Kentwood buries Arlington

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, November 10, 2001

By Chris Trujillo

Herald Writer

KENT – The Arlington Eagles’ improbable journey into the 4A state football playoffs came to an abrupt end Saturday.

The Kentwood Conquerors scored 38 unanswered points as they rolled past the Eagles 38-7 at French Field.

“That’s the bad thing about playoff football,” Arlington coach John Boitano said. “Somebody leaves sad. We have such a great group of kids. It’s been a great year.”

The loss eliminated the Eagles, who fell to 8-3 for the season, from postseason and snapped a six-game winning streak. Kentwood advanced to the quartefinals and will host Olympia next week. The Conquerors (10-1) improved their record at French Field to 8-0.

Despite falling behind 7-0 early in the game, the Conquerors bounced back in dominant fashion. Quarterback Carl Bonnell threw two touchdowns to receiver Brent Weidenbach, which icreased his season total to 18. Bonnell, the state’s 10th-best quarterback statistically, was 6-for-12 for 101 yards.

After Kentwood tied the score at 7, Bonnell hooked up with Weidenbach for a 27-yard touchdown with 8:10 remaining in the first half to cap off a seven-play, 74-yard scoring drive.

Kentwood, which turned over the ball on its next possession at the Eagles’ 5-yard line, regained possession after forcing the Eagles into a short, 17-yard punt. Starting at the Arlington 27-yard line, the Conquerors benefitted from a late-hit penalty, which placed them at the Eagles’ 13-yard line. Three plays later, Justin Forney scored from 3 yards out, for his second touchdown of the night, the first coming on a 9-yard run to tie the score at 7.

“Carl was throwing money balls all night,” said Weindenbach, who caught his ninth and 10th touchdowns of the season. “We played like a team. Our motto all season has been no regrets, and believe me, we have none.”

Arlington quarterback Kevin McCormack marched the team 65 yards on its first possession, which he later capped off by tossing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Burt to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead. That was the last time Arlington would see the otherside of the field. In fact, the Eagles never made it past midfield after scoring their initial touchdown.

“They were just so tough,” Boitano said. “We were hanging with them for a while when it was 7-7. We moved the ball primarily because of our play-action. But once they figured out we couldn’t run, they were able to stop us.”

McCormack completed 15-of-23 passes for 149 yards, but had two interceptions.

Jesse Smith intercepted McCormack late in the third quarter and went 48 yards to give Kentwood a commanding 35-7 lead. Budd Jardine added a 23-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter.