Whatever air was pumped into the football by the Chehalis ball boys was squeezed out by the Bearcats running attack on Friday. Chehalis rushed the ball 53 times for 360 yards on its way to a 21-12 win over Hoquiam at Olympic Stadium.
The Grizzlies (0-1) struggled to match up with the size of the Bearcats’ offensive line for most of the night. In the second half, Chehalis only attempted two passes out of the 35 plays the Bearcats ran over the final two quarters.
“Our kids played hard, but they just moved us,” Hoquiam coach Rick Moore said. “Even if we did keep our pad level down, they still moved us out. I’m proud of the kids that we kept fighting and battling. We understood they were a solid opponent and it’s going to help us get better.”
While Chehalis stuck the ground, Hoquiam struggled to get its aerial attack in rhythm. The Grizzlies scored first on a 25-yard pass play in the second half, but they had limited success through the air in the second half.
Despite a couple of long drives by both teams early in the contest, neither team was able to score until Hoquiam found the end zone with 5:11 left in the second quarter. Hoquiam’s Ryan Espedal picked off a pass from Chehalis’ Nole Wollan to put the Grizzlies in business on their own 43-yard line and set up a 6-play scoring drive fueled by senior Artimus Johnson. A 29-yard run by Johnson set up a pass from Gregory Dick to Johnson two plays later, which went for 27 yards and the score.
Hoquiam took the lead, but had the extra point attempt blocked to leave the margin at 6-0.
Chehalis answered with an 8-play drive, which ended with a screen pass to senior running back Austin Emery. Emery broke free and sprinted 17 yards up the left side to put the Bearcats up for good and make the halftime margin 7-6.
After a 3-and-out by Hoquiam to start the second half, Chehalis needed just three plays, all runs by Emery, to make it 14-6. Emery busted through the middle before cutting left and scampering 25 yards for a touchdown to cap the drive.
Another 3-and-out by Hoquiam gave the ball back to Chehalis for a 12-play drive with Ka’Imi Henry capping the drive with a 10-yard run to make it 21-6 with 3:09 left in the third quarter.
Hoquiam tried to answer on the next drive, but a double-reverse to Anthony Nash came up three yards shy of the first down and the Grizzlies turned it over on downs on the Chehalis 7-yard line.
When the Grizzlies got the ball back again, Dick connected with Payton Quintanilla for a 39-yard pass down to the Chehalis 5-yard line to set up a short run by Johnson for the touchdown. However, the Grizzlies failed on the 2-point conversion and trailed 21-12.
Chehalis literally ran out the final 7:42 on the clock with a 15-play drive, which ended with time expiring on the Hoquiam 3-yard line.
“They came out the second half and put a couple of solid drives together and got after it,” Moore said. “It took us a little bit to get going. We’ll take a lot away from this game. This will not decide the outcome of our season so it was a good test to push ourselves.”
Moore cited Johnson for his play on both sides of the ball. Johnson finished with 116 yards rushing and 46 yards receiving.
Hoquiam travels to Stewart Field to take on Aberdeen next Friday.
