Washougal win creates interesting 2A GSHL

WASHOUGAL — Zack Neketuk emerged from the Washougal locker room, dropped his gear to the hallway floor, and took this chance to exhale and smile.

“Oh my God! I don’t know how the stakes could have gotten higher,” the Panthers senior said after running for a career-high 225 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns in an 18-14 2A Greater St. Helens League win over Hudson’s Bay.

“It was Homecoming, another home game for us, and we were in the hunt for the playoffs if we won,” Neketuk said.

Indeed, with Mark Morris’ upset of Woodland on Thursday, there are now four one-win teams in 2A GSHL play, including the Panthers (2-4, 1-3) and Eagles (2-4, 1-3), all of which can still think playoffs with three weeks to go.

Washougal was coming off a 49-7 thrashing at Woodland, and it trailed 14-6 after three quarters Friday before coming to life in the final 12 minutes to beat Bay for the sixth straight year.

“We just decided, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do this before our Homecoming crowd,’ ” Neketuk said. “Before now, we didn’t have the focus and drive to come out and battle like we did tonight.”

The attitude change also corresponded with a change at quarterback in the second half. Sophomore Ryan Stevens came on and led both fourth-quarter touchdown drives, but Panthers coach Dave Hajek downplayed the move.

“We just had to make a change,” he said. “It was a change of philosophy in midstream. We said that we’re going to try and wear them down.”

And the Panthers did just that with a steady diet of Neketuk runs off tackle, with the fullback carrying the ball 14 times for 89 yards in the final quarter alone.

After stopping Bay on fourth down with 1.5 seconds left in the third quarter, Washougal marched 65 yards on 12 plays, chewing up more than five minutes before Neketuk bulled off right tackle for a 4-yard TD run.

The Eagles stopped the two-point conversion to maintain a 14-12 lead, but after gaining one first down on their next possession, they were forced to punt with 3:47 left.

Washougal needed only five plays to take its first lead of the game. Kade Coons broke loose on an end around for a 23-yard gain to start the drive, and Neketuk added runs of 8 and 17 yards before capping the drive with a 14-yard TD run with 2:33 to play.

“Zack played his heart out,” Hajek said. “He’s had to fight through adversity throughout his career, but tonight, he said to me, ‘Coach, let me carry it,’ and he was a workhorse tonight. I’m so proud of our kids.”

The Eagles had two chances to regain the lead following Neketuk’s go-ahead touchdown but turned the ball over each time — a fumble on a draw play on the first play following the kickoff, and after forcing a three-and-out, an interception by Austin McLaughlin with 30.1 seconds left sealed the win.

“I’m not surprised by what they did in the fourth,” said first-year Bay coach Mark Oliverio. “We just didn’t uphold our end in the second half to finish the deal. Critical mistakes at critical times cost us, but we’re a young team. We’re learning.”

Jordan Hickman tossed a pair of first-half touchdown passes to Marcus Cadiz as the Eagles built a 14-6 halftime advantage. Hickman finished 10-of-20 for 112 yards, while Cadiz also had a game-high 10 tackles.

WASHOUGAL 18, HUDSON’S BAY 14

Hudson’s Bay 8 6 0 0–14

Washougal 6 0 0 12–18

First Quarter

HB — Marcus Cadiz 48 pass from Jordan Hickman (Ray Mason run)

W — Tyler Bowlin 6 run (run failed)

Second Quarter

HB — Cadiz 12 pass from Hickman (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

W — Zack Neketuk 4 run (run failed)

W — Neketuk 14 run (run failed)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — HB, Mason 7-28, Toa Kamatule 7-43, Carter Morse 7-20, Hickman 2-21, Tristan Maxwell 2-(minus-3), Julio Vara 1-0, team 1-0. W, Neketuk 32-225, Kade Coons 11-56, Bowlin 3-16, Kyle Hoesly 2-10, Ryan Stevens 1-2, Daniel Davis 1-0, Max Churchman 1-(minus-1), Grant Lewis 1-(minus-1), team 1-(minus-1).

PASSING — HB, Hickman 10-20-1-112, Morse 2-2-0-5, Vara 1-1-0-6. W, Bowlin 0-5-1-0, Stevens 2-2-0-14.

RECEIVING — HB, Vara 4-20, Myles Artis 3-41, Cadiz 2-60, Nathan Buslach 2-(minus 8), Maxwell 1-6, Stone Sabourin 1-4. W, Davis 1-6, Coons 1-8.