Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008

PREP FOOTBALL: Lummi falls in first round

BELLINGHAM - Lummi football coach Jim Sandusky knew Lake Quinault was going to pose a serious threat in the first round of the Class 1B state playoffs.

After all, the two teams had met in the first round of the state playoffs a year earlier, and the Blackhawks just managed to escape with a four-point victory.

On Saturday, Nov. 22, the Elks returned to Civic Stadium for a rematch with almost their entire roster intact. Not only were almost all the names the same, but Lake Quinault also was bigger, hungrier and more experienced than a year before.

That combination was more than enough to help the Elks out-play and out-physical Lummi, as Lake Quinault rolled up 350 yards rushing on its way to a 36-32 victory.

"First of all, I think you need to give credit to them," Sandusky said. "They came here ready to play. Their running backs ran hard and fought for the extra yards, and they made the big plays when they needed to."

Lake Quinault (10-1) moves on to the 1B state semifinals for the first time since 2002 and will face Wishkah Valley on either Friday, Nov. 28, or Saturday, Nov. 29.

The season ends short of the Tacoma Dome for Lummi (10-2) for the first time since the Blackhawks' first trip to the playoffs in 2004, when they lost to Clallam Bay in the first round.

"When we were looking at the way things set up in the bracket, we liked where we were at this year," Sandusky said. "You look at what would be next up, and we felt we matched up pretty well with either (Wishkah Valley) or Neah Bay. So yeah, we felt we were in the pole position to get to the state championship game, and this is disappointing for us. But we certainly weren't overlooking these guys."

No matter how focused it was on Saturday's game, Lummi didn't seem to have an answer for the Elks' smash-mouth offensive approach.

Lake Quinault quarterback Cameron Daniels passed only twice - the first of which went for a 20-yard touchdown to tight end Ethan Buffington on the game's opening possession.

Michael Mayton, Josiah Rhoades and Daniels generated more than enough offense on the ground behind a mammoth offensive line by eight-man standards, chewing up the Civic Stadium turf and the Lummi defense 5, 6, 7 yards at a time. Mayton led the charge with 213 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries, while the speedy Rhoades had 58 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. Daniels added 70 yards and a TD on 13 attempts against a Lummi defense that at times played all eight men in the box.

"We had a lot of hits in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage that I didn't think we wrapped up real well on," Sandusky said. "We'd call the right defense and get guys in position, but we just didn't make the tackle. Some of the credit has to go to them for running the ball hard, but I think we could have held them and forced them to punt a few more times if we had just tackled better."

The high-powered Lummi offense that averaged 59.5 points per game this season, also sputtered to its lowest point production since ... well, last year's 28-point effort against Lake Quinault. The Blackhawks didn't manage an offensive score in the first half, as Ray Jefferson's 40-yard punt return of a punt Tony Washington partially blocked represented Lummi's only touchdown in the first 24 minutes.

While the Elks' size and defensive pressure certainly upset the Blackhawks' rhythm Saturday, Lummi contributed to its own problems with missed blocks, dropped passes, penalties and turnovers.

"We haven't had a game like that this season where we had all those things going against us," Sandusky said. "So we didn't know how to react. It was frustrating because we had a good game plan going in, and we didn't have to change things up to much from that, even when we got behind. We never panicked, even when we went in at halftime down (22-6). We just didn't perform the way we needed and didn't make the plays we needed to throughout the game."

Lummi attempted to come back in the second half, as quarterback Dustin Tom three times pulled the Blackhawks within 10 points with short rushing touchdowns.

After his third score, Lummi's Michael James recovered the ensuing onside kick with 3 minutes, 37 seconds to play. Jeremy Roberts set the Blackhawks in good shape, turning a short flare into a 41-yard scamper down the right sideline to the Elks' 17.

But Daniels intercepted Tom one play later at the 5 to end the threat.

Lummi did get one last touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Tom to Gale Jefferson, but only seven seconds remained in the game, and the onside kick attempt went out of bounds.

"This is really tough on the seniors," Sandusky said. "They played their hearts out this year, and you know they were expecting to play next week in Tacoma, but we just didn't make the plays that we need to win this game today."

Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2271.