North Thurston extends mastery over River Ridge

Rivalry: Lawyer Tillman rushes for 109 yards and two TDs as Rams defeat Hawks for 10th straight time

GRANT CLARK; For The Olympian | • Published September 12, 2009

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LACEY – As crosstown rivalries go – this one has been a little one-sided.

And so it was again Friday nght.

Junior Lawyer Tillman rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, and Jake Klumker threw for another score as North Thurston continued its dominance over River Ridge with a 36-13 non-league victory at South Sound Stadium.

“This is a big win for us,” said North Thurston coach Rocky Patchin. “We’re still a very young, inexperienced team. We’re still growing and learning and we’re going to make some mistakes out there.”

Few miscues occurred in the fourth quarter as the Rams (1-1) scored 26 points to pull away.

In addition to two rushing touchdowns from Tillman, North Thurston also received big plays from a pair of sophomores, with linebacker Jake Anderson returning an Adam Walker interception 82 yards for a score and Landon Bain-Rushton taking an onside kick 52 yards to the end zone.

“We start a number of sophomores and have a freshman (Zach Wilson) playing on the defensive line,” Patchin said. “It’s nice to see them make those types of plays. We’re young, but we have good senior leadership to help bring them along.”

The Rams have now won 10 consecutive games against the Hawks (0-2) and lead the all-time series 13-3.

River Ridge’s last win in the series came in 1998. The two teams did not play last year.

“Just too many mistakes,” said River Ridge coach Steve Schultz, whose squad outgained the Rams at the half but still trailed, 10-0. “I thought our defense played great tonight, especially in the first half. Our offense still needs some work. We kept putting ourselves in a hole on offense and you can’t do that and expect to win. Our kids came to play though. They always play tough. We’ll look at the film and improve from this game.”

Klumker, who was questionable coming into the game after suffering a bruised left shoulder during the week, completed just 5 of 12 passes for 73 yards.

River Ridge held a slight 73-52 edge in total yards in the first half, but the Hawks failed to help their cause any with a first-quarter turnover which led to a North Thurston field goal and numerous momentum-killing penalties.

The Rams got a 36-yard field goal from Riley Baker and a 12-yard touchdown pass from Klumker to Luke Kitterman to take a 10-0 halftime lead.

North Thurston’s ground game struggled to find any consistency during the first three quarters but found its stride in the fourth quarter. Tillman gained 65 yards on nine carries in the final quarter, including touchdown runs of 2 and 20 yards.

Tillman’s first score extended the Rams’ lead to 17-0 with 10 minutes, 17 seconds left in the game.

“Our line did a much better job in the second half against a bigger, physical team,” Patchin said. “Lawyer’s only going to get better. He’s improving every day.”

Marques Ford took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 86 yards to the North Thurston 14, setting up River Ridge’s first score – a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Walker, cutting the deficit to 17-6 with 81/2 to play.

North Thurston added a 20-yard Tillman touchdown run and Anderson’s interception return to seal the game.

Walker completed 11 of 20 passes for 116 yards and hit freshman Brad Wallace on a 15-yard touchdown strike late in the game