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The 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior rushed for 172 yards and scored all three of the Seahawks’ offensive touchdowns in a 36-25 victory over the Blazers at South Sound Stadium.
Welstad bulldozed his way through the Blazers’ defense, and has 16 touchdowns through four games.
While Peninsula rolled to a 4-0 record with a date against second-ranked Lakes next week, questions still need to be answered for Timberline, which dropped to 0-4 and begins 3A Narrows League play next week on the road at Wilson.
The Blazers haven’t started a season 0-4 since 1994 when that team went winless through seven games and finished 1-8. The Blazers have been defeated by an average of 9.2 points per game in the four losses.
In fact, it’s been a rough start for all the teams in the 3A Narrows League. The six teams are a combined 2-17, and Timberline, Capital and Yelm are a combined 0-10. Capital and Yelm will try to get their first victories against Enumclaw and Auburn Mountainview, respectively, tonight at 7 p.m.
Peninsula had a 15-13 lead at halftime, but closed the door on a Timberline comeback with a 21-point third quarter, sparked by two rushing scores by Welstad of 38 and 13 yards.
Peninsula built leads of 12-0 after the first quarter and 29-13 halfway through the third with two touchdowns in a two-minute span.
Timberline’s Spencer Crump, who rushed for 129 yards on 15 carries, got the Blazers to 29-19 following a 15-yard run with 7 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in the third, but on the ensuing kickoff, Alex Weymiller returned it for an 81-yard touchdown to increase Peninsula’s lead to 36-19.
Crump accounted for two of the Blazers’ rushing touchdowns, adding a 1-yard score midway through the fourth.
Timberline quarterback Chris MacNeil, in his second consecutive varsity start, had his second 200-plus-yard game, completing 13-of-29 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted three times. Both his touchdown passes were to Jordan Thompson in the second quarter on plays of 77 and 50 yards to pull the Blazers to the 15-13 halftime score.
Having MacNeil at quarterback was an adjustment coach Nick Mullen made prior to last week’s nonleague game against Bonney Lake, which proved to be a smart move after MacNeil racked up 227 passing yards on 17-for-23 passing.
Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5473 mwochnick@theolympian.com
