Seton Catholic beats Fort Vancouver 42-8 to clinch first playoff berth in school history

Jack Callerame rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns and Joe Callerame passed for 255 yards and one touchdown as Seton Catholic beat Fort Vancouver 42-8 on Saturday, clinching the Cougars’ first postseason berth in school history.

Seton Catholic (3-6) will play No. 2 Eatonville on Thursday in Spanaway in a 1A district playoff.

“That’s what we talked about all summer,” Seton’s second-year coach Dennis Herling said. “Our biggest goal was to make the playoffs, whatever that looked like – ugly, pretty. Sometimes this year, it looked ugly. We knew coming into this season that we were playing some tough teams. But we played those tough teams to get ready for the playoffs. “

Herling said the playoff spot was there for the taking against a winless Fort team, but his Cougars could not leave anything to doubt.

The Trappers challenged Seton early, making big kickoff returns to drive into the red zone on their first two possessions.

But the Seton defense got the stops – one on a fumble, another on a blocked punt – and the offense answered with touchdowns, leading Seton to a 20-0 lead after the first quarter.

Jacob Williams had two touchdown runs as Seton took a 36-0 lead into halftime.

Kaeleb Cvitkovich had a 58-yard touchdown run the Trappers.

Herling took over the Seton program during the pandemic. His first team last winter had 18 players on the roster.

Now the Cougars are playoff-bound.

“Big moment for these seniors,” Herling said. “They’ve been through all the trials and tribulations and laid down the foundation for this team, this program. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done. Huge on their part to get this. No Seton team had gone to playoffs before.”

SETON CATHOLIC 42, FORT VANCOUVER 8

Fort        0              0              0              8—8

Seton    20           16           0              6—42

First quarter

SC — Jacob Williams 1 run (run failed)

SC — Joe Callerame 18 run (Lance Stuck pass from Joe Callerame)

SC — L. Stuck 5 pass from Joe Callerame (pass failed)

Second quarter

SC — Williams 3 run (Sean Emberlin run)

SC — Jack Callerame (Williams run)

Fourth quarter

SC — Jack Callerame 11 run (run failed)

FV — Kaeleb Cvitkovich 58 run (Cvitkovich run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Fort Vancouver: Cvitkovich 9-72, Anthony Peake 16-60, Joshua Elvestrom 1-0. Seton Catholic: Jack Callerame 10-159, Joe Callerame 7-42, Williams 5-63, Dax Clifton 2-15, Nathan Beaver 1-8, Jackson Glassmire 3-3, Amann Au 1-(-2), Sean Emberlin 1-(-8), team 1-(-2).

PASSING — Fort Vancouver: Cvitkovich 5-20-1-95. Seton Catholic: Joe Callerame 19-25-1-255, Emberlin 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Fort Vancouver: Evan Mendez 2-44, Antonio Ronquillo 2-31, Jesse Mumm 1-20. Seton Catholic: Clifton 7-99, Emberlin 3-66, L. Stuck 5-73, Ryan Stuck 3-18, Beaver 1-(-1).