11/10/23
Kalama 32, Friday Harbor 14
(Kalama, WA) Due to ferry scheduling, the Friday Harbor Wolverines made an early trip down south to Kalama to take on the Kalama Chinooks to open up the 2B state football tournament. Kalama came into the opening round with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder after not getting the #4 seed which would have given them a first round bye. Instead, Kalama had the unenviable task of slowing down a powerful Friday Harbor rushing attack. The Wolverines came out with a strong fight, but Kalama’s offense slowly worked into a groove as the Chinooks ended up pulling away for a 32-14 win to punch their ticket to the quarterfinals.
Things couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for Kalama. The Chinook defense forced a quick three-and-out to get their offense on the field. Drew Schlangen would get a couple of strong gains on the ensuing drive for Kalama. The second of those plays saw the junior running back find the endzone on a short two-yard score to give Kalama the first points of the game as the Chinooks took a 6-0 lead.
Kalama would get another stop to get the ball back and once again began to drive down the field. Friday Harbor’s defense would step up and make the first big defensive play of the game. Ronny Olmos picked off the pass to shutdown Kalama drive and give the Wolverines some momentum. To start the 2nd quarter, Friday Harbor faced a 4th and 12. A play-action pass from Whiley McCutcheon found the hands of Pierce Kleine who was off to the races. However, a Chinook would run him down and not only made a tackle, but knocked the ball out and into the endzone. Channing Kleine ended up recovering it before it went through the back of the endzone for a Friday Harbor touchdown. The extra point gave Friday Harbor a 7-6 lead.
Kalama had to start from their own 14-yard line on the next drive and that would not be an issue. The Chinooks rolled right down the field and Aidan Brown found Drew Schlangen for a nine-yard score to give Kalama back the lead at 12-7. A big hit on defense by Ethan Brightbill then got Kalama the ball back on a pass breakup and forced a turnover on downs. That big hit seemed to light a spark under the Nooks as they took the ball right down the field and Schlangen added another rushing touchdown to give him his third score of the half. Brightbill hauled in a fantastic touchdown to end the half as Kalama had opened up their lead to 26-7 at halftime.
Right out of the gate to start the second half, Kalama started pulling out some trick plays to try put this one away. They would break out the Statue of Liberty play a la the Boise State Broncos and it was just as successful this time. Drew Schlangen made it four touchdowns on the day as he rolled right into the endzone and after a failed two-point conversion, Kalama had a 32-7 advantage.
Turnovers prevented Kalama from turning it into a real blowout. Friday Harbor also would not go down without a fight as they stopped Kalama on fourth and goal to try to swing the momentum. Jackson Feliz took over at quarterback in the second half for the Wolverines and led a great scoring drive. A hard fought 12-yard touchdown run for Pierce Kleine made it 32-14. However, Kalama’s defense would allow no more. Both teams traded a couple empty possessions in the final 12 minutes as Kalama defeated Friday Harbor 34-12.
With the win, Kalama bumps their record to 8-3 and they will travel to Tenino to take on the Onalaska Loggers on Friday at 7pm in the 2B quarterfinals. Friday Harbor finishes their season with a record of 5-4.
Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Kalama’s Drew Schlangen. The tailback ran the ball 14 times for 95 yards and had two catches for 10 yards while tallying four total touchdowns. Not only that, Schlangen was also making some big tackles to slow down the Friday Harbor run game all day long. A big impact on both sides of the ball gave Schlangen the edge to take home the MVP award.
To watch the entire game on-demand, you can check out the link below.
Highlights
Friday Harbor Takes the Lead
Brown to Brightbill for a TD
Kalama Statue of Liberty
elisportsnetwork.com
