Cardinals lose to Deer Park in sloppy effort on soggy night

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

Two touches of the ball and it appeared as though the Medical Lake Cardinals were on a roll last Friday night in a Great Northern League football game at Deer Park.

Those two possessions resulted in a pair of touchdowns and a 12-6 lead over the Stags just 7:25 into the game.

It was the three times they lost touch with the ball, and the Deer Park ball carriers, however, that led to the Cards’ undoing as they suffered a crushing 49-12 loss that dropped them to 0-5 in the GNL and 2-6 overall.

“That was a nice way to start off, it would have been nice if we could have backed it up with some defense,” head coach Wes Hobbs said.

The already shorthanded Cardinals, who dressed just 23 players, also had to play without Nick Pacheco. The senior is not only the starting quarterback and safety, but in coach Wes Hobbs’ estimation, the heart and soul leadership of the team. Pacheco, who has started all four years for Medical Lake, suffered a bruised non-throwing shoulder and also injured his hand against Riverside. Pacheco dressed and tried Medical Lake’s first point-after, but the kick failed. He is “day-by-day,” the coach said.

“We were certainly behind the eight ball to begin with,” Hobbs said. “When we lost Nick (Pacheco) we lost our punter, our free safety and we lost our quarterback. There goes our leadership too.”

In Pacheco’s place was freshman Adam Paulson, whom Hobbs said, “embraced the opportunity to start, he didn’t shy away from it.” Hobbs was hoping the team’s performance around him would bolster Paulson’s confidence.

“We just couldn’t hold onto the ball,” Hobbs said, alluding to the three fumbles the Cardinals committed on a foggy, misty and sloppy night in Deer Park. Sophomore Blake Andrews played in the third and fourth quarter. “He did a good job.” Paulson was 3-for-6 for 18 yards while Andrews hit 2-for-8 and 20 yards.

Tim Haynes raced 73 yards with the opening kickoff to put Medical Lake in the lead with the game just 11 seconds old. Deer Park answered back with a 12-play drive to tie it at 6-6 on the first of four Alex wolf touchdowns with 6:48 to play in the quarter. Both the Cardinals’ and Stags’ kickers botched their PATs.

When Deer Park’s ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, Medical Lake got the ball at their own 35. Paulson handed off to Brendan Heikkila on a quick off-tackle play. The senior halfback raced through a huge hole and was gone 65 yards for the Cardinals’ second touchdown, this one taking just 13 seconds.

Then things, like the soggy night, first got ugly and then uglier.

After two quick plays that swiftly moved the ball from the Cardinal 49 to their 8, the Medical Lake defense got tough stopping Deer Park on three plays inside the 10. Then on fourth-and-goal from the 7, Spencer Morrow took a swing pass around the right side, avoided Heikkila’s tackle and scored to tie it again at 12-12 for Deer Park, 3-2 GNL, 6-2 overall.

Medical Lake had the ball just one play before their first fumble on the 36. Joe Wessler pounced on the ball for the Stags. Despite a holding call that backed the Stags up to the Cardinal 35, wolf just as quickly erased the loss with his 35-yard TD run with 58 seconds to play in the quarter for a 20-12 Stags lead following a 2-point conversion run.

The next Cardinals’ possession ended in a punt to the Deer Park 25. Ten plays later, including another successful fourth-down conversion, the Stags were up 28-12 on Tevin Heins’ 5-yard run with 4:23 to go in the half. wolf capped off the first half’s scoring on a 6-yard run with 0:56 left, set up by another Cardinal fumble.

Deer Park, “was a muddy, crappy field, but they didn’t have any trouble running on it,” Hobbs said. “We told the guys before and at halftime, we’re all in the same boat.”

A 47-yard second half kickoff return by Morrow set up a 4-play drive that wolf culminated with his 10-yard run with 9:52 to go in the third quarter. Then, following another Medical Lake turnover where the Cards fumbled the ball on the Stag 11, Heins took the handoff and went 87 yards for the final score with 5:53 in the third, giving Deer Park a 49-12 lead.

The onslaught came to an end with 4:40 to go in the third when Deer Park finally pulled their first teamers. Following a missed field goal Medical Lake moved down the field in a 16-play drive that ended with an incomplete pass on fourth-and-five at the Deer Park 13.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected]