9/30/23
The Central 2B League is always one of the premier leagues in football in Washington state and so far in 2023 it has been more of the same in Southwest Washington. Three undefeated teams remained headed into week 5 but as the dust settled, none remained unblemished as Raymond/South Bend defended home turf against Forks and Onalaska celebrated homecoming with a shutout win over Toledo. Then, on Saturday the reigning 2B champions in Napavine traveled up north only to get handed their first loss since 2021 against Lynden Christian. Here are some quick recaps on those three games.
Raymond/South Bend 40, Forks 21
A homecoming atmosphere filled Millam Field in South Bend as the RSB Ravens looked to celebrate the festivities against the undefeated Forks Spartans. After dropping their opener to Toledo, the Ravens had rolled right along on offense, averaging 50 points per game going into Friday night’s showdown. Forks has also been impressive with wins over 2A Sequim, 1B state runners-up in Neah Bay, and back-to-back shutouts of Morton-White Pass and Ilwaco. The Spartan defense averaged allowing under eight points per game through their first four games. A juggernaut offense met a suffocating defense and the offense would get the job done this time around.
Raymond/South Bend received the opening kick of the game and Ferrill Johnson made an immediate impact. A 44-yard run by the senior running back moved the Ravens right down the field and had the crowd fired up early. Normally a ground and pound style team, the Ravens showed that there are more dimensions to their offense. Austin Snodgrass dropped back to pass on a play-action and was pressured immediately. Not panicking, Snodgrass danced around a defender and found Isaac Schlueter who took it the rest of the way for a 15-yard touchdown. One drive in and the RSB Ravens had a 7-0 lead.
Forks then had their own big play as Emmanuel Hernandez took the kickoff all the way back to the RSB 24-yard line. With tremendous starting field position, things got even better as Nate Dahlgren recorded a 13-yard run on his first touch of the day. However, that was when RSB would come up with their stand. Inside the 10-yard line, the Ravens forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back at their own 4-yard line. Another long run for Ferrill Johnson bought the Ravens some breathing room as they got out to the 38-yard line. A fake handoff by Snodgrass turned into another long play, but this one ended in a score. Snodgrass took the ball around and up the RSB sideline and then just outran every defender. 62-yard later Austin Snodgrass was in the endzone and RSB’s lead was 14-0.
After trading punts, Forks put together a drive that carried over into the 2nd quarter. Facing a 4th and 2 from the RSB 42-yard line, Forks surprised many people by opting to punt the ball away. Playing the field position battle, Forks downed the punt at the 4-yard line on a great punt by DeAnthony Davila. Great defense forced the Ravens to punt from inside their own endzone and the Spartans got the ball back at the RSB 14-yard line. It just took a couple of plays for Nate Dahlgren to fight his way in for a 5-yard touchdown and the Spartans were on the board trailing 14-7.
Another fantastic punt by Davila pinned RSB back at their own 2-yard line with 1:26 left in the half. After a couple of nice plays and a hold, it seemed like RSB would take a 14-7 lead into halftime. With the ball at their own 9, coach Luke Abbott decided to give the ball to his senior running back to seemingly kill the rest of the clock. What Ferrill Johnson did was earn the Better Homes and Garden Takin’ it to the House Play of the Game. A handoff up the middle was bounced to the outside by Johnson who stiff armed a couple of defenders on his way to the near sideline. Then, it was just pure speed from Johnson who took the handoff 91-yards for a late first half touchdown. The sudden explosion provided even more energy for the crowd as RSB led Forks at halftime, 20-7.
Coming out of halftime, Forks went to a more pass heavy attack and RSB was ready for it. A punt gave the ball back to the Ravens and they would also go to the air. A deep shot from Austin Snodgrass had disaster written all over it, as a defender got hands on the ball. The ball was tipped into the air and right into the hands of Isaac Schlueter. The fortunate bounce ended up being a 56-yard touchdown for Schlueter and opened up the RSB lead to 27-7.
Forks needed a response and they would get it to keep themselves in the ball game. Another great kick return set-up the Spartans in RSB territory. A successful drive through the air for Emmanuel Hernandez had the Spartans building some momentum once again. Hernandez would end up finding his go-to receiver Gunner Rogers for a 27-yard touchdown. That was an important spark for Forks as they then trailed 27-14 headed into the fourth quarter.
RSB’s offense was just too tough to stop. The Ravens were rolling once again and got another player involved as Robby Stigall worked his way into the endzone for a 4-yard touchdown which pretty much put the game away for the Ravens. Both teams would score one more touchdown as Isaac Schlueter hauled in a third touchdown catch, this one for 49 yards. Forks added seven more points on a 10-yard pass from Emmanuel Hernandez to Landen Olson. Time would then expire in this 2B battle as the Raymond/South Bend Ravens took care of business on Homecoming night with a 40-21 win.
Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game was Isaac Schlueter. The junior tight end had a monster day for the Ravens and added a passing element that could take the Ravens to a whole new level. Schlueter had four catches for 172 yards and three touchdowns. He was impossible to cover all game long and was the difference between a coin toss of a game and a win for the Raymond/South Bend Ravens.
Austin Snodgrass was a big part of Schlueter’s big day as the senior quarterback went 5/6 for 194 yards through the air. The only 22 yards that didn’t belong to Schlueter went to Christopher Quintana. Snodgrass added 10 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Ferrill Johnson was the leader on the ground, carrying the ball 16 times for 194 yards and a touchdown. Robby Stigall also added 17 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown as well. Defensively, Branson Williams and Sawyer Duckworth dominated up front while Ashton Kongbouakhay added an interception.
Meanwhile, for Forks, Nate Dahlgren led the way on offense with 28 carries for 180 yards and a touchdown as the workhorse for the Spartans. Emmanuel Hernandez added three carries for 11 yards and went 9/22 for 142 yards and two touchdowns through the air. In the receiving game, Gunner Rogers led the way with seven catches for 129 yards and a touchdown. Landen Olson added to catches for 13 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Brody Lausche was all over the field along with Sloan Tumaua. Walker Wheeler added a sack on defense.
Raymond/South Bend make it four straight wins and move to 4-1 and 1-0 in C2BL north play. The Ravens will get back to work in a non-league game as they travel to Neah Bay on Friday at 7pm. The Forks Spartans drop to 4-1 and 1-1 in league play and they will also go into a non-league game next week when they take on Friday Harbor on Saturday at 1pm.
To watch the entire replay of the Forks-RSB game on-demand, you can visit the link below.
RSB Ravens vs Forks – Boys Varsity Football 09/29/2023 | Live & On Demand (nfhsnetwork.com)
Highlights
Ferrill Johnson Takes it to the House
Tipped Pass Ends in Six for RSB
Henderson to Rogers Keeps Forks Alive
Onalaska 20, Toledo 0
After giving the reigning state champions a good fight for half of the game, it felt like everyone had forgotten about the Onalaska Loggers. They were out to remind everyone just who they are as they took on the undefeated Toledo Riverhawks. The same old formula for Onalaska ruled the day as physical offense and even more physical defense dominated the game for the Loggers. They successfully sent their message to the rest of the C2BL as the Loggers handed the Riverhawks their first loss of the season, 20-0.
It didn’t take Onalaska long to establish themselves in this game but they did it in a way not many people saw coming. On the third Onalaska play of the game, Kayden Mozingo did something not many quarterbacks at Onalaska do. He threw the football. And he threw it very well. Mozingo dropped a perfect pass to Cooper Lawrence who took it the rest of the way himself for a 64-yard touchdown for the Better Homes and Gardens Takin’ it to the House Play of the Game. A two-point conversion later and Onalaska had an 8-0 lead.
Toledo tried to put together an immediate answer. On the second play for the Riverhawks, Ethan Carver exploded for a 42-yard run to get the Riverhawks rolling. That play turned out to tease the theme of this game and that was the Onalaska defense bending but never breaking. Toledo would march into Ony territory multiple times, but that’s when the Loggers turned up the intensity. Smash mouth football gave the Logger offense possession and they would turn in one of the stereotypical Logger drives. A long, grueling drive proceeded to finally add on points for the Loggers in the second quarter. Rodrigo Rodriguez would put the finishing touches on this scoring drive as he found the endzone for a 4-yard score to make it 14-0 Onalaska at halftime.
Toledo gained some more momentum in the second half, but mistakes plagued the Toledo offense. An interception by Cooper Lawrence gave the ball back to Onalaska in good field position and the Loggers capitalized. A second touchdown for Rodrigo Rodriguez, this time from 3-yards out helped Onalaska make it a 20-0 lead. It would be defense from there on out for the Loggers as they completed the shutout to hand Toledo their first loss of the season, 20-0.
Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game was Rodrigo Rodriguez for Onalaska. Rodriguez led the rushing attack with 21 carries for over 100 yards and two touchdowns.
Onalaska moves to 4-1 with the win and 1-1 in league play. The Loggers will be back in action on Friday at 7pm when they visit the Kalama Chinooks. Toledo drops to 4-1 with their first loss of the season and also 1-1 in league play. The Riverhawks will try to bounce back on Friday at 7pm when they host Pe Ell/Willapa Valley.
You can watch the entire replay of the game on-demand with a subscription in the link below.
Onalaska vs Toledo – Boys Varsity Football 09/29/2023 | Live & On Demand (nfhsnetwork.com)
Highlights
Postgame Show
Onalaska Strikes Quick
Toledo Starts Fast
Rodriguez Scores Again
Lynden Christian 47, Napavine 6
Riding a 27-game winning streak, the Napavine Tigers made the long trip up north to take on 1A state title contenders in the Lynden Christian Lyncs. After a loss to Royal the previous week, the Lyncs were determined to erase the memory of that loss and they did so emphatically. For the first time since the 2021 state championship game, Napavine would lose a football game as Lynden Christian rolled to a 47-6 win.
For a deeper dive into this 1A-2B showdown, check out Josh Kirshenbaum’s story in the Chronicle linked here.
Lynden Christian moves to 3-2 on the year and the Lyncs will next visit Nooksack Valley on Friday at 7pm. Napavine moves to 4-1 as the Tigers get set to visit Morton/White Pass on Friday at 7pm.
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