BATTLE GROUND — Wait, didn’t this happen last year?
Well, not exactly.
Sure, the same teams that put up more than 1,100 yards of offense last year were on the field against each other again this year. And this time, there were more than 1,200 yards gained on the defenses.
Only, a different team got the victory.
Battle Ground’s Gunner Talkington threw for 503 yards and six touchdowns, leading the Tigers to a 69-43 victory over Mountain View in a Class 4A Greater St. Helens League football game that resembled a track meet at District Stadium. The Tigers (3-1, 1-1 GSHL) avenged last year’s 56-42 loss to the Thunder.
Mountain View, coming off its first win over Union in program history, had no answer against the Tigers offense this week. The Thunder (3-1, 1-1) put plenty of points on the board, plenty of yards on the stat sheet — just not enough.
“That’s the craziest game I’ve been a part of. It gets the adrenaline pumping,” said Max Randle, who caught 10 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
“That was crazy. I don’t even know what to say,” Battle Ground coach Larry Peck said.
There were six lead changes in the first half.
“It could have easily gone the other way,” Peck said. “With that said, I’m extremely proud of our kids. They never faltered. They had a vision. They weren’t going to be stopped.”
For a time, nobody seemed like they were going to be stopped.
Battle Ground scored with six seconds left in the first half on a pass from Talkington to Randle for a five-point lead. The Tigers then scored on the first possession of the second half — a TD pass from Talkington to Chase Gunter — to make it a two-score game.
From there, the two teams scored on six consecutive possessions. The Thunder cut it to six, only to fall behind by 13, and so on and so on.
“This is our drive,” Talkington said of his talks in the huddle. “We had total confidence in everyone.”
Logan Hertner led the Tigers with 115 yards receiving. He caught a 74-yard touchdown pass. And even when the Thunder scored, he said he was never concerned.
“I have confidence in our defense, and I knew we could always go down the field and score,” Hertner said.
Sure enough, the Tigers were only stopped at the end of the game, in victory formation. But the Battle Ground defense did, indeed, come up with two stops. The Tigers forced a fumble that Travis Stewart recovered when it was 56-43. That led to a 45-yard touchdown run from Curtis Stradley to make it 62-43. Then the Battle Ground defense forced Mountain View to lose the ball on downs.
The Tigers could breathe.
“We prepared better, and we worked hard during practice, and we had the passion to win,” Randle said.
And an offensive line that protected Talkington and opened holes for the running backs. Talkington finished 31 of 39 for his 503 yards, and the Tigers rushed for more than 200 yards. Stradley had 100 yards on 10 carries.
“Every time they scored, we didn’t lose momentum,” said guard Levi Fridriksson. “We just came back and scored. Every time.”
“It was neat that everybody had confidence in the offensive line,” added lineman Tristan Castaneda.
In all, Battle Ground put up 723 yards of offense.
Mountain View, meanwhile, rushed for 459 and had 501 yards. Preston Jones finished with 195 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns. Anthony Ramirez scored twice and rushed for 180 yards.
“It was just like last year, but in reverse,” Peck said.
A lot of yards.
A lot of points.
Nothing new in a Battle Ground-Mountain View game.
Except, of course, the Tigers won this one.
BATTLE GROUND 69, MOUNTAIN VIEW 43
Mtn. View 6 17 13 7—43
B. Ground 7 21 21 20—69
First quarter
BG — Kyle Cahoon 22 pass from Gunner Talkington (Riley Betcher kick)
MV — Anthony Ramirez 11 run (run failed)
Second quarter
MV — Kimball Elliott 12 pass from Colin Biggs (Biggs kick)
BG — Logan Hertner 74 pass from Talkington (Betcher kick)
MV — Biggs 31 FG
BG — Reed Thompson 10 run (Betcher kick)
MV — Taj Albeck 24 run (Biggs kick)
BG — Max Randle 6 pass from Talkington (Betcher kick)
Third quarter
BG — Chase Gunter 14 pass from Talkington (Betcher kick)
MV — Ramirez 69 run (PAT failed on bad snap/hold)
BG — Curtis Stradley 10 run (Betcher kick)
MV — Preston Jones 30 run (Biggs kick)
BG — Randle 25 pass from Talkington (Betcher kick)
Fourth quarter
MV — Jones 38 run (Eli Graf kick)
BG — Betcher 73 pass from Talkington (pass failed)
BG — Stradley 45 run (Betcher kick)
BG — Bailey Buckner 15 run (Betcher kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Mountain View, Jones 23-195, Ramirez 12-180, Albeck 9-59, Semisi Schultz 3-25, Biggs 1-(minus 1). Battle Ground, Stradley 10-100, Buckner 5-55, Talkington 9-51, Thompson 4-9, Manny Grote 3-11, Team 3-(minus 6).
PASSING — Mountain View, Biggs 4-8-0-42, Jones 0-1-0-0. Battle Ground, Talkington 31-39-0-503.
RECEIVING — Mountain View, Elliott 3-34, Albeck 1-8. Battle Ground, Randle 10-102, Cahoon 6-84, Chase Gunter 5-74, Hertner 4-115, Cole Grossman 4-52, Betcher 1-73, Thompson 1-3.
