Washougal keeps on rolling with shutout of River

WASHOUGAL — The calendar reads 2017, but for the Washougal football team, it’s as if the 2016 season never ended.

The Panthers finished last season on a roll, making the playoffs for the first time in a decade, and they improved to 3-0 this season with a 17-0 victory over Columbia River on Friday night at Fishback Stadium.

Washougal’s first-ever win over the Chieftains in seven tries all-time came in both teams’ 2A Greater St. Helens League opener, and dating back to last season, it was the Panthers’ seventh win in their last nine games (excluding a forfeit by Rainier).

“Last year, when we had such a slow start (0-3), we got tired of being the old Washougal,” said senior quarterback Ryan Stevens, who tossed a pair of touchdown passes, finished 13-of-22 passing for 122 yards, and also had a first-half interception on defense.

“We have this group of seniors and juniors who’ve been together for so long, and we were just tired of it. Now, it’s just time for us to win, and to win from here on out. That’s our plan.”

So far, the plan has worked to perfection, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

The Panthers have posted two shutouts in their three wins, and Friday night, they held River to 129 yards — only 19 through the air — and forced four turnovers to give them 10 takeaways for the season.

“We’ve got 11 guys on defense who play tough, play hard,” said Washougal coach Dave Hajek. “They’re not spectacular, but they’re a pretty solid group. They didn’t give up anything big tonight.”

On the other side, the Chieftains defense held up well, limiting the Panthers to 223 yards of total offense and giving up only 10 points off those four turnovers.

The offense, though, continued its season-long woes, getting shut out by a league opponent for the first time since 2009 — which also marks the last year the Chieftains started a season 0-3.

“Our offense is sputtering right now,” said River coach Christian Swain. “We’re not executing. We’re making bad decisions. All of us, coaches and players, we all have got to take our part and own it. Because giving the ball away four times like we did tonight, you can’t beat anybody when you do that.”

Washougal opened the scoring on the first play of the second quarter, with Stevens hitting fullback Nathan Tofell for an 11-yard touchdown pass.

Later in the quarter, a bad snap over River quarterback Julian Garcia’s head was recovered by Washougal’s Jakob Davis at the Chieftains 8.

A roughing the kicker penalty on Stevens’ made 30-yard field goal extended the Panthers’ possession, but River again held defensively and Stevens kicked a 32-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0.

The Panthers’ final score came on the opening drive of the second half — a nine-play, 63-yarder that chewed up more than half the third quarter before Stevens lofted a 28-yard TD pass to Brevan Bea.

“We didn’t feel before the game like we were being respected as a smaller school,” said Stevens, referring in part to the fact that Washougal failed to capture even one 10th-place vote in the most recent Associated Press 2A rankings. “So coming out here, beating a bigger school like River, that was really fun for us.”

WASHOUGAL 17, COLUMBIA RIVER 0

Col. River 0 0 0 0– 0

Washougal 0 10 7 0–17

Second Quarter

W–Nathan Tofell 11 pass from Ryan Stevens (Stevens kick)

W–Stevens 32 FG

Third Quarter

W–Brevan Bea 28 pass from Stevens (Stevens kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–CR, Jerrett Seelbinder 18-89, Koben Jamison 6-19, Julian Garcia 5-12, Colby Rabitoy 2-9, team 1-(minus 19). W, Kade Coons 13-38, Tofell 13-47, Stevens 10-17, team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING–CR, Garcia 5-9-1-14, Matthew Asplund 1-9-1-5. W, Stevens 13-22-0-122, Coons 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING–CR, Kanen Eaton 2-11, Nathan Kunz 2-5, Ben Bisquera 1-3, Monyell Hedgmon 1-0. W, Br.Bea 3-44, Jakob Davis 3-17, Coons 3-24, Grant Lewis 2-17, Tofell 1-11, Max Churchman 1-9.