Sure, Clark Coleman threw three touchdown passes to Xavier Owens in the first half Thursday night.
But the play that caused the most buzz in Kiggins Bowl was Skyview’s other first-half touchdown.
With about a minute to play in the second quarter, running back Jaydin Knapp took the pitch from Coleman, then lofted a pass into the end zone that Rhett Sarvela snared one-handed for the touchdown.
It was the highlight play of a night of highlights in Skyview’s 49-7 win over Evergreen.
“I have to give that one up to (assistant coach Eric) Rice,” Knapp said. “He’s the one that made that play. He asked if me if I wanted to throw a touchdown against my old team. It just felt amazing to execute.”
But Knapp almost didn’t execute it exactly to plan.
“Every time we practiced it, it was a ball out in front right here,” Sarvela said, gesturing with his hands in front of his chest. “So when they called the play, we had a bunch of time, so I was thinking about it. ‘OK, it’s going to be right out front, just got to look the ball in. I’m going to be wide open, and I’m going to run it in.’
“So I get out there and I’m wide open, just as planned. And the ball, I see it go straight over my head. I was like ‘oh my goodness.’ I just started hauling for it. And I reached my hand out and just got it.”
Sarvela was so excited after the play, he spiked the ball, resulting in a 15-yard penalty assessed on the PAT kick.
“I just had some pent-up emotions from earlier,” Sarvela said. “I had a flag from earlier, whatever. I just had to release that anger right there. I shouldn’t have done it, but I had it get it out.”
Coleman hit Owens on touchdown passes of 26, 17 and 11 yards in the first half, the last of which coming with 14 second in the half that put the Storm up 28-0.
Then Knapp kept the excitement going on the second-half kickoff, returning 84 yards for a touchdown.
“I told my coach I’d get him one,” Knapp said. “I’ll take this home, and I did. I came out, executed, saw the end zone, and I knew it was mine.”
Knapp would add a 9-yard touchdown run later in the third quarter to set the running clock in motion at 42-0.
Coleman finished with 171 yards on 10-of-13 passing, Knapp rushed for 68 yards, Gabe Martin rushed for 83 and Owens had four catches for 78 yards.
Meanwhile, the Skyview defense limited the potent Evergreen offense to 166 yards.
But there’s not much time to celebrate going 4-0. Camas is up next on Tuesday.
“Yeah, it’s like we’re a basketball team,” coach Steve Kizer said. “We’ve got a game on Tuesday. There won’t be any weekend off this week.”
SKYVIEW 49, EVERGREEN 7
Evergreen 0 0 0 0—7
Skyview 7 14 14 7—49
First quarter
S — Xavier Owens 26 pass from Clark Coleman (Fedya Henrichs-Tarasenkov kick)
Second quarter
S — Owens 17 pass from Coleman (Henrichs-Tarasenkov kick)
S — Rhett Sarvela 30 pass from Jaydin Knapp (Henrichs-Tarsenkov kick)
S — Owens 11 pass from Coleman (Henrichs-Tarasenkov kick)
Third quarter
S — Knapp 84 kickoff return (Henrichs-Tarasenkov kick)
S — Knapp 9 run (Henrichs-Tarasenkov kick)
Fourth quarter
S — Joseph Perez 15 pass from Mason Packer (Henrichs-Tarasenkov kick)
E — O’Shay Jackson 1 run (Ely Del Angel kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Evergreen: JJ Woodin 10-42, Kyle Norton 7-28, Jackson 7-16, Jonathan Landry 3-15; Skyview: Gabe Martin 11-83, Knapp 9-68, Jordan Park 3-17, Coleman 1-3, Packer 1-0, team 1-(-1).
PASSING — Evergreen: Woodin 7-15-0-65; Skyview: Coleman 10-13-0-171, Knapp 1-1-0-30, Packer 2-4-0-28.
RECEIVING — Evergreen: Landry 3-54, Dominic Bolds 2-13, Tejuan Conde 1-2, Jamison Duke 1-(-4); Skyview: Owens 4-78, Sarvela 2-82, Teddy Beaver 3-16, Knapp 1-17, Tanner Beaman 1-8, Joseph Perez 2-28.
