TOUTLE — The Toledo football team clearly harbors a disdain for slow starts deep within their girdles. And so the Riverhawks have made a habit of playing the first quarter like their pants are on fire and the only hose is located in the end zone.
On Saturday in East Cowlitz County the visitors from Toledo put up 34 points in the first quarter, with 46 points scored between the two teams, on the way to a 52-20 victory.
The Central 2B League East contest, which doubles as the prestigious Gateway to the Blast Zone Bowl, featured a running clock for the final quarter and a half.
Toledo quarterback Eli Weeks led the charge on the ground and through the air, accounting for six touchdowns in one form or another. He completed 8-of-12 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 101 yards and three touchdowns on a half dozen carries, and returned an interception for a score.
And if it seems like the Riverhawks were trying to prove a point, that’s because they were.
“Last year we had the fight break out and we had to cancel the game early,” Weeks said. “There’s been a lot of talk on social media about Toutle being able to beat us… We knew we had to shut them up.”
The first quarter was played beneath a blazing late autumn sun, which only helped the Riverhawks heat up in enemy territory. Weeks himself opened the scoring with a 55-yard touchdown run, then found Adam Kruger down the near sideline for a 53-yard touchdown pass.
And just like that, Toledo was averaging six points per two minutes of game time. It left the Fighting Ducks shellshocked in front of a full house and a throng of fans ringing the track
“I think with this group of kids Toledo lives rent free in their mind and that’s a hurdle we’ve had difficulty getting over, for whatever reason,” Toutle Lake head coach Jacob Green said. “They’re a very good football team, and when you don’t show up that’s what good football team do to you.”
While the Ducks proved to be no match for the Riverhawks over four quarters, they did manage to live up to their fighting reputation at times. And this season, those efforts we kept between the lines and between people listed on the roster.
The hosts first strike was set up by a 40-yard pass from Jamison Schelb to Austin Webber, and it was Webber who picked up the touchdown on a five-yard run on the next play. That score brought Toutle Lake back within a single score and had the newly outfitted Fighting Duck mascot dancing on its skinny orange legs to the delight of the grandstand fans.
Running back Dom (Rivera) Settlmeier did reach the end zone, but he handled the bulk of the carries and never stayed down long after absorbing a series of brutal hits.
“Dom and Jamison both gave it 48 minutes,” Green noted. “Dom on both sides of the ball, carrying the rock and finishing downhill after some big hits.”
But the good times did not last for the home side.
Just a few moments later Toledo handed the pigskin to Carter Swofford and watched him cut diagonally across the sun scorched grass for a 67-yard touchdown run. Nathan Beaver ran in the conversion try.
The Riverhawks then dialed up an onside kick, which was executed perfectly by kicker Joaquin Acosta, and recovered near midfield. And on the very next un-flagged play from scrimmage Weeks found Kruger again, this time on a short toss to the flat that wound up as a 56-yard touchdown.
“We like to be aggressive,” Toledo head coach Mike Christensen said. “We don’t like to punt, we like to go for it on 4th down, and we like to throw in an onside kick whenever we have a chance to.”
And still, the first quarter action was not finished.
Toutle Lake was able to strike back thanks to the efforts of the Schelb Bros., with quarterback Jamison lofting a 30-yard pass to the near corner of the end zone where wide receiver Jonas climbed the ladder to haul in the touchdown reception.
But the Ducks weren’t able to turn the highlight reel play into any meaningful momentum. Not with the Riverhawks in full seek and destroy mode.
The final score of the first quarter came on a broken play for the Riverhawks, when Weeks corralled the ball, found his feet, and followed a lead blocker five yards to pay dirt.
That play also featured the second unsportsmanlike penalty of the game on a Toledo lineman. This time the flag was thrown, according to the referee who tossed it, because ‘He was hip thrusting the guy!”
Video evidence of said hip thrust is inconclusive. But the accusation and ensuing penalty did little but make Toledo even angrier.
“The game plan was pretty simple. We were going to do our stuff, nothing too crazy,” Weeks noted. “We could have put 70 or 80 on them, but we came out slow. The sun was hot and we were aching.”
The next Toutle Lake possession ended in points for the Riverhawks when Weeks reeled in an interception in the red zone and returned it 90 yards the other way for a touchdown. Weeks would finish the game with two interceptions to go with his impressive offensive stats.
And that pick-six ushered in a series of highlights in the secondary. First, Toutle Lake was able to thwart a drive by Toledo with an interception by Braedon Miller at the 10-yard line. But the Riverhawks stole the ball right back when Kruger hauled in an over-the-shoulder interception on the other end of the field.
And Toledo took advantage of that extra possession before halftime. First Weeks rewarded Kruger with a 30-yard pass, and then Carter Swofford took a handoff and sashayed his way for a one-yard touchdown run.
Instead of running out the clock and retreating to the locker room, the Ducks went right back on the offensive. And that drive looked promising enough until Toledo’s Rohan Feigenbaum notched an interception near the 15-yard line with less than a minute before halftime. Feigenbaum also led the Riverhawks with eight tackles.
At the intermission Toledo enjoyed a 46-12 advantage, but that doesn’t mean the Cheese Town brass were overjoyed with what they’d seen so far. Specifically, a series of failed two-point conversions left the Riverhawks’ coaching staff flummoxed.
“I feel pretty good overall offensively, but it’s like we lose concentration on our two-point conversions. So that’s frustrating,” Christensen said.
The second half was almost unrecognizable compared to the first two quarters. As twilight settled over volcano country the heat on the field dissipated and helmeted heads began to cool. Halfway through the third quarter Weeks hit Kruger for a 50-yard gain deep into enemy territory, and then packed the pigskin the final 10 yards himself for another touchdown.
That score delivered the game to running clock territory, and the only drama remaining was whether or not Toutle’s famous field deer would make an appearance on game film. While those athletic ungulates chose to lurk in the brush while the stadium lights were on, there were plenty of performances that did stand out on the gridiron.
For instance, Kruger caught seven passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns, while Swofford rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries for the Riverhawks.
The connection between Weeks and Kruger has proven to be nearly unstoppable for the Riverhawks this season. And it’s not by accident.
“They’ve played catch so many times in their life that they’re just on the same wavelength,” Christensen said. “If the look’s just a little bit different they know how to make the adjustment without even talking to each other. It’s just a special thing to have and I’m glad we’re able to make the most of it right now.”
But the Riverhawks also showed out on defense. In addition to their four interceptions, the Cheese Town boys continued to hit with a vengeance whenever the opportunity arose, and all those collisions took a toll on the Ducks.
“I’d say Nico Acosta (led the defense). He flies around,” Weeks noted. “The only way Toutle was going to get yards was to cut back on us, and them cutting back is a chance for Nico to lay a big hit on them.”
With most of the Toledo starters taking in the night air from the bench with just over five minutes remaining in the contest the Ducks found themselves a feel-good score. Toutle Lake Jamin Westervelt caught a short pass and packed it in for a score from six yards out, then Jamison Schelb hit Xander LaCroix with a lob to the corner for the conversion to make the final score more respectable in the daylight.
Jamison Schelb finished the game with 118 passing yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought Jamison did a nice job early on. It will be a good learning experience for him,” Green said. “I saw some grit in him tonight. That last drive going down toward our end zone, that’s just a pride thing, and he finished strong.”
