CENTRALIA — With Kylan Touch leading a ball-control offense, Aberdeen’s Bobcats are playoff-bound.
Touch rushed for 259 yards and all four touchdowns as the Bobcats earned a district crossover berth with a 28-21 win over Centralia in an Evergreen 2A Conference football finale Friday night at Tiger Stadium.
The Bobcats (2-3, 4-5) claimed the league’s fourth and final slot in next week’s district crossover playoffs. They’ll take to the road to face second-ranked Hockinson, probably next Friday.
This will be Aberdeen’s first postseason appearance since 2013.
Touch carried 38 times and scored on runs of 44, 24, 1 and 2 yards. The Bobcats, meanwhile, did not commit a turnover and kept Centralia’s defense on the field for much of the contest.
“I bet you we controlled the ball five or six minutes more than them — and that might be conservative,” Aberdeen coach Kevin Ridout said. “Our line has come together…and I thought our kids did an awesome job of staying together as a team.”
With the game tied at 14, Aberdeen took the second-half kickoff and maintained possession for all but the final 15 seconds of the third quarter. Touch finally punched it in from a yard out and Giovanni Pisani tacked on the conversion.
Touch’s 2-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter extended the margin to 14. The Tigers immediately answered with a TD, but the Bobcats chewed up a good portion of the clock with a drive that reached the Centralia 3-yard line before losing the ball on downs.
The Tigers could advance only as far as their own 40 on their final drive.
Skyler Murray, Bailey Delahanty and freshman outside linebacker Jimmy Boora drew Ridout’s praise for defense. Cameron Hochstetler had a key recovery of an onside kick.