Day After Report: Week 1, Part II

Anyway, back to the Day After Report …

MOUNTAIN VIEW 35, EVERGREEN 7
Defense led the Thunder in this one, holding Evergreen to negative yardage in the first half. Mountain View’s offense then got rolling in the second half for the blowout.

That was so good, let’s watch it again: Mountain View coach Adam Mathieson said he and his staff took a look at the game video Friday night and again Saturday morning. Both times, they were thrilled with how the defense did its job.

Dylan Peterson had a monster game for the Thunder on defense, but really, it was a team thing. That’s the only way to defend against a double-wing offense.

“In all honesty, the 11 guys on the field worked as well as a unit against a double-wing offense as I’ve seen in a while,” Mathieson said.

For a defense to be effective against such an offense, some players need to sacrifice their bodies and allow themselves to be blocked, freeing up a teammate.

“We had guys willing to sacrifice newspaper statistics for the good of the scheme,” Mathieson said.

Nice opener: P.J. Jones became a running back for Mountain View midway through the 2009 season. Good move.

Jones opened the 2010 campaign with 188 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns. 

Peterson also had a big game on offense, rushing for 56 yards and two touchdowns.

Rivals: Mountain View beat Evergreen in 2001, the first season Mountain View reached the Class 4A state semifinals. But Evergreen beat Mountain View the next season for the league crown. Mountain View got over the loss, though, and returned to the semifinals.

In 2003, it was Evergreen’s year to make it to the semifinals after beating Mountain View in Week 9. And in 2004, Evergreen became the only Vancouver school to win a state football championship. The Plainsmen went undefeated that year, so yeah, they beat Mountain View that year. Evergreen would then win the next three in the series for a total of six in a row.

Now, Mountain View has responded with three in a row. In 2008 and 2009, Mountain View kept Evergreen from tying for a playoff berth.

This year, it was just for pride. The two teams, who normally face each other in Week 9, are in different leagues now.

“I think it means a lot ot the fans and the commuinty and the school,” Mathieson said of the rivalry. “For us, our goal is to always get better each week.”

Yeah, that would be considered “coach-speak.”

Don’t fool yourselves. All associated with Mountain View football, players and coaches included, feel pretty good about three in a row over Evergreen.

COLUMBIA RIVER 27, BATTLE GROUND 3
The Chieftains, with only four returning starters on defense and none on offense, got the best of the Tigers in their opener.

Defensive: One of the biggest factors in the win was the play of River’s defensive line.

River held the Tigers to 6 yards rushing on 36 carries, with a long gain of 8 yards.

“We rotate a lot of kids on the defensive line,” coach John O’Rourke said. “We played some sophomores, which we normally don’t do.”

Close until the third quarter: The Chieftains led 7-3 at the half before the Chieftains took control with two third-quarter touchdowns. 

Quarterback Clayton Frank, who had two TD passes, found Ian Christianson for a 30-yard scoring strike midway through the third period. Later, Sophomore running back Remick Kawawaki, who finished with 102 yards on 11 carries, found the end zone from nine yards out.

Remember 2009: Battle Ground beat the Chieftains in 2009, rather handily, too.

“Last year, we lost this game. So we weren’t coming in cocky. We just said we have to do our talking with our pads,” Christianson said.

LAKEWOOD 47, PRAIRIE 34
A two-point game at halftime, the Falcons fell further behind in the third quarter.

A pass for the coach: We rely on coaches or stat-keepers to call in their information for games that we do not attend. However, there are times when life’s situations get in the way.

The Prairie coaching staff did send in their stats Saturday for their Friday game. Unfortunately, it went to my e-mail address and not directly to the sports e-mail address. Because I was in Seattle for the Emerald City Kickoff Classic, the stats never got in the paper. I will list them below.

In the future, any coach in any sport who is sending stats via e-mail, please send to sports@columbian.com.  That way it will get to everybody in the office.

As far as not getting the stats to us Friday night, well, the coaching staff gets a pass this week. There were other pressing needs the staff needed to attend to this week. Won’t get into details here, but Terry Hyde, we appreciate your effort in getting us the stats Saturday.

Here are Prairie’s highlights:

Tyler Vea scored on a 71-yard kickoff return. Quarterback Colin Seits scored the next three Prairie touchdowns, all on runs. Jesse Zalk then returned a kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown.

Seitz ended up 18 of 34 passing for 166 yards. He also rushed for 112 yards on nine carries. Jode Keklerk had 62 yards on 10 carries. Avi Slifer led the receivers with five catches for 58 yards.

Good and bad: Well, the good news is a Hudson’s Bay offensive lineman caught a pass Friday night. The bad news, he wasn’t supposed to catch a pass. He is an ineligible receiver.

However, it counts in the stats because the penalty on the play was declined. There was a turnover on the play, so Washougal did not mind declining that penalty.

Good news for Bay: First-game jitters can get to any team. The Eagles consistently drove the ball down the field against a solid defensive squad, but turnovers crushed them. In all, Bay turned it over five times.

Congrats to the Panthers: Washougal showed improvement last year with two wins — two more than in 2008 — and the Panthers were close in a couple of other games. This year, under new coach Bob Jacobs, the Panthers can say they are undefeated. At least for now.

“I’m happy for a day, but then it’s back to work,” Jacobs said. “I told the kids to enjoy this time, don’t forget about it, and have a good time. But when you come back to practice, you’ve got to move on to the next game. Learn from the good things and learn from the bad things and continue to improve each week. Do not get too jovial with a false sense of security.”

What a finish: It takes guts to go for the win rather than a tie late in the game. And it takes a strong defense to stop a team trying to go for the win.

Fort Vancouver scored with 1:20 left in the game, then went for two. But the Spudders stuffed the run play, preserving the lead.

What a name: Juan Valencia rushed for 97 yards for the Spudders. With a name like that, he has to be good. (No, we are not related. Also, I am not related to the Minnesota Twins’ third baseman, but he is having a great year. Probably because of his last name.)

Young’s night: Dylan Young just kept running after his opening kickoff return. He ended up with 190 yards rushing on 20 carries with two more touchdowns. 

Communication: My guess is a lot of teams have something similar, but I am honored to be on Ridgefield football’s e-mail list for team news and such. I have been getting every Spudder update all offseason and into the season. (Can’t say I’ve read every post. Many are schedule adjustments. And because I don’t live in Ridgefield, don’t have a relative playing there, nor do I have any high school eligibility left, I really don’t need to know when practice is.)

However, I do love the communication between coaches, parents, and athletes. (Oh, and yes, the media, too.)

The coaches sent out a link to the game video, so all those on the list could register and watch the victory over the Trappers. Plus, the players can view the film to help with their performances. 

The main thing is communication. The players should never feel out of the loop if the coaches continue to update the site. Wish every team had the same system.

Oh, every team has mottos and/or philosophies. Sure, I’ve probably heard them all in one form or another, but I never get tired of them. 

Ridgefield has this posted on its site: The 11 cornerstones for success: Commitment, Unity, Self Discipline, Enthusiasm, Expect To Win, Leadership, Responsibility, Never Give Up, Great Effort, Be Tough, and Unselfishness.

Figuring it out: Ryan Kulla scored three touchdowns in the third quarter. He ended up with 181 yards rushing in the game. His coach, John Lambert, said Kulla has always had the talent. He just needed to figure out the position. Well, Friday, he did just that.

Name to remember: Hockinson’s Cameron Flemming had a strong night in defeat, rushing for 90 yards and a touchdown.

STEVENSON 19, TENINO 0
A shutout to start the season has to feel good.

Jaco truly is an all-purpose player: Kevin Jaco scored the game’s first touchdown on an 8-yard pass from Zach Castro. Jaco then kicked two field goals for Stevenson.

Kalama 25, Woodland 13: Tied at 13 in the fourth quarter, the Beavers turned the ball over twice, leading to two Kalama touchdowns. 

…

That’s it for Week 1. What did we learn? Mountain View has Evergreen’s number, Camas still owns Qwest Field, and all five 4A GSHL teams lost.