STEVENSON — Shaking off some early nerves, Stevenson came out of halftime to score 29 consecutive points to beat Rainier 39-21 Friday night for the first playoff victory in school history.
“Our defense in the second half was outstanding,” Stevenson coach Craig McKee said. “We really stopped the run and forced them to go to the passing game.”
Wade Huett, Dylan Ohnemus, Alex Contreaz and Chris Brill anchored the defensive line for the Bulldogs.
“This game was really won in the trenches,” McKee said. “That was the best run defense and run blocking we’ve faced all season. It was just battled all night. I can’t say enough about the job the guys up front did tonight.”
Jeremy Waters’ 27-yard interception return was the lone touchdown for Stevenson in the first half as the Mountaineers took a 15-10 lead into halftime.
But Christian Morris had TD runs of 6 and 12 years to put Stevenson back on top.
Brody Pestana ran for a 16-yard TD run, and Zach Castro threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Russell to put Stevenson up 39-15 in the fourth quarter.
“This is the first time we’ve made it to the state playoffs,” McKee said. “We’ve played three times for a chance to reach state and lost all three times, the last time in 1994. So this is a big deal for us.”
Castro was 14 of 26 passing for 202 yards. Russell caught seven passes for 94 yards, and Morris rushed 23 times for 87 yards for the Bulldogs.
Next up: Stevenson (8-2) will travel to play Vashon Island or Meridian of Bellingham in the first round of the 1A state playoffs.
Rainier 0 15 0 6—21
Stevenson 0 10 14 15—39
Second quarter
S — Jeremy Waters 27 interception return (Kevin Jaco kick)
S — Jaco 33 FG
R — Alex Profitt 1 run (Cody Schneider pass from Aaron Riley)
R — Dalton Delio 1 pass from Riley (Schneider kick)
Third quarter
S — Christian Morris 6 run (Jaco kick)
S — Morris 12 run (Jaco kick)
Fourth quarter
S — Brody Pestana 16 run (Pestana run)
S — Kyle Russell 10 pass from Zach Castro (Jaco kick)
R — Profitt 3 run (run failed)
Leaders
Rushing —Stevenson — Morris 23-87, Pestaa 8-75, Castro 6-26.
Passing — Stevenson — Castro 14-26-0-202 .
Receiving — Stevenson — Russell 7-94, Morris 3-48, Evan Lowe 4-60.
