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All seemed to have a hand in dismantling visiting Chehalis on Thursday night.
Ben Broeker added two more touchdown passes to his school-record total, Mo Manning rushed for 124 yards and two scores, and Landon Rushton added 117 receiving yards as the fourth-ranked Rams dismantled visiting Chehalis, 52-6, in their 2A Evergreen Conference finale at South Sound Stadium.
“This was as good a game as we’ve played all season, and it was against a very good football team,” said North Thurston coach Rocky Patchin, whose team finished with 455 total yards against the Bearcats and is averaging 44 points a game this season. “The kids came in prepared and executed tonight. They were really focused and had a great week of practice.”
North Thurston (8-1 overall, 5-1 EvCo) wraps up the conference’s second seed with the victory and will host Woodland, the No. 2 seed out of the Greater St. Helens League, next week in a Class 2A state preliminary game.
A victory next week puts the Rams back in the state playoffs for the first time since 2009, when they were a 3A school.
“We viewed last week as the start of the playoffs for us,” Patchin said. “We’re getting better every week and playing our best football at the right time.”
The Rams turned what was anticipated to be an evenly matched battle for the conference’s second place into a rout early by putting up 21 points in the opening 10 minutes.
Hayden Maliska, who kicked off North Thurston’s big offensive night with a 59-yard run on the Rams’ second play from scrimmage, punched it in from 1 yard out to open the scoring.
Manning scored his first TD on a 40-yard scamper before Broeker hit Rushton on a 55-yard scoring strike to put North Thurston up 21-0 late in the first quarter.
Rushton, who hauled in three passes, has caught a conference-best 10 touchdowns this season.
North Thurston led 31-6 at halftime, churning out 319 yards of total offense.
Broeker upped his school-record single-season TD passing record to 22 by tossing an 18-yard scoring pass to Matt Reid in the second quarter.
Broeker finished with 185 yards passing on 6-of-9 accuracy.
Ande Grantham scored on a 37-yard run midway through the third, pushing North Thurston’s lead to 45-6
Defensively, the Rams forced six turnovers, getting interceptions from Tru Hicks, Reid and Rushton, who also recovered a Chehalis fumble and forced another.
Manning averaged 12 yards a carry as North Thurston piled up 270 yards on the ground.
Chehalis (7-2, 4-2) travels to GSHL champion Hockinson next week in a winner-to-state game.
