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Slow-starting Wolves roll past Hawks

HIGH SCHOOLS: Black Hills falls behind 13-0, then scores 28 unanswered points to defeat conference rival River Ridge

MEG WOCHNICK; The Olympian | • Published October 10, 2009

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Black Hills vs River Ridge Football 2009

Although the Wolves were down by 13 points after the first quarter Friday night, they turned their offense up a notch and scored 28 unanswered points on their way to a 28-13 win over the River Ridge Hawks at South Sound Stadium.

Black Hills senior running back Cody Peterson had 238 yards rushing on 35 carries. He also scored two of the Wolves’ touchdowns, including the final one in the closing seconds.

Peterson surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season. He has 1,130 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns in six games.

Black Hills and Chehalis, which defeated Aberdeen, 17-7, on Friday, are the only EvCo teams still unbeaten in league play.

The Wolves (5-1 overall, 4-0 EvCo), winners of four straight, have put up a league-best 212 points through six total games, an average of 35.3 per contest. But they found themselves in an unfamiliar situation early on in Friday night’s game – trailing by two touchdowns.

River Ridge coach Steve Schultz said his team jumped out to a 13-0 lead by throwing a few things at Black Hills that the Wolves hadn’t seen.

The Hawks’ first score came from Marques Ford, who took the handoff from quarterback Adam Walker on the first play from scrimmage and sprinted for a 78-yard score in the game’s opening seconds. Ford finished with a team-leading 118 yards on 11 carries.

Walker followed that on the Hawks’ next offensive possession with a 1-yard touchdown.

The Hawks (1-5 overall, 1-3 EvCo) were facing fourth-and-goal from the 7 but got an automatic first down because of a pass-interference call on Black Hills on a pass into the end zone.

Three plays later, Walker punched it in to increase River Ridge’s lead.

“We had some things go wrong early on,” Black Hills coach Jack Zilla said. “Those things happen, but we recovered and rallied, put our game together in the second half and put it away.”

Black Hills had three first-half pass-interference penalties – two of which gave River Ridge new life.

In the final two minutes of the half, a pass-interference call on Black Hills gave River Ridge an automatic first down at the 33-yard line. The Hawks used five plays to get to the 15-yard line, but Walker’s pass was intercepted in the end zone for a touchback in the closing seconds of the half, preserving a 14-13 Black Hills lead.

The Wolves had the lead thanks to an offense that finally awoke in the second quarter.

The Wolves used an 11-play drive, capped by Peterson’s 2-yard touchdown run with 9 minutes, 51 seconds left in the half.

Taylor Charette’s 49-yard touchdown gave the Wolves their first lead at 14-13.

That, Zilla said, is when things turned around for Black Hills.

Both offenses were fairly even in the first half. River Ridge racked up 219 yards of total offense compared to Black Hills’ 205.

“I’m really proud of the way our guys battled all four quarters,” Schultz said. “When you lose games like this, it’s really easy to give up. But with these guys, there’s no give up to them.”

The Wolves’ defense came up with crucial stops as the game progressed. They stopped River Ridge on three straight run plays to take over on downs at the Hawks’ 41.

Black Hills capitalized on the good field position as quarterback Trent Alsin capped a five-play drive with a 15-yard run up the middle to increase Black Hills’ lead to 21-13 with 8:32 left in the game.

Peterson’s 1-yard TD run pushed Black Hills’ lead to 15 points in the closing seconds of the game.

“These guys do a great job of practicing and preparing well,” Zilla said. “We didn’t panic. We just needed to settle down.”

Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5473

mwochnick@theolympian.com

www.theolympian.com/prepsportsblog