UPDATE | Mossyrock upends Quilcene 54-16 in football

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The Mossyrock Vikings scored first and scored last on their way to rolling the Rangers 54-16 in Quilcene’s home opener Saturday in boys varsity football.

Penalties plagued the Rangers early on, while advantageous field position and tackle-busting big plays benefited the Vikings in the first half.

Mossyrock led 46-0 at halftime in the 1B, eight-man matchup.

The Vikings first touchdown came via a broken-play scamper into the end zone by sophomore quarterback Easton Kolb.

Mossyrock’s bulldozer of a running back, junior Marshall Brockway, added the Vikings’ second touchdown with 4:21 left to play in the quarter as the visitors moved ahead 16-0 after the two-point run.

The Rangers’ next possession looked promising, but quickly stalled after a 20-yard dash by Jayden Love was called back on a penalty, putting Quilcene on its own 12 yard line.

A subsequent flag dropped them back to the 5-yard-line, and that’s pretty much how the first half went. Mossyrook took over on downs within the Rangers’ 10-yard line and Brockway punched it in for the 22-0 lead.

Love, the Rangers’ freshman quarterback, put Quilcene’s first six on the board with an 80-yard touchdown run at 3:22 in the third quarter.

Mason Iverson broke free for a long sideline dash to earn the Rangers’ second touchdown at 9:04 in the fourth.

Mossyrock answered with the contest’s final points.

Freshman quarterback Tyce Vigre scrambled for the Vikings’ last touchdown with less than two minutes to go, putting Mossyrock up 52-16 before the two-point conversion.

Ranger Coach Trey Beathard was not surprised by the strength of the Vikings.

“We played against them at the camp we went to,” Beathard recalled. “There are probably other coaches who would disagree, but I thought they were the best team at the camp and I thought we were the second-best team.”

Quilcene, coming off a 38-8 loss last week on the road to Naselle, fielded fewer players this week at home, with some just coming back from COVID cases.

“We were missing a few guys and stuff at the camp. But today we’re missing some more guys,” Beathard said.

“We’ve had a hard week of practice because we’ve got kids who are hurt. We had a couple of them who were able to come back at the end of the week because they have the five-day quarantine thing,” the coach said. “But we had kids who really haven’t practiced this week and they are still recovering.”

That impacted the number of players ready on Game Day.

“We had practice the other day with 11 kids that were able to fully participate. This is my ninth year; I don’t know that we’ve ever had practices before where we didn’t have 20 or more,” Beathard recalled.

“I can’t coach the same way,” he added. “We need to do things differently. There’s a lot of teams that we play that have had 12, 15 guys and stuff. But I’m not used to that. And so I’ve still got practice planned for larger groups.

“I need to do a better job of preparing for a smaller number of kids, to be honest with you. I don’t feel like our kids were quite as prepared as they should be, and that’s me,” he said.

Quilcene’s roster is heavy on youth, and that was evident during Saturday’s matchup against Mossyrock.

“We have four upperclassmen; two seniors and two juniors. And only one of them played today,” Beathard noted.

The coach admitted he wasn’t reaching for an excuse, but it may have looked like one.

“I always kind of hated it when coaches talked about, ‘Oh, we got all these injuries. We got all this.’

“I’m like going: Just play. That’s part of it.”

“And now, all of a sudden, that’s sort of how I feel,” he laughed.

Love finished the game with 111 passing yards, completing six of 13 attempts. He carried the ball 10 times for 131 yards.

The Rangers’ James Miller led the receiving corps, with two catches for 50 yards. Miller also had five carries for 44 yards.

Mason Iverson finished with 102 yards on seven carries.

The Rangers had 277 rushing yards at the end of the contest, and totaled 131 yards passing.

On the other side of the ball, Maxx Budnek had 11 tackles to lead the defense. Budnek tallied eight solo tackles and three assists.

Miller had with 10 tackles (eight solo, two assists).

Andrew Perez-Lopez finished with six tackles (three solo, three assists).

Perez-Lopez and Love both had interceptions during the game, and Kaden Faller also added a sack to the Rangers’ defensive effort.

Mossyrock improved to 2-0 with the win, while the Rangers fell to 0-2.

The Rangers’ place in the standings may be reflective of their tough schedule early on this season.

“I do think that the two teams we’ve played are two of the better teams in the state,” he said.

“I believe that we’re going to get better. And I think we can be pretty good,” Beathard said. “Maybe I’m wrong. But I think in a month or so, I think we can be pretty good. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Quilcene’s next game is also at home, against Crescent on Saturday, Sept. 17. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

“It’s another week; it’s another chance,” Beathard said.

“Hopefully we can get a few kids back for next week. Crescent always plays us really hard. It seems like to me, that for their kids, playing Quilcene seems to be an important game,” the coach said.

“And we seem to always get their best effort. And that’s what we’ll expect next week, too, against them,” Beathard added.