FOOTBALL

Titans 45, Gulls 7

RAYMOND — After getting off to a shaky start, the Pe Ell-Wilapa Valley got its running game going to clinch the SWW 2B Coastal Division championship with a 45-7 win over Raymond on Friday night at Raymond.

The Titans (5-0, 7-2) will now take on Toutle Lake in the district crossover playoffs while the Seagulls (3-2, 5-4) will prepare to face Adna on the road.

Raymond appeared to have thing going its way on the first drive of the game when Patrick Edwards scored on a 16-yard run.

Once the Titans got the ball back, they went to work on the ground as they relied on Peter Hamilton and Max Smith.

The offense performed well but Titans coach Josh Fluke had just as much praise for his defense.

“They ran the ball down our throats on that first drive but we made some adjustments after that,” he said. “They were all over the place. It was a good game by every last one of them.”

The Titans answered back later that quarter with 16 -ard run from Peter Hamilton to make it a one-point game after a failed PAT.

In the second quarter Max Smith gave PWV the lead with an 8-yard scamper for the touchdown.

The Titans got the passing game going a little bit as well as Matt Pearson found Cub Bair for the touchdown to bring the score to 25-7. Pearson snuck it in with 3:36 to go in the third quarter to bring the score to 31-7.

With time winding down in the third Tyson Nissell got in on the act and scored on a 3-yard run and Hamilton added another touchdown on one of the more explosive plays of the game, running the ball 34 yards for his second score of the game.

Seagulls coach Luke Abbott said his team go tired the longer the defense was on the field.

“The defense was on the field the majority of the time,” he said.”We’re not very deep so our guys got tired really quickly.”

Despite the loss, Raymond got a solid effort from Edwards who had 85 yards on 19 carries and came away with the team’s lone touchdown.