‘Cats crush Bulldogs
Published 8:30 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
ISSAQUAH – There’s one word to describe how the Mount Si Wildcats football team handled the Ellensburg Bulldogs last Friday night: domination.
Once again the Mount Si defense controlled the game, giving the Wildcats’ offense plenty of time to score an unprecedented 38 points to the Bulldogs’ 0.
Four offensive touchdowns, one special teams touchdown and one defensive touchdown spread the wealth of scoring among several players. Leading the scoring was Brandon Yakaboski, who had three touchdowns in the first half.
The first touchdown came with 7:14 left in the first quarter. The Wildcats’ defense had shut down the Bulldogs’ opening drive. A pass to Alex Grazda and runs by Adam Rothgeb, Eric Forslin and Yakaboski, moved the ball into Bulldogs’ territory. On the next play, from 23 yards out, Yakaboski found a huge hole in the offensive line and scampered into the end zone for the touchdown. The Chris Brown point-after failed, but the Wildcats were on the scoreboard 6-0.
Ellensburg tried on its next drive to move down the field. Although the team notched a first down, a fumble and subsequent heads-up play by the Wildcats’ Zach Bowen gave Mount Si another successful shot at the end zone from the Ellensburg 39 yard line.
The Bulldogs’ defense showed a glimmer of strength on the Wildcats’ next series by sacking quarterback Tyler Littlejohn twice. A pass to Eric Alexander in the flat set up another Yakaboski touchdown from 23 yards out. The Wildcats went for a two-point conversion after the touchdown, but the pass sailed over Forslin’s head. The score with 2:55 left in the first was 12-0.
The next highlight of the game came with the Bulldogs in Wildcat territory. Bowen picked off a pass and ran it back to the Ellensburg 42-yard line. Then came a string of penalties on the Wildcats that pushed them back to the 50-yard line. With the first-down marker over 25 yards away, the Wildcats took to the air, looking for Eric Tierney, but the ball fell incomplete. But Mount Si caught a break as the Bulldogs’ defender was called for pass interference giving the ‘Cats an automatic first down.
With 7:27 left in the first half, Littlejohn threw a screen pass to Yakaboski who broke several tackles on his way to the end zone for his third touchdown. The extra point attempt failed again, making the score 18-0.
The Wildcats’ defense held strong for the remainder of the first half with a fumble recovery by Jake Pearce and several quarterback sacks by Rothgeb and Eric McCammon, but Mount Si couldn’t get another score as the clock wound down.
The second half opened with a bang as Rothgeb took the Bulldogs’ kick on his own 10-yard line. He maneuvered past several defenders and headed for the sideline, pouring on the speed all the way to the end zone for a 90-yard kickoff return. The extra point kick was good giving Mount Si a 25-0 lead.
Mount Si would get its next break late in the third quarter. The Bulldogs picked up a fumble on a punt return in Wildcat territory. Pushing its chances to score, the Bulldogs took to the air and found the waiting hands of the Wildcats Eric Alexander, who caught the tipped ball in full stride and headed 64 yards for the end zone. Brown added the point after and the score was 32-0 in favor of Mount Si.
The final score of the game came with seconds left in the third quarter. Rothgeb moved the ball to the Bulldog 8-yard line, then went for the corner of the end zone after a great block by Sean Bothell for Mount Si. The point after failed but the scoreboard said it all 38-0.
Most of the fourth quarter found both teams replacing starters to give their younger players Friday night experience. The Bulldogs threatened with seconds left in the game but the Wildcats’ defense held strong.
As the rain let up and the teams shook hands, the Wildcats erupted into a shaky rendition of Happy Birthday for head coach Charlie Kinnune. The smiling coach told his team it was the 13th anniversary of his 29th birthday.
“We scored on special teams, defense, offense, it’s been awhile since we scored 38 points,” said Kinnune after the singing. “I don’t know if we are playing good enough yet to win in our league. We have some things to shore up and part of it is holding, and when you are getting a lot of holding penalties, we just have to get our feet moving.”
Mount Si will travel to Sammamish to take on the Totems in a Thursday night game that starts at 7 p.m. The Totems defeated Seattle Prep last week in non league competition.
