Big-play Seton Catholic rolls past Chelan 56-7 in 1A state football preliminary roundUpdated 2 days ago

CAMAS — The Seton Catholic Cougars outscored their opponents by an average of 47-9 en route to the 1A Trico League title. Could they keep that up in the playoffs?

Absolutely.

Senior running back Jacob Williams rushed for 203 yards on just eight carries and the big-play Cougar offense rolled up nearly 500 yards in total offense as they crushed the Chelan Mountain Goats 56-7 in a 1A state preliminary round game Saturday at Doc Harris Stadium.

“We wanted to get a feel for the playoffs and show who we are,” Williams said. “We know there will be some high-caliber teams but we think we’re just as good.”

The Cougars buried Chelan in an avalanche of big plays in the first half as 18 of their 19 plays went for more than 10 yards. Williams’ first three rushes for 20, 32 and 59 yards.

Chelan was able to stay in the game early via the pass, tying the game at 7 in the first quarter on an 11-yard-pass from senior quarterback Oliver Reed to senior tight end Jacob Allen.

“We started off kinda slow, but that touchdown was a big wakeup call for us.” Seton Catholic senior Joe Callerame said. “We were making some mental errors and little mistakes and once we cleaned those up, things went a lot better.”

And that they did, as Chelan completed only three of its next 11 passes.

In addition, junior Caden Sullivan had a 29-yard interception return as the Cougars pulled away in the second quarter.

“We adjusted, re-evaulated what we were doing and executed much better,” senior linebacker Aeven Napoleon said.

In addition to Williams’ legs, the Cougars also relied on the right arm of senior quarterback Kolten Gesser and the hands of senior wide receiver Ryker Ruelas to open up a huge lead. Gesser threw for 180 of his 256 yards passing in the second half and connected with Ruelas on three touchdown passes.

“We just needed to play with confidence on every play and good things will happen,” senior Owen Pitzer said.

With the win, the Cougars advance to the state playoffs. The draw will take place on Sunday, and Seton Catholic will most likely be one of the four teams that will receive a first-round bye in the opening round. Last year, the Cougars advanced to the state semifinals before falling to the eventual state champion Royal and have designs on making it even further this year.

“We just need to keep playing as a team and not as individuals,” Ruelas said. “We have a lot of dogs on this team.”

“We’re really on a roll right now,” Napoleon said. “We just need to keep practicing hard, tweak some things, keep watching film and just get better every day.”

SETON CATHOLIC 56, CHELAN 7

Chelan 7 0 0 0— 7

Seton Catholic 21 21 14 0—56

First Quarter

SC —Ryker Ruelas 12 pass from Kolten Gesser (Dalton Woods kick)

C — Jacob Allen 11 pass from Oliver Reed (Iden Magallon kick)

SC — Jacob Williams 59 run (Woods kick)

SC — Caleb Sullivan 29 interception return (Woods kick)

Second Quarter

SC — Williams 4 run (Woods kick)

SC — Ruelas 3 pass from Gesser (Woods kick)

SC — Ruelas 24 pass from Gesser (Woods kick)

Third Quarter

SC — Williams 55 run (Woods kick)

SC — Xavier Crank 9 pass from Gesser (Woods kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Chelan: Boston Brown 8-41, Angel Saucedo 6-13, Oliver Reed 2-11, Gage Puckett 6-8, Lucas Barth 1-0, Maddoc Finch 4-(minus 1), Jose Mendoza 1-(minus 2), Team 2-(minus 13). Seton Catholic: Jacob Williams 8-211, Cole Sullivan 4-16, Thomas Clute 1-13, Roman Tabile 2-2.

PASSING — Chelan: Oliver Reed 5-13-74-1, Maddoc Finch 4-8-42. Seton Catholic: Kolten Gesser 11-19-256-1, Asher LaPointe 1-1-6-0.

RECEIVING — Chelan: Luca Faletto 4-57, Jacob Allen 3-26, Tanner Orestad 1-25, Emileo Barajas 1-8. Seton Catholic: Ryker Ruelas 5-112, Joe Callerame 3-83, Teddy Wieczorek 2-51, Xavier Crank 1-10, Colin Hogaboom 1-6.