Published October 23, 2010
Tillman runs wild for 5 TDs as Rams roll on
GAIL WOOD; Staff writerLACEY - A year ago, North Thurston's Lawyer Tillman was an unknown, untested running back coming into his junior season. On Friday night, Tillman was simply a scoring machine. Again. The shifty, 185-pound senior tailback ran for five touchdowns against a River Ridge defense rigged to stop him, leading the Rams to an impressive 42-8 win in the 2A Evergreen Conference. “Lawyer is Lawyer,” Rams coach Rocky Patchin said. “You give him a good hole, he’ll score for you. Our offensive line did a great job.” Tillman, who has morphed from the lanky sophomore buried on the junior varsity, scored on runs of 2, 5, 2, 59 and 40 yards. He had 108 yards in touchdown romps. Friday, he rushed for 181 yards on 27 carries. He had five runs of over 10 yards. Tillman has scored 27 touchdowns and rushed for over 1,200 yards. The Rams held a River Ridge offense that scored 28 or more points in five games to just one touchdown. “Our defense came to play,” Patchin said. “To hold them to that few of points is a great job.” For the first time, Tillman wore No. 23, the jersey number Will Johnston wore in baseball. Johnston was killed this week in a car accident. “It’s been a very emotional week,” Patchin said. “The kids have been through a lot.” North Thurston drove 64 yards on 12 plays on its opening series, scoring on Tillman’s 2-yard run off tackle. North Thurston then scored twice in the final 8:42 of the second quarter to open a 22-8 lead, scoring on Tillman’s runs of 5 and 2 yards. Trailing 14-0, River Ridge found a spark when 6-foot-4 tight end Witt Jonathon rumbled 47 yards down the sideline on a short pass before getting knocked out of bounds by Matt Reid at the 2. Quarterback Adam Walker ran it in on the next play. The Hawks then faked the extra point and passed for the 2-point conversion, cutting the gap to 14-8 with 3:35 left. But North Thurston answered with a 12-play, 68-yard scoring drive. North Thurston forced two turnovers as Landon Rushton and Reid both intercepted passes.