Bearcats defense was, in Hill’s words, “lights out.” The unit allowed only six first downs, 14 rushing yards on 22 attempts, and 94 total yards while forcing two turnovers.
“We felt like we were very gap sound. We did our jobs defensively, and the guys flew around the ball,” Hill said. “There weren’t many missed tackles, and if we missed, there were three or four other guys there to finish the job. I’m extremely proud. Any time you get a shutout, I don’t care where it is, it’s a great defensive performance.”
The Bearcats (1-1) felt the pressure after their disappointing Week 1 output, but they played free and with fire against Capital. They move forward with a road test against Timberline Friday, Sept. 19 at Lacey’s South Sound Stadium.
“We were a better team last week and we lost. The guys know it. The coaches know it. The whole school knows it,” Hill said of the North Kitsap game. “It was just a matter of life. Tonight, we got the monkey off the back. Let’s move forward and keep playing Bearcat football.”
