Prep football roundup: Black Hills outlasts W.F. West, 24-21, for first 5-0 start in school history
T.J. Borden forced his fifth turnover in as many games to set up the game-winning drive for the Wolves.
He picked off Elijah Johnson in the fourth quarter, and returned it into Bearcats territory. Conner Furu rushed for a 30-yard touchdown to give the Wolves a 24-21 edge they would not lose.
This is the first time in school history Black Hills (5-0, 1-0 2A Evergreen) has surged to a 5-0 start.
It is the first time in school history the Wolves have beat a team coached by Bob Wollan.
And it is the first time they’ve bested the Bearcats since 2006.
“It was nice to get the win and to break the streak that we’ve had against W.F. West for quite a while,” Black Hills coach Kirk Stevens said.
The dogfight at W.F. West High School on Friday night was a back-and-forth affair before the Wolves snuck by with the victory.
“It was a nail-biter the whole time,” Stevens said.
The Bearcats and Wolves traded two touchdowns apiece in the first three quarters, but W.F. West carried a 14-12 lead.
The Wolves were unsuccessful on each of their four attempts for points following a touchdown — two failed extra point attempts, two botched 2-point conversions.
Mark Melendres caught a swing pass from Christian Williams in the fourth and bolted down the sideline for a 58-yard touchdown that gave Black Hills its first lead at 18-14.
But it was short-lived. Austin Emery rushed for a 19-yard touchdown to give the Bearcats a 21-18 advantage.
The Wolves’ second lead of the game stuck, as Furu rushed for the final touchdown.
River Ridge 40, White River 6: Kelle Sanders stripped the Hornets of the ball on their opening drive to set up an eventual 1-yard touchdown run by Kobe Reed to give the Hawks a 6-0 lead.
“After that, we just kind of took care of business,” River Ridge coach Steve Schultz said.
The Hawks (5-0, 3-0 2A SPSL) put up 27 points in the first half to take a 21-point lead into the locker room.
When they came back out, they were met by the roars of motorcycles. The Combat Veterans Motorcycle association lined the track with about 25 motorcycles as the Hawks returned from halftime.
Which only revved up the offense more.
“It felt like jet engines,” Schultz said. “That just kind of got everybody going in the second half.”
River Ridge shut out the Hornets in the second half while putting up another two touchdowns.
Quarterback Kobe Key was 5-of-11 passing for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for River Ridge’s final touchdown from 15 yards out.
Reed rushed for two touchdowns, and Gustavo Diaz — 17 carries for 133 yards — added another.
North Thurston 28, at Foss 7: The Rams (3-2, 2-1 3A Narrows) played well enough to win, coach Rocky Patchin said.
“It was one of those games where we had a chance to open it up at times, and kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” he said.
But not enough to halt Brandon Morgan from running by the Falcons in the second half. Morgan rushed for two touchdowns — from 13 and six yards — to ice the game after the Rams entered the half, 14-7.
Central Kitsap 31, Capital 20: Capital (1-4, 1-2 3A Narrows) rallied for a pair of touchdowns late, but never led after allowing a 98-yard kickoff return by DeAndre Sincere 13 seconds into the first quarter.
University of Washington commit Van Soderberg connected on two field goals — from 43 and 35 yards — for the Cougars.
Stadium 40, at Yelm 37: Jamon Chambers went 65 yards on a screen pass to the Tornados’ 1-yard line, then punched it in with less than 50 seconds to play to lift the Tigers to their second win.
Brandon Thompson rushed for four touchdowns for Yelm (3-2, 1-2 4A Narrows). His 54-yard run in the fourth gave the Tornados a 37-33 lead before Chambers’ scored the game-winning touchdown.
North Beach 54, Rainier 22: McKoy Vichler’s 4-yard touchdown run gave the Mountaineers a 22-20 edge at halftime, but the Hyaks took over from there.
North Beach scored five unanswered touchdowns in the second half to hand Rainier (3-2, 2-2 2B Pacific) its second league loss.
This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 7:10 AM with the headline "Prep football roundup: Black Hills outlasts W.F. West, 24-21, for first 5-0 start in school history."