Late field goal lifts Falcons to victory against Wildcats

Woodinville junior Blake Glessner connects on 47-yard field goal with 6:03 left in regulation.

For the first time during the 2018 high school football season, the Mount Si Wildcats experienced a setback on the scoreboard.

The Woodinville Falcons, who lost to Mount Si 27-17 on Sept. 21, got their revenge courtesy of a gritty 16-14 win against the Wildcats in the 4A KingCo championship game on a rainy Thursday night on Oct. 25 in Snoqualmie.

Mount Si dropped to 8-1 with the loss. Woodinville kicker Blake Glessner nailed a 47-yard field goal with 6:03 left in regulation, giving Woodinville a 16-14 lead. Glessner’s field goal didn’t just clear the crossbar, it would had been good from probably 57 yards out.

“He is very good. He is outstanding. We knew that after watching him kick (on previous game films),” Mount Si head coach Charlie Kinnune said of Glessner.

The Wildcats had two offensive possessions in the final six minutes of regulation but couldn’t get into field goal range for a potential game winner. On its first possession following Glessner’s kick, Mount Si went three-and-out and were forced to punt with just a little under four minutes left in the contest.

Woodinville drove to Mount Si’s 31-yard line and faced a fourth down with three yards to go with 35 seconds left in regulation. Woodinville quarterback Noah Stifle had a wide open receiver in the flat but his pass fell incomplete. The Wildcats had one more chance, regaining possession at their own 31-yard line with 30 seconds left and no timeouts. Mount Si ran four plays in the final 30 seconds but couldn’t move the ball down the field into field goal range.

Mount Si defensive lineman Slater Macko remained upbeat despite the loss to the Falcons.

“Honestly, man, I’m not very sad because I know every single one of these guys fought to the very end. We got to get over this hump (loss). Today just wasn’t our day. We might very well see them again in the final round (state playoffs) and that is that,” Macko said.

Kinnune has no doubt his team will rebound from the loss against the Falcons.

“We just don’t get to put the KingCo championship trophy on the wall but there is more to life than a piece of plastic. We are going to figure out what we’re made of and we’re going to be OK. We were all sure happy with all the winning. Now we got to gut it up and move forward and we will,” Kinnune explained. “That is what we’re all about. That is what athletics teaches us.”

The Falcons have now won three consecutive KingCo titles.

“They’ve been there. Hats off to them. They made plays under stressful situations and we didn’t. In big games like that you got to be able to execute and we didn’t execute,” Kinnune said.

Wildcat sophomore running back Cole Norah scored on a 6-yard touchdown touchdown run with 5:36 left in the first quarter, giving the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead. Mount Si senior quarterback Cale Millen hit junior Brayden Holt on a 20-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter as well.