Nelson’s four TDs lead Evergreen over Heritage

They are not going to kick the ball to Billy Nelson again.

Are they?

Really?

Yes. Yes they are.

There he goes again.

Billy Nelson returned two kickoffs for touchdowns Friday night, returned a fumble for a touchdown, and, yeah, he added a traditional touchdown on offense, leading the Evergreen Plainsmen to a 47-31 victory over Heritage at McKenzie Stadium.

“Just helping my team,” Nelson said. “They’re helping me, too.”

Evergreen (2-1, 1-0 GSHL) scored the final two touchdowns after Heritage (2-1, 0-1) had a cut a 17-point deficit down to three.

Nelson’s 85-yard kickoff return with 2 seconds left in the third quarter made it 41-31. It was his fourth touchdown of the game, and it destroyed Heritage’s momentum.

The Timberwolves had scored back-to-back touchdowns to get back in the game.

“That’s just the normal Billy Nelson,” Evergreen coach Don Johnson Jr., said. “I’m glad he came to play tonight. Billy’s a spectacular player. We’ve seen glimpses of him in practice.”

The Evergreen crowd, and the Timberwolves, witnessed the whole deal in the opener of Class 4A Greater St. Helens League play.

Nelson started the scoring by scooping up a fumble and tip-toeing down the sideline for a 27-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead for the Plainsmen. He added an 80-yard kickoff return in the second quarter. He started the second-half scoring on a 31-yard touchdown run. Then Nelson capped his night with the kickoff return at the end of the third quarter.

In all, there were five return touchdowns in the game.

Jarod Luedecker returned an interception 100 yards for a Heritage touchdown with a second to play in the first half, making it 26-17.

Kalani Umiamaka, who scored two rushing touchdowns for Heritage, also had a 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Umiamaka rushed for 141 yards on 29 carries. The rest of the Timberwolves were held to negative-50 yards on the ground and 83 yards passing.

“Our blitzes were working, and when we couldn’t break through, somebody else did,” said Evergreen’s Erik Safford, who had a sack and several other stuffs for the Plainsmen.

Still, Johnson said it was not good enough to hold Heritage to 174 yards of offense.

“We gotta get better. We gotta get better,” he said.

Evergreen spread the wealth on offense with five players rushing for at least 20 yards. Rey Green scored on a 39-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He finished with a team-high 87 yards on 13 carries. Nelson had 58 yards on seven carries. Justice Murphy found 35 yards on five carries. And Micah Bishop-Brown capped the scoring with a 21-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Evergreen quarterback Jerrin Williams threw for 126 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown to Kobey Eaton. He also rushed for 37 yards.

“When everybody comes to play, we can be dangerous,” Johnson said. “We have yet to play our best game. We hope to put it all together next week when we play Camas.”

Evergreen 47, Heritage 31

Heritage 3 14 14 0—31

Evergreen 14 12 15 6—47

First quarter

Eve — Billy Nelson 27 fumble return (Dallas Goodpaster kick)

Her — Bailey Thomason 24 FG

Eve — Rey Green 39 run (Goodpaster kick)

Second quarter

Eve — Kobey Eaton 34 pass from Jerrin Williams (kick failed)

Her — Kalani Umiamaka 14 run (Thomason kick)

Eve — Nelson 80 kickoff return (kick blocked)

Her — Jarod Luedecker 100 interception return (Thomason kick)

Third quarter

Eve — Nelson 31 run (Eaton pass from Williams)

Her — Umiamaka 77 kickoff return (Thomason kick)

Her — Umiamaka 1 run (Thomason kick)

Eve — Nelson 85 kickoff return (Goodpaster kick)

Fourth quarter

Eve — Micah Bishop-Brown 21 run (run failed)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Heritage: Umiamaka 29-141, Tyler VanBuskirk 4-(minus 25), Gavin Lee 1-(minus 3), Payton Monda 2-(minus 22). Evergreen: Green 13-87, Dallas Goodpaster 4-5, Justice Murphy 5-35, Williams 10-37, Nelson 7-58, Bishop-Brown 2-22.

PASSING — Heritage: VanBuskirk 6-13-2-83, Monda 1-2-0-(minus 2). Evergreen: Williams 6-13-2-126.

RECEIVING — Heritage: Kenese Peneuta 3-40, Nick Somboun 2-34, Jeremiah Kelly 1-9, Umiamaka 1-(minus 2). Evergreen: Murphy 2-36, Tupree Wickliff 1-41, Eaton 2-39, Green 1-10.