(Napavine,WA) It didn’t take long for the Napavine Tigers to flex their muscles and send a message they are indeed the team to beat in the new Central/Pacific 2B Football conference when QB Wyatt Stanley threw, (albeit not a pretty but effective), pass to Josh Lantz for an 80-yard touchdown strike just 13-seconds into the game. The Seagulls booted the ball into the endzone on the opening kick-off and on the 1st play Stanley found a streaking Lantz who got past the defender but had to wait for the wounded duck throw that still went 30-yards, caught it on the 50 and went untouched into the endzone. Austin Filley added the PAT and it was 7-0 with 11:47 to play.
After a quick 3-and out by Raymond they punted it to Sam Fagerness who took it on his on 45, rant toward the near sideline and up the field for another apparent score but a yellow flag nullified the 6 points and the Tigers settled for starting their 2nd drive on the Seagulls 46. Raymond would come up with a couple of solid defensive plays forcing Napavine into a 4th and 15 when Stanley would make our ProActive Physical Therapy Play of the Game.
Deciding to go for it from midfield Stanley dropped back, came under pressure and as he was falling to the ground fired a bullet to Lantz for 19 yards and a 1st down to keep the drive alive. Stanley would then hit Jordan Purvis for the 2nd touchdown in as many possessions. The extra point missed but the Tigers had a 13-0 lead.
After a 3 changes of possession Napavine again would put together another scoring drive starting from their own 38. The big play was a called draw up the middle for Stanley and the 6’3, 225 pound QB showed he has more than a cannon for arm and ran for 32 yards. A few plays later Stanley would finish off the drive lofting a beautiful floater to Purvis who only had to make sure he caught the ball as the defender fell down in the endzone and it was 19-0 with 46-seconds to play in the 1st as the PAT missed.
Napavine would find the endzone one-more time in the 1st quarter taking advantage of a Gull fumble on their own 44 yard line. Stanley dropped back deep and hit Lantz crossing with an underneath screen. Raymond decided to blitz and it was the perfect call as Lantz headed for the sideline and was gone 44 yards with 13-seconds to play in the 1st quarter. Filley got back on track with the PAT and the Tigers led 26-0.
When the 2nd quarter began the young Seagulls began to show life. After the shell-shocking start their defense settled in and actually would blank the Tigers for the next 12-minutes. Their offense led by Senior QB Kason Koski would have a couple of chances to score but also could not break through.
Their best chance came when Koski hit Jace Duckworth for a 33-yard pass completion and the Tigers were tagged an additional 15 yards for a face mask penalty taking them inside the Napavine 10. They would work it down to a 3rd and goal from the 1 but took a 2-yard loss setting up a 4th and 3. Koski on a pass run option was getting tackled for a loss when he let the ball go and it was picked off in the endzone by the Tigers ending the threat and that would take it to the half with Napavine holding a big 26-0 lead.
Napavine’s Stanley would go 11/22 for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns in the 1st half and as the 2nd half began would not add 1 yard to those totals and in fact not even an attempt. The Tigers clearly wanted to show despite getting shut out in the 2nd quarter this game was indeed out of reach and they did it with an impressive running attack.
They would first take advantage of a terrible turn-over by the Seagulls when new QB Marcus Anderson couldn’t dig out a low snap in the pistol formation and Napavine came up with the turnover on the Raymond 3-yard line. Wyatt Stanley then ran it in and Filley added the extra point to go up 33-0.
After a 3 and out for Raymond the Tigers would take over on their 45. Sam Fagerness would rip off a 15-yard run down to the 40. Dawson Stanley would then get the call and weave his way downfield all 40 yards for the Tigers 6th touchdown and Filley added the PAT making it 40-0 and kicking in the running clock.
Mac Fagerness would then get into the act picking off the Seagulls and setting up Lantz’s 3rd touchdown of the game on a jet sweep for 21 yards. The extra point was good and Napavine would lead 47-0 with 4:27 to play in the 3rd.
That would also mark the end of the game for most of the Napavine starters. The shorthanded Seagulls would not get shut out though and kept battling and would find the endzone twice in the final period to avoid the opening night shut out.
On a drive that began on their own 25, Duckworth would get it going with a big 31 yard run into Tiger territory as the 3rd quarter expired. Duckworth would get the chance to finish off the drive with a 2-yard plunge, Reese Garcia added the extra point and it was 47-7 with 7:09 to play.
Raymond would get in again 4 minutes later. Napavine went for it on a 4th down play deep on their own side of the field and were short of the 1st down turning it over on their 28 yard line. The Gulls took advantage on the 1st play when Freshman McCartney Maden ran the ball in for the score, the PAT failed and it was 47-13 with 3:16 to play and that is where it would end.
So notice has been served by Napavine and they will be one of the teams to beat in this new 19-team, 3-division super-conference. Raymond took it on the chin but they never gave up and battled to the end. They have much to work on but also there were bright spots, including they blanked the potent Tigers in both the 2nd and 4th quarters. Duckworth led the Gulls with 84 yards rushing and a TD. Patrick Edwards also ran well up the middle for Raymond carrying the rock 10 times for 43 yards. Luke Hamilton had a solid game as well on the O-line and defensively with several tackles including a sack and a couple for negative yards.
Napavine had many shining stars from this game starting with big #10, Wyatt Stanley who finished 11/22 for 223 yards 4 touchdowns while running for 32 yards and a 5th touchdown. Noah Lantz caught 3 balls for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran the ball twice for 34 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Purvis made 4 catches for 41 yards and 2 TD’s and Dawson Stanley ran the ball 4 times for 55 yards and a 40-yard TD romp.
The Tiger defense was simply stifling shutting down the Seagulls from the beginning with big efforts from Cole VanWyck, Randy Kinswa and Mac Fagerness among others.
Raymond will host Rainier next week while Napavine will travel to Kalama. Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the Game went to Wyatt Stanley for Napavine and Jace Duckworth for Raymond.
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