SOUTH BEND–Pe Ell-Willapa Valley made it six straight wins over their Pacific County rivals with a 41-6 victory over Raymond-South Bend on Friday at South Bend High School.

The Titans (4-1 overall, 1-0 2B Central-North) got a big game from junior running back Lucas Lusk and took advantage of mistakes by the Ravens (2-3, 0-2) to turn what could’ve been a close game at the half into a rout.

“I’m very pleased we could get a league win,” PWV head coach John Peterson said. “The game was a lot closer than the score indicated.”

Lusk scored two first-quarter touchdowns on runs of 10 and 13 yards for a 14-0 lead after one period of play.

The Titans extended their lead on a Spud Swogger 4-yard scoring run and went up 27-0 at the half when sophomore Eddie Clements scooped up a Ravens fumble deep inside PWV territory and scampered 90 yards for a backbreaking touchdown.

“Once again, we were notorious for getting in our own way. We like to fumble the ball inside the red zone and make bad decisions at the worst possible time,” said RSB head coach Luke Abbott, whose team fumbled five times in the game, losing four to the Titans. “Those things, combined with the other team wanting it more than we wanted it, that’s going to end in that type of score.”

A 30-yard touchdown run from senior Blane King put PWV up 33-0 before the Ravens broke the shutout bid thanks to standout senior running back Chris Banker, who broke loose for a 52-yard touchdown run at the 6:11 mark of the third quarter.

PHOTO BY MATT RUMBLES Raymond-South Bend running back Chris Banker (right) sprints away from Pe Ell-Willapa Valley’s Cody Mican (22) during the Titans’ 41-6 victory on Friday at South Bend High School.

“The Banker kid, he’s a stud,” Peterson said of the Ravens running back. “Not to take anything away from him, but we took some of the worst angles tackling that you have ever seen in your life. I wanted to pull my hair out. And you can’t let him get away because you think a guy that big wouldn’t be that fast, but he is really fast.”

King would score his second touchdown of the game on a 55-yard pass from senior quarterback Brody Ritzman with 3:30 left in the third quarter to secure the victory.

Banker led all rushers with 176 yards on 20 carries, an average of 8.8 yards per carry.

Lusk finished with 166 yards on 13 carries (12.8 average) and two touchdowns, earning praise from his head coach.

“He just bounces off guys. He’s powerful,” said Peterson, commenting on Lusk’s uncanny ability to pick up yards after first contact. “He played a whale of a game. It’s like watching a pinball.”

King finished with 62 yards on six carries (10.3 average) while Ritzman rushed for 38 yards and competed 2-of-3 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.

PHOTO BY MATT RUMBLES Pe Ell-Willapa Valley’s Blane King (3) looks for a lane while Raymond-South Bend’s Manny Becerra-Souza (3) and Adam Mora pursue during the Titans’ 41-6 victory on Friday at South Bend High School.

“Brody is a great leader. The kids respect him and listen to him,” Peterson said of his signal-caller. “He and I are on the same wavelength. … He sees stuff. He gets it and is a heck of a player.”

Freshman John Hamilton had nine total tackles (5 solo) while Clements had seven total tackles (4 solo) and two fumble recoveries for 107 return yards, including the aforementioned touchdown, to lead the Titans defense.

Becerra-Souza led the RSB defense with 10 tackles (5 solo).

PWV finished with 492 yards – 370 on the ground – while RSB had 314 yards of offense, 249 via the rushing game.

But according to Abbott, his team’s problems have as much to do with the mental aspects of the game as the physical.

“Our problems are a couple of different things. We can’t execute the plan. We are not mentally tough at the moment,” he said. “The first sign of something bad happening, we just kind of crumble. That’s a deficiency we need to fix and I don’t know if that’s something that coachable or not. It’s either you want to or you don’t. That’s something internal our own team needs to figure out. Coaches can’t want it more than the kids want things. That’s something the kids need to figure out at some point.”

PHOTO BY MATT RUMBLES Pe Ell-Willapa Valley’s Lucas Lusk (right) and Cody Mican tackle Raymond-South Bend’s Manny Beccera-Souza during the Titans’ 41-6 win on Friday at Sanchez Field in South Bend.

Despite the heated rivalry, sportsmanship was still very prevalent at Sanchez Field on Friday.

“They want to beat your brains and of course, we want to beat them too,” said Peterson, who has been longtime friends with members of the RSB coaching staff. “But I will say this, there were several plays where guys got whacked and the other team, both their guys and our guys, helped them up. So I was pleased with that.”

Next up, PWV hosts Ilwaco in Menlo while RSB hits the road to face Napavine. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 14 13 14 0 — 41

Raymond-South Bend 0 0 6 0 — 6

Scoring

First quarter

PWV – Lusk 10 run (Swartz kick), 6:19

PWV – Lusk 13 run (Swartz kick), 1:06

Second quarter

PWV – Swogger 4 run (Swartz kick), 7:48

PWV – Clements 90 fumble return (PAT failed), 3:12

Third quarter

PWV – King 30 run (kick failed), 8:57

RSB – Banker 52 run (PAT failed), 6:11

PWV – King 55 pass from Ritzman (King run), 3:30

Fourth quarter

None

Passing: PWV – Ritzman 2-3-0-77. RSB – Morales 1-1-0-7, Morris 0-2-0-0.

Rushing: PWV – Lusk 13-166, King 6-62, Ritzman 5-38, Clements 5-35, K. Ruddell 2-32, Swogger 5-29, Hamilton 4-10, G. Ruddell 1-3, Corder 1-(-5). RSB – Banker 17-176, Mora 4-37, M. Becerra-Souza 5-23, Nichols 3-10, Perez 3-5, Singharath 1-1, Morris 2-(-1), Morales 1-(-2).

Receiving: PWV – King 2-77. RSB – Somero 1-7.