Red Wolves wear mud mask to homecoming dance
Published 10:08 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
CARNATION—Parents and alumni returned to Howard
Miller Field Friday night for the football game to conclude a week of
homecoming activities. Unfortunately, rain and mud crashed the party.
Cedarcrest held its own against Mercer Island for the first 12
minutes, but fumbled the game away in the second quarter and eventually lost
a sloppy contest by a score of 41-14. The loss was the Wolves’ fifth
consecutive KingCo defeat this year and 14th straight over two seasons.
Senior wide receiver Michael Smith—who had 14 catches for
274 yards last week against Bellevue—had only one reception for two yards in
the first half, as the Islanders drowned the homecoming festivities by taking
a 31-0 halftime lead.
The blitzing Islander defense and a slippery ball made it difficult
for starting quarterback Casey Peterson to get the ball to his biggest
offensive weapon. Smith did score on two short passes from junior Nick Rich in
the fourth quarter as the home team gave the full house a reason to cheer on
a wet, chilly evening.
“We should have rolled out more to give Casey a chance to get
away from the pressure. It did not help that we were playing on a crowned
field that slopes down and gets pretty muddy near the sidelines,”
said Cedarcrest coach Art Kuehn.
For the fourth time this season the Red Wolf defense was unable to
contain the opponent’s top running back. This time around it was Mercer
Island junior David Kurtman, who bashed the Cedarcrest defense for four
touchdowns and 170 yards on the ground.
The Islanders got on the scoreboard first with less than a
minute left in the opening quarter when Kurtman capped a 56-yard drive
with a 13-yard scamper into the Red Wolves’ end zone. The MI
junior scored again six minutes later on a 16-yard run to increase the Islander
lead to 14-0.
The Wolves next defensive stance had better results as Cedarcrest
forced the visiting team to punt. But the Islander punt was downed at
the Cedarcrest 2-yard line, leaving the Red Wolves 98-yards from paydirt
with two-minutes left before intermission.
That’s when things went from bad to worse for the home team.
A fumble on the very next play gave MI the ball deep in
Cedarcrest territory. Kurtman rumbled over from two yards out to make the score 21-0.
Mercer Island was back on offense again when Cedarcrest’s
Morgan Henley fumbled the kickoff return at his own 22. Three plays later the
Islanders made it 28-0 when quarterback Sam Hale scored on a keeper from
the one. Mercer Island rubbed salt (or mud?) into the wound two
seconds before halftime when kicker Darius Ghoddoussi booted a 23-yard
field goal for a 31-0 advantage.
Kurtman scored his fourth touchdown of the game and
Ghoddoussi added a 42-yard field goal as Mercer Island increased its lead to 41-0
after three quarters.
Rich replaced Peterson at quarterback in the second half. Three
passes to Smith and a pair of runs by Eric Dick gave the Wolves a
first-and-goal at the MI 4-yard-line midway
through the fourth quarter. The first Cedarcrest score came one play later when
Rich found Smith five yards deep in the end zone on a crossing pattern.
The Red Wolves got the ball back on a successful onside kick at
the Mercer Island 40. They scored again six plays later on a three-yard toss
to Smith to make the final score 41-14.
Rich finished his night’s work with 133 yards on nine pass
completions. Kuehn was pleased with the play of Rich off the bench and indicated
he will probably rotate his signal callers for Cedarcrest’s next game.
Smith finished the game with six catches for 83 yards. Junior
Nate McLallin had three receptions for 48 yards, all on quick outs. The
coach said having another dependable receiver will help take some of the
defensive pressure off of Smith.
“McLallin is a talented receiver. I trust him, and he’ll probably see
more passes thrown in his direction,” said Kuehn.
This Friday the Wolves will take on Interlake for sole possession of
last place in the conference. Both teams come into the contest at 0-5,
following the Saints’ 21-7 route by Newport.
Interlake won last year’s confrontation by a baseball score of 8-6 on
a muddy field at Howard Miller Field. This week the teams will play on
the artificial surface at Interlake’s campus in Bellevue.
Kuehn has emphasized to his team that Interlake should be taken as
seriously as Bellevue or Mercer Island and that both schools have
identical records at this point of the season.
“Playing on turf should help,” said Kuehn. “We will probably try
Aaron O’Neil off the junior varsity to boost our running game.”
