Going on the offensive

Blazers' late rally cannot catch T'Birds

By Grant Clark | For The Olympian • Published September 05, 2008

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Tumwater – Yes, mistakes were made - after all it was the first game of the new high school football season - but two things are crystal clear: Tumwater has some lightning-quick running backs and Timberline can throw the football.

The scary thing if you are a defensive coordinator in either the Class 2A Evergreen Conference or the Class 3A Olympic Western League is both of these offenses will only get better.

But, the Thunderbirds proved to have a little more fire-power, besting the Blazers, 32-27, in a nonleague game Thursday at Tumwater District Stadium.

Tumwater, which returns just two starters on offense and two on defense from last year's EvCo championship squad, jumped out a 26-7 halftime lead only to watch Timberline charge back behind the passing of first-year junior quarterback Delas Raiford.

The Blazers trailed 26-21 with four minutes to play, but could not convert a fourth-and-5from their own 31. Three plays later, London Vessey scampered in from 16 yards to pushing Tumwater's lead to 32-21 with 2:12 left on the clock.

Timberline once again rallied, marching down the field and adding a 2-yard touchdown run from Immanuel Garraway to produce the game's final score as the Blazers were unable to come up with the onside kick.

Vessey led a powerful Tumwater ground game, rushing for a game-high 132 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

"We have a lot of things we need to work on," said Vessey, who also reeled off a 33-yard TD run in the second quarter to give the T-Birds a comfortable 20-7 advantage, "but it just felt amazing being out there. Give all the credit to the line, they're the reason we won."

Tumwater, looking this year to win a third consecutive conference title, finished with 306 total yards of offense, including 258 on the ground.

Josh Quintero chipped in 90 yards on eight carries. The junior closed out the first-half with a 57-yard touchdown run with 9 seconds remaining, giving Tumwater a 26-7 halftime led.

Rocky Hinkle, making his first career start at quarterback, led the T-Birds to touchdowns on their first two drives — connecting with tight end Daniel DeVries on touchdown passes of 4 and 36 yards.

The only real offense Timberline generated in the first half came two plays into the second quarter when Raiford hit Josh Taylor on a 67-yard scoring strike to cut the Blazers' deficit in half at 14-7.

Timberline managed 112 total yards of offense in the first half, finishing the first two quarters with negative-8 yards on the ground and just two first downs.

However, it was a completely different Timberline offense in the second half.

Raiford looked comfortable and poised running second-year coach Nick Mullen's pistol offense in the second half, going 10-for-17 for 164 yards and leading the Blazers to three scoring drives to get back into the contest.

Raiford, who finished 13-of-22 for 247 yards, hit Taylor on a 24-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter.

A 13-yard Garraway touchdown run with 9:09 to play made it a 26-21 lead for the T-Birds.

Timberline also got 37 passing yards on 4-of-7 accuracy from Kevin Russell as the team finished with 362 total yards.

Ronnie Hamlin hauled in seven catches for 101 yards, while teammate Taylor caught two passes for 91 yards.

Both teams had scores called back — Hamlin had a 79-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter nullified because of illegal motion. Tumwater lost a Kory Hamilton 90-yard punt return for a score in the second quarter.