By Rob Burns

For The Daily World

OYEHUT — It was simple. It was effective. Raymond’s rushing game was never stopped on Friday night.

Raymond walked into North Beach’s Homecoming game festivities and ran the ball all over the field, compiling 257 yards rushing en route to a 34-12 SWW Coastal Division win.

Raymond (1-0, 2-3) senior running back Patrick Edwards became the showcase runner, grabbing the ball 33 times for 181 yards and three touchdowns.

The Gulls’ defense also shined on this foggy, coastal night, holding the Hyaks (0-1, 2-3) to 6 yards of net rushing and only 32 offensive plays from scrimmage. Raymond ran nearly twice as many offensive plays (62 overall) to dominate time of possession and the game’s momentum.

“We don’t change a whole lot; we stick with what works and tonight, a lot of holes opened up for us,” Raymond head coach Luke Abbott said. “We’ve been playing with a couple of different combination of (defensive linemen and linebackers) over the last couple of weeks and our defensive front did a great job.”

“Letting (Edwards) run six to seven yards up the gut was not in our plan; we have to stop that,” North Beach head coach Travis Cluckey said. “If you can’t stop that, they’re going to score. And, they did that. They’re a great team. We tried to answer that and it looks like we have some issues we have to take care of.”

Everyone who gathered to see this contest knew Edwards was going to get a large share of Raymond’s single-wing rushing attack. Edwards didn’t disappoint. With quarterback Jack Jordan deftly playing the misdirection shell game with the football, Edwards had large holes to run through inside.

Edwards scored the game’s first two touchdowns — a 7-yard inside dive and a 1-yard sneak — for Raymond’s initial 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

“I was really happy with our offensive line opening the holes,” Abbott said. “Patrick had a very good night running the ball. With the type of offense we run, we tell the guys they have to be selfless — three running backs and you won’t all get the ball. You want a good fake for your buddy, because then they can give one for you the next time.”

North Beach quickly stayed in the game after Edwards’ second rushing score when quarterback Steven Sotomish found Keenan Miller for a 47-yard touchdown bomb at 14-6 late in the first quarter.

Sotomish and Miller hooked up again late in the first half to get the Hyaks to within two, 14-12, on a 38-yard touchdown pitch-and-catch.

After halftime, both teams traded possessions before the Gulls unleashed their third longest (in time of possession) drive of the game down to the Hyak 1-yard line. The 4 1/2-minute, 60-yard drive stalled in the shadow of the goal line.

North Beach, however, couldn’t reward its defensive unit for a big defensive stop, because it fumbled away the ball back to Raymond on the next play.

One play later, Jordan snuck in from a yard out for a 20-12 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Raymond closed the door on North Beach with two straight scoring drives. Edwards got his third touchdown run to cap a 55-yard, 11-play drive at 27-12 with 9:22 left. After Tristan Hamlin got an interception on a Sotomish pass, Reese Garcia ended an eight-play, 37-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run for the final score.

Both teams will be consulting the game tape over the weekend after they combined for 20 penalties overall.

“It was a penalty-laden game; it is frustrating, because I won’t see them until the tape, but we expect to clean that up during the week,” Abbott said.

“Yes, that is something we’re going to work on this week,” Cluckey added. “You can’t win the game like that.”

On Friday, Raymond will return home to greet Ilwaco. On Oct. 7, North Beach will visit Ocosta.