Rogers run over Medical Lake 42-6

The Rogers Pirates took advantage of everything Medical Lake gave them Sept. 9 at Holliday Field and returned to Spokane with a 42-6 non-league football win.

In their first meeting between the schools on the football field, the 2A Pirates (1-1) used a combination of a short field and turnovers to go on a scoring spree, racking up a 21-0 first quarter lead and were up 35-0 at the halftime break.

Game stats favored Rogers 208 to 144 in total yards and the Pirates had an 11 to 9 edge in first downs, but a 2-0 Rogers edge in fumble recoveries - both of which led to scores.

"We have three fumbles in the game and lost two of them, both on our side of the field," Medical Lake head coach Nick Puzycki wrote in an email. Aaron Kinsey capped drives in the opening quarter with two of his three touchdowns in the game for Rogers.

The Cardinals' Johnny Sumerlin ended one Rogers drive late in the second quarter with his interception.

The fast pace of scoring slowed in the second half as the teams combined for two touchdowns. Cylas Puzycki ruined Rogers' shutout bid in the fourth quarter for Medical Lake (0-2) with his one-yard run.

That's one of the positives Nick Puzycki took away from the game. "We need to execute for 48 minutes," he said. "In both week one and week two the team has come out strong in the second half."

It's a short week for the Cardinals who take their first road trip to face run-oriented Newport (tonight, Nov. 15) at 7 p.m. in the opening of Northeast A League play. The Grizzlies pounded Priest River - Medical Lake's opening opponent - 62-0 after absorbing a 50-0 licking from Kellogg.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].