KELSO — You hear a lot about standards from coaches. They talk about playing up their own internal standards. Playing against ourselves. Doing what we do best.
It’s a ploy designed to not fall victim to comparisons, to stay, like a racehorse with those black things to keep us from seeing anything but what’s right in front of us.
And it’s things like this that usually pop up after games like Toledo played Friday night.
In a first round 2B playoff game, the Toledo Riverhawks beat Forks 63-20. The clock was running at the end. Toledo scored seven touchdowns after the Spartans scored two in the second quarter.
So a 43-point win that sees the higher ranked team win going away. That’s cause for celebration, right?
Wrong. A football coach is never happy with a five-yard gain, because it should’ve been seven, because we should’ve got a cleaner seal on that guy and the running back should’ve hit the whole harder and gotten vertical. Wins are the same way. Things need to be better, cleaner, sharper, especially when you get deeper and the teams get better and the mistakes become more magnified.
“Our mentality is always that it doesn't matter who we’re playing. We want to play Toledo football: execute really well and do the things we need to do,” Toledo coach Mike Christensen said. “And the scoreboard usually reflects that.
“It’s hard to say without looking at the film, but I think we can play better. I know we can play better.”
It’s definitely fair to say Toledo has a good team. They’re 9-1, with the only loss coming to Onalaska, and the problems encountered in that contest, one that Toledo believes was internal, has been addressed.
Did Toledo play entirely up to its standard Friday night?
Maybe. Maybe not. Depends what you’re looking at. Depends if you think the other team is a variable you must account for.
So let’s talk about the other team.
Forks is tough, well-coached and has some athletes. It’s coach, Trevor Highfield, played at the University of Washington and coached for a time at UTEP under former Washington State coach Mike Price.
He runs an offense with some effective skill players. Emmanuel Hernandez-Stansbury has a quick release and is athletic. HIs receivers — Noah Foster, Gage Willenbrink and DeAnthony Davila — are a more than capable stable, and Kade Highfield is a good back. Unfortunately for Forks, the sophomore running back left the game after what appeared to be a serious leg injury on the second play of Forks’ opening drive.
So how did Toledo’s defense do against an advanced-looking offense who probably has to throw the ball more than it would like?
Well, not bad.
Hernandez-Stansbury completed 13-of-25 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns. One came when Foster “head-tapped” (Christensen’s words) the Toledo defensive back on a jump ball in the end zone, and the other on a semi-blown coverage with the game essentially decided that went for 66 yards. Forks also had 31 passing yards with the game essentially out of reach.
Toledo never really let Hernandez-Stansbury get going on the ground, either. He did scamper for 45 yards once.
But Toledo’s defense, led by sophomore Nico Acosta, made the plays when they needed to, and then kept adding.
So after Hernandez-Stansbury ran for 45 yards down his own sideline, Forks was threatening. Toledo had scored the first 14 points of the night, but Forks came roaring back, a blocked extra point the only difference in the contest.
But Toledo had scored in response to nose ahead 21-13 with about four minutes left in the first half, and this is where Hernandez Stansbury ran down the sideline. It’s looking like Forks might keep pace.
But Acosta takes over this drive. He combines for a sack with Masson Ruiz, then does it himself the next play. Forks punted and Toledo scored almost immediately and never slowed down.
“With the way we played tonight, I think we can do great (in the playoffs),” Acosta said.
But Acosta wasn’t done.
Following a Forks three-and-out and a Carter Swofford TD pass (we’ll get to him in a second), Toledo’s defense again turned Forks away in three plays.
Normally, Acosta is supposed to eat up a pair of blockers on punts to let Bomani Birdwell have a free run to the kick. But this one went a little differently.
“I just saw a little hole and put a little move on him,” Acosta said. “I hit out the air. I didn’t have to dive. I was honestly really scared it was going out the back of the end zone. Slid, made sure I got it. Happy.”
It’s Acosta’s second career touchdown. The other was a kickoff. He wears number 75.
So let’s talk about Swofford. Again, this is all through the lens of standard. Of playing ourselves. Of being better than ourselves.
Toledo’s offense was full of fits and starts in the first half. It scored on its first drive despite a pair of poorly timed penalties. It scored in the second quarter despite getting behind the sticks.
Both of these things are largely due to Swofford. The junior finished with 153 yards on 23 carries with three scores. He also threw a touchdown pass early in the third quarter.
One play Friday night is all that needs to be described to understand.
It’s third-and-5 at midfield. Toledo leads just 14-13 and can’t afford to give the ball back right now. Christensen goes to Swofford, and Forks knows it. Swofford quickly parachutes on the original play, he can see clearly it won’t work.
So he reverses field and makes it a footrace, one he is going to win most of the time. He did, gained 15 yards and Toledo moved the chains. It led to a touchdown, the first of seven in a row.
It was right about now, when Toledo started to really feed Swofford, that the offense relaxed, that things opened up. It was right about now when you saw how good Toledo can be if everything clicks.
And there was a little extra motivation for him.
“We had a little chip on his shoulder this week,” Christensen said. “They were saying he wasn’t a tough runner. We heard ‘em talking about that. So we wanted to show them that he is a really good player in this league, and not enough people know about that.”
