The Okanogan Bulldogs (1-1) brought their big boys to Holliday Field in Medical Lake to dominate on the ground under the Friday night lights on Sept. 13, in a 33-6 loss for the smaller Cardinal football squad.
“They’re big, but they’re not that good,” was how one Cardinal player assessed the Okanogan players in the middle of the first quarter.
Maybe, but the Caribou Trail League Bulldogs were good enough to continue jacking-up the score as the contest wore on against the aggressive team who had 12 penalties for 108 yards.
The game was scoreless at 9:20 in the first quarter when Joe Griffey recovered a Bulldog fumble — one of three the Cardinals would fall upon during the game — only to turn the ball over 15 seconds later on a Eugene Haas pass interception by the Bulldogs.
Okanogan scored their first touchdown on the first play of the second quarter on a 35 yard Kaedn Daling run, taking a 7-0 lead, followed by a Bulldog quarterback Bo Silverthorn 26-yard run into the end zone to stretch the lead to 14-0 that carried the game into halftime.
The Bulldogs received the kick to open the second half, scoring again at 11:16 when McKade Peterson ran the ball in from the 16-yard line. The extra point kick was missed making it a 20-0 game.
Then a Cardinal quarterback Ashton Hamilton-Becker pass was tipped and intercepted by the Bulldogs with 9:47 left in the third, leading to a Bulldog touchdown on a 39-yard pass to Daling but another missed extra point left Okanogan with a 26-0 lead.
But the Cardinals weren’t about to be shut out, and in the final seconds of the third, Hamilton-Becker ran the ball into the end zone to get the Cards on the. The two-point conversion attempt failed, making it a 26-6 score.
The Bulldogs sealed the deal with 9:57 left to play in the fourth quarter on another Daling run from two yards out and an extra point between the uprights.
Medical Lake had one more opportunity to score when, on back-to-back Bulldog 15-yard penalties, they found themselves in scoring position, but the Okanogan defense held and that was the game, for a final score of 33-6.
The key stat was the Bulldogs 387 yards of offense to the Cardinal’s 107, most of it on the ground. Daling alone had nine carries for 85 yards of rushing. The two teams were nearly equal in the air, but the Cardinals were unable to take advantage of either the Bulldog penalties or their three turnovers.
Mason Hammond rushed for 30 yards on six carries, while Hamilton-Becker went seven of 21 for 73 yards passing. Jordan Peterson had two catches for 49 yards.
Size will remain a factor for the young, small Cardinals team, according to head coach Jeremy Bahr. Okanogan boasted six linemen in excess of 250 pounds, including 300-pound freshman Jamal Nance. And they aren’t the only team with a big line.
“It is what it is,” Bahr said of his smaller team. “We’re never going to win the size battle coming off the bus. We’ve got to scheme.”
The Cardinals will need to play smarter, according to Bahr, and reduce their mental mistakes.
Despite two losses, he said his players remained positive and upbeat.
“They realize if we can correct some things we’re right there,” Bahr said. “For what we have I’m getting every ounce of effort. We’ve just got to be smarter.”
Smarter is what the Cardinal varsity football squad will be working during the coming short practice week as they prepare to take on Lakeside (0-2) in the teams first Northeast A league matchup of the season.
Bahr sees another large, physical line in Lakeside, who like the now 0-2 Cardinals, have yet to win a game this year, but have put up over twice as many points on the board as Medical Lake.
Kickoff with Lakeside is tonight, Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. at Holliday Field in Medical Lake.
Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].
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