VANCOUVER — Hoquiam had its way with King’s Way on Friday.
The Grizzlies exploded for six touchdowns on offense and the defense add three interception returns for touchdowns to roll to a 62-29 victory over King’s Way Christian in a District IV Class 1A football crossover playoff game in Vancouver.
The win advances the Grizzlies to a state matchup on the road against either King’s or Mount Baker.
Hoquiam running back Artimus Johnson finished the night with more than 300 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Johnson had scoring runs of 45, 37, 75 and 67 yards.
On the other side of the ball, Anthony Nash picked off a pass in the second quarter for an 80-yard return for a touchdown before capping off the Grizzly scoring with a 99-yard return for a score.
“We played a pretty darn good first half,” Hoquiam coach Rick Moore said. “The offense moved the ball consistently through all four quarters. It was pretty balanced.”
It took the Grizzlies a little bit to get rolling in the first quarter. After King’s Way missed field goal attempts on its first two possessions, it took a small gamble to start the onslaught from the Grizzlies. Hoquiam rolled the dice on 4th-and-goal from the 14-yard line and converted for its first score. Jack Adams III caught a pass from Dick on a seam route to put the Grizzlies up 6-0.
Johnson added the second score of the game on a 45 yard rush in the second quarter, but the next two tallies would come from the Grizzly defense. With 6:10 to go in the first half, Nash’s ran his first theft in for six and just one minute later Jerod Steen picked off a pass for a 60-yard interception return for touchdown.
Nash capped the Grizzly scoring in the first half with a 52-yard touchdown reception with just under 30 seconds to go in the half.
While King’s Way’s Michael Garrison scored the first touchdown of the second half on a 20-yard touchdown reception, it didn’t take long for Johnson to answer for Hoquiam. The senior back rushed in from 37 yards for the first of his three second-half touchdowns.
An interception by Adams later in the third set up Johnson’s 75-yard run. Johnson added another score on a 67-yard run before Nash capped the scoring by jumping a route for the 99-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Moore cited defensive backs Steen, Nash and Ryan Espedal as well as linebackers Chewy Muro and Johnson for their efforts on the defensive side of the ball.
