Down to the wire: Storm wins wild battle in state’ first round (w/ video)

Bend but don’t break.

It’s the age-old adage every football coach and player has said and one Squalicum’s football team holds close to its heart.

Only the Storm haven’t had to use that saying much this year, because there hasn’t been a whole lot of bending. That is until W.F. West pushed No. 2-ranked Squalicum to the brink of elimination in the Class 2A State Playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Civic Stadium.

With 2:10 left, Elijah Johnson capped an 11-play 68 yard Bearcats’ touchdown drive and then found Trevor Magnan on the 2-point conversion to give W.F. West the 29-28 lead.

“I did. I thought he (Bearcats coach Bob Wollan) would,” Squalicum coach Nick Lucey said of his former boss and mentor’s decision to go for 2. “The book says you’re on the road, you go for two in that situation. Heck of a call by them.”

The risky move appeared to be the game-winner until Squalicum went 54 yards, including catches from three different receivers, to set up a 24-yard field goal attempt by do-it-all player Ben Peterson.

The snap was good, the hold was good and the favorites would not be upset this time, as Peterson, who caught a 21-yard pass on the drive, hit the field goal with 6 seconds left to give the Storm a 31-29 victory.

It sets up a rematch with the team that eliminated Squalicum last year and No. 1-ranked Tumwater in the quarterfinals.

“We were all composed and we were calm,” Peterson said of his kick. “We knew what we were going to do. We practiced all week so we were ready for it.”

Peterson not only hit the game-winner, he also caught six balls for 132 yards on the night.

The transition from receiver to kicker in a matter of seconds? Not a problem for the junior.

“For most guys, I would think it’s pretty difficult but Ben’s just kind of done that all season,” Lucey said. “He just never gets tired.”

The undefeated Storm certainly didn’t make things easy on itself against W.F. West, which entered the game with a 6-4 record.

Two of the first four drives from the Storm went for turnovers — one a sack fumble by Garrett Sorenson and the other an interception on third and long.

After fumbling just three plays into the game, the Bearcats took their next three possessions for touchdowns on drives of 75, 79 and 51 yards, making it 21-7.

“They don’t get struck by adversity and this season we haven’t had a ton,” Lucey said of his players. “So it’s one thing that was a bit of a concern.”

An unwarranted concern, though, the Storm proved.

Squalicum clawed its way back with a touchdown just before the half, courtesy of some slick moves on fourth-and-6 by Josiah Westbrook to top the 75-yard drive with a 25-yard score off a pass from Sorenson.

It was the second TD scored on fourth down by the Storm, which also had Triston Smith run it in from 2 yards out on fourth-and-goal early in the first.

Darious Powell opened up the third quarter when he made up for an earlier mistake, which resulted in a W.F. West touchdown, by intercepting a tipped pass from skillful dual-threat QB Elijah Johnson (404 total yards, three TDs) and taking it 58 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-21.

The Bearcats fumbled their next possession and the Storm took the lead in the third quater, 28-21, with a 2-play drive boasting a deep pass to Peterson and ending in a 3-yard quarterback keeper from Sorenson, setting up the game-ending theatrics.

“Our story of the year has been bend but don’t break,” Peterson said. “We got down, we faced a little adversity but we know how to deal with that. We just came back. We didn’t stop fighting. We were going to fight for 48 minutes and play the whole game. We just played hard and came back, dug our heels in.”

Sorenson, who orchestrated the game-winning drive with poise, finished with 17 completions on 30 attempts, 249 yards, a throwing touchdown and a passing touchdown. The passing game of the Storm made up for the paltry 19 yards rushing on 22 carries.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Down to the wire: Storm wins wild battle in state’ first round (w/ video)."