The football season opener for Mount Si High School, at home last Friday, Sept. 5, against Eastlake, was expected to be a good, close game.
But the unexpected intervened a number of times in the contest, to hand Mount Si its first loss of the season.
Offensive struggles, injuries and costly penalties proved to be the Wildcats’ undoing, as Mount Si fell to Kingco 4A Eastlake from Sammamish, 24-12.
“We’re a power football team,” said Mount Si coach Charlie Kinnune. “They’re putting nine and 10 in the box and daring us to throw. We’ve got to be able to throw it in that situation and execute it.”
Mount Si got on the board first in Friday’s contest. With the offense trying to get going early, senior quarterback Tyson Riley fired a strike to junior Rossco Castagno, and that was all she wrote, as Castagno ran 69 yards for the touchdown, putting the Wildcats up. A two-point conversion failed, and Mount Si was ahead 6-0 late in the first quarter. Before that score, the Wildcats had three possessions in the opening period, all of which ended after three plays and a subsequent punt — dubbed “three and outs” in football lingo.
Castagno’s touchdown followed a great opening kickoff return and solid plays on defense. There was more on tap, though for the Wildcat junior.
On the other side of the ball, there was a great performance cooked up by Eastlake backup quarterback Kelby McCorkle. After coming in to play early in the second quarter following an injury to Wolves starter Drake Furcini, McCorkle finished out an Eastlake drive with a six-yard touchdown pass to Jeffrey Grotjahn. That was followed up by a point after from Kelly Rockey, and the Wolves took the lead, 7-6, early in the period.
After the Wildcats failed to capitalize on the following possession, Eastlake regained the ball and went to work. Solid running plays by both Cameron Hunt and Stephen Nasca, along with two costly offside calls against Mount Si’s defense, helped the Wildcats’ geographic rivals — the two schools’ attendance boundaries touch in the Ames Lake area — and Eastlake took advantage. McCorkle once again finished it off, throwing a seven-yard pass to Scott Payton for a touchdown. The pass was once again followed by another extra point from Rockey, and the Wolves were up 14-6 just before the half.
Penalties problems are “a mental toughness issue,” Kinnune said. “It’s an issue of discipline. We have to double our efforts on those kinds of things in our practices.”
Eastlake opened on offense to start the second half, and used a 43-yard run by Nasca to set up a 28-yard field goal by Rockey, which put the Wolves up 17-6.
Mount Si got the ball back, and out came Castagno, once again. The Wildcat junior caught a Riley pass for 14 yards, then, after the quarterback was injured on the next play, Castagno got under center and ran for another 15 yards. Mount Si got close, but could not put the ball in the end zone, and Eastlake was back to work. McCorkle threw a lateral pass to Hunt, and he ran 55 yards for another Wolves touchdown. Following another Rockey point after, it was 24-6 Wolves late in the third quarter.
An interception by the Wildcats’ Brandon Smith at the end of that period set up the final score of the night, a Riley 20-yard toss to Castagno early in the final quarter. The two-point conversion failed after two attempts and another costly Mount Si penalty, and the game ended at 24-12.
“It was a post and the safety was keying off the receiver on the other side,” Castagno said. “I just snuck behind him and Tyson put the ball in the right spot.”
“Rossco is one of our best athletes,” Kinnune said. “He went up and got a couple balls, made a couple touchdowns and did a very, very nice job. We know he can do that.”
Mount Si is at Issaquah at 7 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 12.
