WASHOUGAL — Behind inspired running from running back Brandon Casteel, the Washougal Panthers were able to win a game full of momentum swings 26-14 over Ridgefield.
Casteel, whose grandmother passed away just eight days ago, put on a dazzling performance totaling 292 yards on 15 carries with three touchdowns of 70, 92 and 98-yards.
“It was hard, but I knew my team was there for me and she was a big supporter,” Casteel said. “She’s helped me through sports, she was always there. She was always there and now she’s not, but I still feel like I have to prove myself to her.”
Casteel certainly proved something on Friday night, and the Panthers did too.
“The thing I’ll say is what I told them: they played hard all the way through,” Washougal head coach Dave Hajek said. “At any point they could have gave up. We went up seven, they came back. We went up another seven, they came back.”
There was nothing special to the play calls for Casteel.
“Just a trap, Casteel ran hard,” Hajek said.
Ridgefield answered Casteel’s 98-yard touchdown in the first quarter with a 75-yard drive capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass from Jonah Roberts to Noah Couch.
Then, Ridgefield’s Nathan Eggleston beat the halftime buzzer with a 16-yard touchdown run with 2.9 seconds left in the first half.
But the Panthers didn’t waiver, and neither did Casteel whose 70-yarder in the third quarter put the Panthers up by 12. The Panthers got three interceptions, which helped cancel out a couple of mistakes of their own on offense.
Casteel thinks this win will motivate Washougal for the rest of league play.
“Something clicked this week (after two losses),” Casteel said. “We came and worked hard every day in practice. If we know we can have a game like this, we are going to work as hard as we can every day.”
Washougal 26, Ridgefield 14
Washougal 7 7 12 0—26
Ridgefield 0 14 0 0—14
First Quarter
W—Brandon Casteel 98 run (Tyler Bowlin kick)
Second quarter
R — Noah Couch 7 pass from Jonah Roberts (Micheal Martin kick)
W— Casteel 90 run (Bowlin kick)
R— Nathan Eggleston 16 run (Martin kick)
Third quarter
W — Kyron Carlson 14 run (Kick missed)
W — Casteel 70 run (2 pt no good)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Ridgefield: Nathan Eggleston 19-105, Roberts 11-43, Couch 1-44. Washougal: Brandon Casteel 15-292; Tristan Roseff 10-28, Carlson 6-11, Georgianna 1-4; Garrett Duey 1-0; Zach Neketuk 2-10.
PASSING — Ridgefield: Jonah Roberts 7-32-3-98; Washougal: Monte Georgianna 0-3-0-0; Kyron Carlson 6-14-1-112.
RECEIVING — Ridgefield: Cade Morrill 3-59; Couch 2-31; David Causey 1-3; Taylor Nolan 1-2. Washougal: Roseff 3-58; Casteel 1-26; Spencer Adams 1-22; Daniel Davis 1-6.
