Week 3 of the prep football season brings two matchups of undefeated teams and two local rivalry games as we preview what’s on tap this weekend.
MONTESANO AT COLUMBIA-WHITE SALMON
When and Where: 7 p.m. Friday at Columbia High School
Players to Watch: Montesano — Trace Ridgway, QB; Aydan Darst, RB; Sam Winter, WR. CWS — Austin Charters, QB; Alarick Blankenship, RB; Bowen Durkee, RB.
Local prep football fans should be in for a treat with a battle between two undefeated teams when Montesano faces Columbia-White Salmon on Friday.
Monte (2-0) has looked dominant on both sides of the ball in the first two weeks of the season, blowing out Aberdeen 59-0 in Week 1 and trouncing Class 3A Shelton 55-0 last week.
And the Bulldogs have been consistent for all eight quarters they’ve played this season, averaging 31 points in both the first and second quarters, 35 in the third and 27 in the fourth quarter without allowing a point.
Monte ran for 215 yards as a team in last week’s win over Shelton while quarterback Trace Ridgway was an efficient 13-for-15 for 179 yards and two touchdown passes.
The Bulldogs defense held the Highclimbers to an eye-catching minus-7 rushing yards on 26 carries.
Columbia-White Salmon (2-0), which lost to Monte 24-12 last season, has been equally as impressive. A run-focused team, the Bruins racked up 438 yards on the ground in a 61-0 drubbing over Ilwaco last week after gaining more than 300 rushing yards in a 29-6 win over Goldendale a week earlier.
The Bruins offense is led by quarterback Austin Charters, who ran for 144 yards and 105 yards, respectively, and four touchdowns over the first two weeks of the season.
CWS’s defense has also been stout, holding Ilwaco to just 26 total yards while forcing three fumbles.
Montesano head coach Terry Jensen knew his team was in for a test when commenting on CWS after Friday’s win over Shelton.
“Columbia-White Salmon is a pretty solid football team and they are big up front,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
ELMA AT ABERDEEN
When and Where: 7 p.m. Friday at Stewart Field
Players to Watch: Elma — Cody Vollan, QB; Brady Shriver, RB; Isaiah O’Farrill, RB. Aberdeen — Cody Bemis, QB; Gio Pasani, WR/K; Ethan Morrill, RB; Elijah Brown, RB/LB.
Two weeks into the 2019 season and its been smooth sailing for the Elma Eagles thus far. Elma (2-0 overall) has looked impressive in blowout wins over King’s Way Christian (34-8 in Week 1) and Rochester (63-14 last week).
In the Eagles’ Week 2 victory, Elma’s offense tore apart Rochester for 28 first-quarter points and a 27-point halftime lead. It didn’t matter whether it was through the air, in the ground game or on defense — Elma found ways to score and did so often, so much so that Eagles head coach Ron Clark, who was critical of his team’s mistakes in Week 1, said, “Our offense came through. They were hitting on all cylinders.”
Aberdeen, meanwhile, has taken its lumps over the first two weeks of the season as new head coach Todd Bridge tries to rebuild a once storied program.
The Bobcats (0-2) lost big to two of its Grays Harbor County rivals — Montesano and Hoquiam — by combined score of 115-3. Though the numbers don’t look it, Aberdeen did show some promise in an opening drive that chewed up over seven minutes of game clock and ended with a field goal to start last week’s game against Hoquiam.
While acknowledging his team’s deficiencies, Bridge liked the attitude of his players coming out of for the second half. “They showed some heart, they showed some guts, they showed some fortitude on their part.”
In their four previous meetings dating back to the 2015 season, the teams have split with none of the games being close and the average margin of victory being 33 points.
HOQUIAM AT LA CENTER
When and Where: 7 p.m. Friday at La Center High School
Players to Watch: Matt Brown, RB/LB; Dane McMillan, QB; Ben Estes, RB; Malaki Eaton, RB; Cameron Bumstead, WR. La Center — Tom Lambert, QB; Bryten Schmitz, RB; Andrew Kysar, RB.
The ninth-ranked Hoquiam Grizzlies have won 12 of their past 13 games dating back to last season and have started 2019 off with blowout victories over Castle Rock (48-12, Week 1) and Aberdeen (56-3 last week).
The Hoquiam Grizzlies hold up the Myrtle Street Rivalry trophy after defeating the Aberdeen Bobcats 56-3 on Friday, Sept. 13. Hoquiam has won 13 of its last 14 games dating back to last season and faces La Center on Friday. (Photo by Jinny Marchand)
The Grizzlies have been a little more run-heavy than last season with running backs Malaki Eaton and Ben Estes both averaging more than 100-yards per game on the ground this season. Hoquiam (2-0) has run for average of 311 yards per game.
Hoquiam is passing the ball approximately 33 percent of the time this season, with sophomore quarterback Dan McMillan getting the bulk of the throwing opportunities. McMillan is 18-for-27 this season for 311 yards and five touchdowns to just one interception, which translates into a 129.8 quarterback rating.
His favorite target has been receiver Cameron Bumstead, who has 13 catches for 315 yards and five TD’s as the senior wideout is making an early case for a first-team, all-league nod.
Hoquiam’s defense will be tested against a La Center team that has used a balanced attack en route to victories over Ridgefield (35-28, Week 1) and Woodland (35-6) this season.
The Wildcats (2-0) rushed for 224 yards against Woodland on Friday, splitting those carries between quarterback Tom Lambert (65 yards), and running backs Bryten Schmitz (68 yards, 3 TD) and Andrew Kysar (68 yards).
Lambert went 12-for-25 for 132 yards, a touchdown and an interception last Friday.
RAYMOND AT PE ELL-WILLAPA VALLEY
When and Where: 7 p.m. Friday in Menlo
Players to Watch: PWV — Logan Walker, QB; Max Smith, RB/LB; Kollin Jurek, WR. Raymond — McCartney Maden, RB; Joseph Villalpando, RB.
PWV (1-1) rebounded from an opening-week loss against Adna to rout Concrete 46-12 on Saturday.
The Titans pounded the ball on the ground, rushing for 233 yards and six touchdowns. PWV was led by senior running back Max Smith, who ran for 148 yards and four TDs, picking up most of the carries after feature back Peter Hamilton was sidelined with an injury.
PWV led 40-6 at the half against Concrete.
Titans head coach Josh Fluke commended his offensive line for leading PWV to its first win of 2019.
“The offensive line did excellent, they made holes you could drive trucks through for our backs,” he said.
Raymond, on the other hand, has had a rough go of it, dropping games to Rainier (38-14, Week 1) and Morton-White Pass (14-8 last week) to open the season.
The hard-luck Seagulls (0-2) scored its lone TD of last week’s loss to MWP on a 99-yard interception return by McCartney Maden to end the first half, but ultimately lost on a 47-yard TD toss with just over three minutes left in the game.
Raymond has managed just 332 total yards on offense this season and have been outscored 46-8 in the first half combined.
PWV won the Pacific County rivalry game by stuffing a Raymond scoring attempt at the goal line in the waning moments of a 28-24 victory last season.
OTHER GAMES
South Bend at Crescent, 3 p.m. Friday
North Beach at Mossyrock, 7 p.m. Friday
Oakville at Taholah, 7 p.m. Friday
Ocosta vs. Oroville, at Cascade High School, 2 p.m. Saturday
