Elijah Andersen, defense leads Woodland to 29-7 win over Columbia River

WOODLAND – Last year’s 2A Greater St. Helens League champs, the Woodland Beavers, are finding out a great way to begin defense of their title is to play great defense.

For the second straight game, the Beaver defense stifled an opponent’s running game and the offense did its part as Woodland rolled to a 29-7 win over Columbia River in 2A GSHL play Friday night at Beaver Stadium.

Last week Woodland (2-2, 2-0) held Washougal to minus 2 yards rushing and this week bottled up the Rapids to 25 yards on the ground. The Beaver defense scored a touchdown on a 70-yard interception return by senior Elijah Andersen and added a safety when senior Logan Busig corralled a Columbia River ballcarrier in the end zone.

In addition to his pick six, Andersen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another, totaling 71 yards rushing and 98 yards passing to eight different receivers.

Columbia River (1-3, 0-2) finally got on track in the second half in large part to its passing game. Cole Pearson threw for 109 of his 119 passing yards in the second half. The junior connected with fellow junior Ha’aheo Delarose on a 42-yard pass to the Woodland one-yard line, and Joey Ianello ran it in for the touchdown to put the Rapids on the board.

Karsen Northcut and Niel Valerio also picked off passes for the Beavers and senior Chase Hall hauled in a 38-yard touchdown pass for Woodland, who travels to Hockinson next week. The Rapids travel to Longview for a contest with R.A. Long.

WOODLAND 29, COLUMBIA RIVER 7

Columbia River 0 0 0 7—7

Woodland 14 9 6 0—29

First quarter

W—Zachary Young 11 pass from Elijah Andersen (Josiah Graham kick)

W—Andersen 70 interception return (Graham kick)

Second Quarter

W—Safety, runner tackled in end zone

W—Andersen 3 run (Graham kick)

Third Quarter

W—Chase Hall 38 pass from Andersen (pass incomplete)

Fourth Quarter

CR—Joey Ianello 1 run (Aedan Pena kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Columbia River: Joey Ianello 18-22, Ethan Bumgarner 1-6, Ezekiel Kamakea 7-1, Hunter Vynanek 3-0, Aedan Pena 2-(minus 4). Woodland: Elijah Andersen 14-71, Karsen Northcut 11-25, Richard McCants 3-18, Will Clemens 2-9, Joshua Graham 2-2, Ricky LaPierre 1-2.

PASSING — Columbia River: Cole Pearson 8-17-119-3. Woodland: Elijah Andersen 8-10-98, Michael Belden 2-5-2.

RECEIVING — Columbia River: Ha’aheo Delarose 5-57, Ezekiel Kamakea 2-54, Joey Ianello 1-5. Woodland: Chase Hall 2-45, Zachary Young 2-23, Karsen Northcut 2-16, Will Clemens 1-7, Ricky LaPierre 1-7, Tanner Cusick 1-2, Joshia Graham 1-0.