By Justin Damasiewicz
For GH Newspaper Group
Stifling defense, big plays in the passing game and a stellar all-around performance by an emerging sophomore helped power Montesano to a convincing 47-0 victory last night in a non-league football contest against Castle Rock at Rottle Field.
The Bulldogs scored all of their points in the first half and the entire second half was played under the running-clock mercy rule.
Montesano held Castle Rock to 19 yards of offense in the first half while building its lead. The Bulldogs’ defense also forced five turnovers before halftime – four fumbles and an interception – and logged a safety. The Rockets managed just one first-half first down.
“The defense really picked us up tonight,” Montesano head coach Terry Jensen said. “We created turnovers and were able to score three times, including the safety. Great job by our defense. We were able to shut down their running game, which is what they try to do. They are a power running team.”
Late in the second quarter, Seth Dierkop and Ben Sowers teamed up to increase Montesano’s lead to 37-0.
With the Rockets pinned back on their own 8-yard-line, Dierkop tackled Castle Rock quarterback Seth Werly for a 5-yard loss. On the following play, Dierkop made contact with Werly deep in the end zone, then Sowers came in to make the tackle for a safety.
Kooper Karaffa capped the game’s scoring with 56 seconds left in the second quarter on a 23-yard scoop-and-score after a fumble by Rockets running back Nathan Holliday. The senior also picked off a pass by Werly in the second stanza.
Trevor Ridgway passed for 170 yards and threw three touchdown passes of 40 yards or more — a 53-yard bomb to Carson Klinger on a seam route, a 40-yard streak down the left sideline to Sam Winter and a 44-yard pass to a wide open Karaffa.
Winter scored three touchdowns three different ways for Montesano. In addition to his receiving touchdown, the sophomore recovered a Castle Rock fumble in the end zone and rushed for a 10-yard score.
“He’s really stepped up,” Jensen said of Winter. “He’s replaced Dakoyta Reninger, who is an all-league football player. He has great hands and he adjusts really well to different things in space, so he’s been really, really valuable for us.”
Winter has filled the role in Montesano’s offense vacated by Reninger, a senior first-team, all-league wideout, who is out for the season with a knee injury.
In stark contrast to last week’s win over Sequim in which Montesano scored three offensive touchdowns within the first eight minutes, the Bulldogs got off to a slow start offensively.
Montesano’s first two drives each ended with a turnover on downs. Klinger’s long touchdown catch on the final play of the first frame was the Bulldogs’ first offensive touchdown and seemed to open the floodgates for Montesano.
“We came out slow offensively” Jensen said. “But we scored 40 points from the last play of the first quarter to halftime, so that’s a pretty good run. Once we got that score we relaxed a little bit offensively and got some big plays.”
Jordan King connected on a 34-yard field goal to increase the Bulldog lead to 40-0 late in the second quarter and converted all six extra point attempts.
Klinger led Montesano with 51 rushing yards on eight carries and caught two passes for 66 yards.
The Bulldogs will travel to Rochester on Friday to take on the Warriors.
