Montesano created six turnovers to run roughshod over the Port Angeles Roughriders in a 70-12 nonleague victory Friday at Jack Rottle Field in Montesano.
The Bulldog (4-0) secondary came away with five interceptions, including four returned for touchdowns by Jordan King, Sam Winter, Isaac Pierce and Aaron Lano.
Montesano didn’t have any trouble finding a rhythm on offense either, scoring on its first drive with a short, 3-yard touchdown run from quarterback Trace Ridgway with 8 minutes, 20 seconds left in the first quarter to give Monte the 7-0 lead, following the extra point conversion.
When the Bulldogs got back on defense, Winter caught the first of his two interceptions when he nabbed the ball on a fade route. Winter’s pick in the corner of the end zone snuffed out a Port Angeles scoring opportunity when the Roughriders were 5 yards from the goal line.
After rushing for the first touchdown of the game, Ridgway showed he could get it done with his arm and found Braden Dohrmann with a long pass as Dohrmann streaked down the sidelines for the touchdown with 4:44 left in the first quarter.
Aydan Darst accounted for the Bulldogs’ next score with an 8-yard touchdown run and King capped off the quarter with a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Montesano quarterback Trace Ridgway (10) hands the ball off to Aydan Darst in the first quarter of a game against Port Angeles on Friday at Jack Rottle Field in Montesano. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
King said quick starts like that can leave opponents reeling.
“It was really important to start like that because if we can go up early and we stay up, a lot of teams will roll over,” he said.
Up 28-6 at the end of the first quarter, Montesano wasn’t done building its lead.
Winter concluded another successful drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 11 minutes left in the second quarter to push the lead to 35-6.
Less than a minute later at 10:16, Winter returned an interception for a touchdown to bring the score to 42-6.
Montesano head coach Terry Jensen said he was impressed with how his team remained focused, even when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
“That’s what we’ve been emphasizing. It’s not really who we play, it’s how we play,” he said. “We have an expectation of how we should play and what we should be doing at all the positions and they lived up to that tonight.”
Before halftime, Monte got offensive touchdowns from Dohrmann and Hunter Schnoor followed by a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown by defensive back Lano to close out the second quarter with a 63-6 lead.
Montesano called off the dogs in the second half, allowing second and third-string players to get some more varsity playing experience.
Monte scored once in the second half on a 73-yard run from Pierce to round out the Bulldogs’ scoring.
The loss moved Port Angeles’ record to 0-4 on the season.
Despite maintaining a perfect record through the first four games of the season, King doesn’t think his team has hit its ceiling yet.
“We have a lot of talent out there, and we still haven’t peaked yet. We still have a lot of room to improve,” he said.
Jensen also is hoping his team will get better as the Bulldogs take on their first league opponent, Forks, next week.
Forks failed to qualify for the postseason last year, but Jensen is expecting to see an improved team when the Bulldogs travel to Forks for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
“We’ve played really well so far in the first four weeks, but we all start 0-0 now. League games are the ones that count and Forks is a really improved football team,” he said. “They’ve changed coaches. They’re doing a really good job up there right now and we just have to get ready for them.”
