2A GSHL football: Hudson’s Bay 26, Woodland 20

Sophomore Julio Vara came down with an interception at his own 33 yard line with 24 seconds left to seal a victory for the Hudson’s Bay Eagles as they held off the Woodland Beavers 26-20 in the 2A Greater St. Helens League opener. It was Vara’s third interception of the game.

The first play of the game set the tone for Hudson’s Bay as Woodland connected on a 10-yard pass but the Eagles forced a fumble and Tristan Maxwell returned 34 yards to the Beavers 2-yard line. Shawn Morgan ran it in on Hudson’s Bay first play from scrimmage.

Woodland answered back four minutes later when Wyatt Harsh hit Hunter Raney from 11 yards out.

Hudson’s Bay then scored the next 19 points with a combination of Jordan Hickman to Myles Artis for two aerial touchdowns and a Nathan Buslach 2-yard run.

Woodland answered late in the third quarter on an 8-yard touchdown scamper from Tristan Thomas and another pass from Harsh to Tyler Flanagan with 8 minutes remaining in the game to pull within six points.

Woodland got the ball back with 5:31 left on its own 30 and marched to the Eagles 32 before turning the ball over on downs. The Beavers had one last shot to take the lead but Vara sealed the ballgame with the interception.

Woodland outgained the Eagles 245-227 but turned the ball over four times to Hudson’s Bay’s one.

Hudson’s Bay moves to 2-1 and 1-0 in league and Woodland drops to 1-2 and 0-1 in league.

HUDSON’S BAY 26, WOODLAND 20

Woodland 7 0 7 6–20

Hudson’s Bay 13 6 7 0–26

First quarter

HB — Shawn Morgan 2 run (Alphonso Barajas kick)

W — Hunter Raney 8 pass from Wyatt Harsh (Tylor Bishop kick)

HB — Nathan Buslach 2 run (kick blocked)

Second quarter

HB — Myles Artis 4 pass from Jordan Hickman (pass failed)

Third quarter

HB — Artis 15 pass from Hickman (Barajas kick)

W — Tristan Thomas 8 run (Bishop kick)

Fourth quarter

W — Tyler Flanagan 16 pass from Harsh (kick failed)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Woodland, Thomas 27-140, Harsh 10-26 Hudson’s Bay, Morgan 8-52, Marcus Cadiz 2-40, Tristan Maxwell 6-10, Toa Kamatule 5-3, Buslach 1-2, Nathan Newo 1-2, Hickman 6-(minus-14).

PASSING — Woodland, Harsh 17-33-4-131 Hudson’s Bay, Hickman 11-16-0-132.

RECEIVING — Woodland, Flanagan 6-58, Taylor Yeo 6-58, Raney 3-14, Jared Cloud 1-13, Thomas 1-(minus-1). Hudson’s Bay, Cadiz 6-74, Artis 2-19, Julio Vara 1-26, Carter Morse 1-11, Stone Sabourin 1-2.