Jaguars win cat fight in Lyle
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
“Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you,” Coach Don Smith told his team at the conclusion of last Friday’s game against Tri-Cities Prep. In this case it was a Jaguars that ate the Lyle-Klickitat-Wishram Cougars, 58-12.
Tri-Cities Prep left no doubt that they are the best team in eight-man football behind quarterback Will Hoppes who threw for 449 yards and seven touchdowns. Hoppes, who is known to be a good runner, had enough protection to pick apart LKW’s defense on 26 of 32 passing plays in a varied attack that included slants, post patterns and screens. Hoppes ran just six times for 23 yards. The Cougars tackled well, but found themselves chasing Jaguars from behind for much of the game.
LKW’s offense ran well at times, with Henry Matai rushing for 83 yards in the first quarter. But, they also sputtered on a couple of possessions, and were forced to gamble to stay in the game. Two of those gambles were fourth down plays in the first half that led to Jaguar touchdowns.
LKW came out in the second half with more pressure on Hoppes, as Matai came free on four straight bliztes, putting hits on the Jaguar quarterback, who still managed to complete three of the four passes. Tri-Cities Prep called time out after the fourth hit, apparently to come up with a plan to deal with Matai. On the next play, the Jaguars put Andrew LeBrun in motion and doubled him back on the snap. Matai fought off LeBrun’s dive at his knees and flushed Hoppes from the pocket, but the Jaguar quarterback hit his main receiver, Rafael Magana for a touchdown.
Lyle answered with a six-play, 53-yard drive for a touchdown on runs by Seth Davis. Davis went up the middle on a quick hitter for 24 yards and scored from the five-yard line on the next play.
On the next series, the Jaguars put the game out of reach, when Hoppes scrambled and threw back across the field to Magana for a touchdown on a ball that looked like it would be intercepted. The Jaguars had converted on a fourth and seven during the drive.
After playing the number one team, things can only get easier, but not much. Next up is the one time, number two Touchet. After defeating their first three opponents by an average 27 points, Touchet stumbled against Dufur, losing by 20 points. By comparison, Dufur edged LKW by two points, on a come-from-behind fourth quarter touchdown.
Tri-Cities Prep 12 22 16 8 50
LWK 6 0 6 0 12
Rushing: TCP-Jacob Schmidt 6-55, Hoppes 6-23. LKW-Matai 17-113, Davis 2-29, Freemantle 3-3, Mason 9-(-27)
Passing: TCP- Hoppes 26-32-0-449. Mason 1-6-1-15.
 Wolves wear out Warriors
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Goldendale made it three wins in a row with an easy 56-8 victory over Cle Elum, last Friday.
Things were just a little too easy, for Coach Don Strother, who had to remind his squad that they need to play the full 48 minutes of the game.
Seconds into the game, Jose Casimiro separated ball carrier from ball, allowing Kyle Cairns to gallop 23 yards into the end zone for the opening score. Two more touchdowns, a 30 yard run by Cairns and Austin Ross’ one-yard dive gave the Timberwolves a 21-0 lead.
When Steven Bischoff helped push it to 28-0 after another fumble return, Goldendale players let up, thinking the rout was on.
“I wasn’t happy with the second quarter play,” said Coach Strother. “I think we played about 10 minutes of focused football in the first half.” Cle Elum put together a drive before the end of the half to close the gap to 28-6, and Strother said it could have been a different situation except for the two defensive scores.
The half-time message was received and the coach felt better about second half play. Cairns had another big game, gaining 162 yards behind a great push from the offensive line.
Ross was nine for 15 with touchdown passes of 66 and 36 yards to J.D. Moss plus a 29 yard toss to Cole Cameron.
Gabe Mosbrucker scored the final touchdown on a one-yard run.
The Timberwolves have a well-timed bye to get ready for critical games against their chief competition, Naches Valley on Oct. 9, Granger on Oct. 17, and Zillah on Oct. 24.
“We are a little beat up,” said Strother, grateful for the break in action.
The Naches Valley game is a rare Thursday night game that starts at 7 p.m. in Goldendale. Naches Valley will play Cle Elum this week. The only mutual opponent for the Rangers and Timberwolves is Mabton. The Rangers defeated the Vikings 32-6 and Goldendale won 49-6.
Goldendale 14 21 7 14 56
Cle Elum 0 6 2 0 8
Rushing: Goldendale – Cairns 14-162, Justin Garrigus 9-53, Torey Spaulding 7-28, Ross 5-20, Mosbrucker 1-1. Cle Elum – Michael Newman 5-52, Derek Brickman 6-16, Evan Luchau 4-15, Cory Zapel 4-(-1).
Passing: Goldendale – Ross 9-15-0-214, Cle Elum -Zapel 11-21-2-157.
Receiving: Goldendale – Moss 5-154, Cameron 3-56, Cairns 1-4. Cle Elum – Colton Anderson 3-53, Luchau 2-27, Brian Jewell 2-21, Seth Reynolds 2-21.
Home pride carries Pirates past Cougars 3-1
From the opening drawing for the privilege of sitting in the sofa as “number one fan,” to the closing distribution of snacks for fans, visitors and the referee, there can be no doubt that Bickleton is the homiest of home stands in volleyball. That spirit and mutual appreciation between fans and players is palpable and helped the club defeat Lyle-Wishram in four sets, 25-9, 25-16, 23-25, and 25-21.
It also helped that the Pirates have adapted well to their strategy of pass and set for their main gun, Katelynn Clinton. Clinton was unstoppable when the sets were on, but Bickleton is still struggling a little with passing and placement of sets.
Lyle-Wishram gave a game effort as they tried to match the Pirates with just seven players, including four freshmen. Lexi Becker came through with nine kills and 10 aces, and Brianna Brock and Olivia Fox were perfect from the serve line in the losing effort.
Kahlotus
A day later, Bickleton played their return engagement with Kahlotus and completed the sweep of the Koyotes with 25-6, 25-14, and 25-19 wins.
While passing continued to be an area to improve, the Pirates were sharp from the service line with just five errors. Morgan McBride was on target with assists, Clinton knocked home 14 kills, and freshman, Aymie Osborne added three.
The Pirates played Riverside Christian JV on Tuesday, then test their readiness for league play against Klickitat in Bickleton on Friday.
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