Day After Report: Mountain View 27, Heritage 21
Heritage head coach Matt Gracey isn’t the type of coach who will try to sell moral victories to his players.
But he is the type of coach to sell the idea of getting better.
And that definitely can be said of his Timberwolves.
After scoring a total of 53 points in their first five games, Heritage has scored 50 in their last two games, suffering a pair of six-point losses to Union and Mountain View.
On Friday night, the Timberwolves held the Mountain View to a season-low 27 points, shutting out the Thunder in the second half.
“You can tell they’ve gotten better, and we knew that coming in,” Mountain View’s Preston Jones said. “It showed in how they played. They were aggressive, coming after us and going hard on every play.”
Kalani Umiamka led the Timberwolves with 70 yards rushing and one touchdown. Lafi Sosene added 67 yards rushing. Quarterback Gavin Lee passed for 100, rushed for 41, and on defense, he had an interception that he returned 49 yards to set up Heritage’s second touchdown.
Also, Nickolas Somboun had five catches for 56 yards.
Even though they’ve lost five straight after a 2-0 start, the Timberwolves have a chance to build some momentum for 2016 when they host Kelso next Friday.
HURSE ON THE REBOUND: Another highlight for Heritage came in the third quarter.
With the ball on the Mountain View 19, Lee dropped back to pass.
He was looking for Somboun at the 2-yard line but Mountain View’s Anthony Ramirez was able to deflect the pass away.
However, Hurse was right behind both players in the end zone and caught the rebound for a touchdown that brought Heritage within 27-21.
UP NEXT, CAMAS: The victory kept the Thunder in the mixed for the 4A Greater St. Helens League championship.
To gain a piece of that, the Thunder will have to beat Camas, who they will meet next Friday at McKenzie Stadium.
Jones said it will take Mountain View’s best to top the top-rated Papermakers.
“We need to be dialed in this week and give 110 percent in practice all week,” Jones said. “Because that is what we are going to see all game next week against Camas.”
PLAYOFF PICTURE: Even if Mountain View should fall to Camas next week, the Thunder can still assure themselves of at least a tie for second place in the 4A GSHL by beating rival Evergreen on Oct. 30.
Of course, that tie could be a three-way tie, which would require a tiebreaker to decide which two teams advance to the playoffs and which team will see it’s season end.
