No. 8 W.F. West goes for 2, edges Black Hills in OT thriller

Neither team could find the end zone during a defensive-charged regulation.

That immediately changed once overtime hit.

Black Hills High School scored on its first play during the extra session, but so did visiting W.F. West. Two plays, two touchdowns.

The difference, however, was Ka’imi Henry’s 2-point conversion, which gave the eight-ranked Bearcats a wild 11-10 victory over the Wolves in a matchup of Class 2A Evergreen Conference unbeatens Friday at Tumwater District Stadium.

“I've played in some pretty close games here, but this one was wild,” said W.F. West quarterback Nole Wollan, whose 25-yard scoring strike to Leandre Gaines in overtime put the Bearcats in a position to go for the win.

After both teams could only manage one short field goal apiece during the first four quarters, overtime quickly turned into a shootout.

Black Hills (4-3, 2-1 2A EvCo) was up first, scoring on a pretty 25-yard touchdown run from Jaden Toussaint, who came close to breaking a big play several times during regulation, but finally got it in overtime as he bounced outside and successfully weaved through traffic before punching it in.

Davide Levi’s PAT gave the Wolves a surprisingly quick 10-3 lead.

“All I was thinking on the sidelines was, ‘What just happened?’ ” Wollan said. “The whole game no one does anything, and then that happens?”

The Black Hills student section had’'t even stopped cheering before Wollan hit Gaines for the equalizer.

The Bearcats (6-1, 3-0) initially opted to kick the extra point, which was blocked, but an offsides penalty gave them a second chance. They wasted no time electing to go for 2.

“I knew pre-snap (Henry) was going to get it,” Wollan said. “I saw the way they lined up (on defense), and I knew he was going to make it.”

Both defenses shined in the first half, which saw each team connect on field goals to head into the locker room knotted up at 3-3.

The Wolves got a 27-yard field goal from Levi with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter to produce the game’s first points.

On two separate possessions, W.F. West had first-and-goal from the 10, but Black Hills kept the Bearcats out of the end zone both times, with the first drive ending with a missed 32-yard field goal at the end of the first quarter.

Cory Davis made up for his earlier miss by converting from the same distance with two minutes remaining in the half to tie the contest.

The Wolves dropped Wollan behind the line of scrimmage three times before the break, getting sacks from Zach Loveless and Conley Quillen.

The Bearcats countered with their own defensive highlights, intercepting Black Hills sophomore Ryan Moloney, who got the start in place of an injured Ethan Loveless, twice with Tyson Guerrero and Zach Sloan registering picks.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 10:53 PM with the headline "No. 8 W.F. West goes for 2, edges Black Hills in OT thriller."