JOYCE — The 1B powerhouse Lummi Blackhawks gave the Crescent Loggers their first loss of the year in Northwest Football League North action.
The Blackhawks, coming off a 48-28 home loss to Neah Bay the week before, took out their frustration by a tune of 58-6 against the Loggers on Saturday.
Both Crescent and Lummi are now 1-1 in league while the Loggers fell to 5-1 on the season and the Blackhawks improved to 4-2.
The Blackhawks flexed their defensive muscle to stifle the Crescent offense, and moved up and down the field with ease on the wings of a fleet of speedy backs and receivers to remind the Loggers why they have been state champions two of the past three years.
“Lummi is again the real deal,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.
“They are absolutely loaded from top to bottom at every position. They presented no weakness; and in 8-man football where it’s all about match-ups, most teams are going to be in for a long day with these guys, and we were no exception.
“They just take you over one-on-one and then rally to the ball as a unit.
“On offense they create such big lanes for their backs with their wide splits and crisp blocking, it creates quite a burden.
“A much improved Lummi team from one year ago.”
Now the Loggers need to regroup for their 2012 homecoming game this coming Saturday against Tulalip Heritage.
“We’ll examine the game, and make some adjustments to get rebounded for Tulalip Heritage,” Yount said.
“We’re able to play some good football against teams that we can match up against. We didn’t get to 5-0 with smoke-and-mirrors.
“But one thing a lot of folks aren’t aware of is just how young and inexperienced we are.”
Eleven of the 20 players on the team are playing in just their first or second year of football, Yount said.
“So we’re going to go through our share of growing pains. I suppose Lummi provided us with a season’s worth.
“Even in a blow-out loss some good things happen. Mike Zapien was effective in our power game and Eric Larson was able to find some cracks to pop some big runs as well as lead us with 13 tackles.
“Derek Findley came up big with with a couple of nice grabs on our touchdown drive (19 and 41 yards) to set up Zapien for his plunge.”
Zapien scored on a 2-yard run late in the fourth quarter to keep the Loggers from being shut out.
“We’ll learn from this game,” Yount said.
“One thing about playing a powerhouse like Lummi is that they will expose you.
“A little on-the-field evaluation, so to speak. So we’ll go back to practice and get to the work of getting better.”
The Blackhawks kept the Loggers to less than 100 yards rushing as Findley and Beau Bamer were kept to a combined minus-35 yards on the ground.
Larson was tops on the ground with 60 yards on 12 carries while Zapine had 51 yards on eight carries.
Findley caught both passes thrown by Bamer for 60 receiving yards.
Crescent was held to 221 yards of total offense.
Ironically, Lummi was knocked out of the 1B top-five rankings last week after taking the Neah Bay loss while Crescent was voted to No. 5 after starting 5-0.
Expect a shake-up in this week’s rankings.
Cascade Christ. 55, Port Townsend 19
PUYALLUP — Class 1A powerhouse Cascade Christian (5-1) rumbled over the Redskins in Nisqually League action Saturday night.
The Cougars, ranked No. 5 in state, stormed out to a 20-6 halftime lead and never looked back.
Port Townsend’s Jacob King scored two touchdowns but Cascade Christian dominated the game, amassing 569 total yards with 319 on the ground and 250 through the air.
Cougars’ quarterback Jaelin Goldsmith threw two touchdown passes and had two rushing scores in the game.
King put Port Townsend on the scoreboard first with a 12 run early in the first quarter, and then he scored again on a 98-yard kickoff return in the third period.
Tim Russell scored on a 1-yard run for the Redskins in the final minute of the game.
The Redskins, 2-2 in league and 3-3 overall, next will host a combined Life Christian Academy/Seattle Christian team this coming Saturday night at 7.
Lopez 52,
Clallam Bay 16
LOPEZ — The Bruins lost perhaps their best player in Matt Mohr early in the fourth quarter and the Lobos rolled after that, scoring 26 unanswered points the rest of the way Saturday.
Mohr, who rushed for 211 yards and had a team-high 16 tackles through three quarters of play, left the game with an elbow injury after the Bruins stormed back with 16 points in the third quarter for a close 26-16 game going into the final period.
But Mohr hurt the same elbow he injured in the Crescent game the week before, and coach Cal Ritter quickly took him out.
“I wasn’t going to take any chances,” Ritter said about taking Mohr out of the game.
“Hopefully, Matt’s injury is nothing serious because he is a big part of our game.”
Lopez took a 26-0 lead at halftime but the Bruins made halftime adjustments and got back into the game in the third quarter, keeping the Lobos out of the end zone while scoring 16 of their own points.
But then Mohr’s injury took the air right out of Clallam Bay’s balloon.
On the other hand, Lopez was a tough foe, Ritter said.
“Lopez is a good team,” he said. “They are well coached and disciplined, and they are big and fast.”
Lopez improved to 2-0 in the Northwest Football League North and 5-0 overall while Clallam Bay fell to 0-2 in league and 2-3 overall.
Ritter said it is frustrating to his players because they are playing in the toughest 1B league in the state with Neah Bay and Lummi at the top and Crescent and Lopez turning into state powers in their own right.
“We are leaps and bounds better than we were last year,” but it’s frustrating for the players because the Bruins’ record is not approving by leaps and bounds, Ritter said.
And it doesn’t get any easier for Clallam Bay this coming week as it travels to Lummi this Friday night.
Lummi, 4-2 and not ranked this past week, let off a little frustrated steam of its own in a 58-6 romp over Crescent this past weekend.
Against Lopez, the Bruins scored two touchdowns in the third quarter, the first on a 1-yard keeper by quarterback Austin Ritter, and the other on a 14 run by Jeremy Rock.
Mohr scored both two-point conversions on runs.
Bruins had more than 350 yards on the ground with Mohr’s 211 on 19 carries leading the way.
Rock ran for 52 yards on 13 carries, followed by Calvin Ritter, 43 on three carries; Casey Randall, 35 on seven carries; and Austin Ritter, 28 on 10 carries.
Calvin Ritter is the coach’s son while Austin Ritter is his nephew.
Clallam Bay had 86 passing yards with Austin Ritter throwing for 54 yards and Ryan Willis adding 32 yards through the air.
Willis led the way on the receiving end with two catches for 27 yards while Randall had two receptions for 14 yards.