Thundering Heard leads stampede

Published 10:52 am Saturday, October 25, 2008

EVERETT — The Edmonds-Woodway football team’s defense isn’t perfect after all. But this time it didn’t need to be thanks to a multi-faceted offense that did more than enough damage.

After earning shutout victories in its three previous outings, Edmonds-Woodway gave up three touchdowns but still won comfortably, throttling the Cascade Bruins 48-20 Friday in a Western Conference South Division game at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Fueled by running back Tony Heard (153 yards rushing, three touchdowns) and receiver Din Kuses (three receptions, 94 yards, two TDs), E-W turned a close game into a rout by outscoring Cascade 21-0 in the fourth quarter.

With the victory, E-W (4-1 Wesco South, 6-2 overall) clinched a playoff berth. Meanwhile, Cascade (3-2, 4-4) appears to be eliminated from the hunt for one of the South’s three postseason berths. Cascade lost against Mariner (4-2 in division) and next week plays Jackson, which will finish with a league record no worse than 5-1.

Heard’s status against Cascade was uncertain until pre-game warmups. He suffered a concussion Oct. 10 in a victory against Mariner, Edmonds-Woodway head coach John Gradwohl said. Heard played a lot on offense, tallying 30 carries, but didn’t start on defense. Gradwohl monitored Heard’s condition throughout the game.

“We deferred to a doctor and the doctor said, ‘If he warms up tonight and he feels good, he’s fine.’ I’m not making that decision with the concussion,” Gradwohl said.

A huge key for E-W was limiting the success of Cascade running back/quarterback Aaron Frye, who had rushed for 798 yards and six TDs the past three weeks. Frye had with 76 yards on 16 attempts, including a 32-yard scoring run.

“He’s a heck of a player. Obviously, that is what we were focusing on. I thought we did a good job in the first half. He got loose on us a little bit in the second half,” Gradwohl said.

Frye had a rough final four minutes. He lost a fumble on a sack shared by Zach Primacio and Rudy Johanson, and then a few minutes later E-W’s Nick Spencer intercepted Frye and returned the ball 23 yards for a score. The sequence helped E-W turn a 34-20 lead into a 48-20 edge.

In the second half, E-W’s offense converted several huge fourth downs. One came on a fourth-and-20 play that resulted in Kuses catching a 30-yard TD pass from Andy Willcock. It gave E-W a 27-13 cushion.

“Great ball. Great catch,” Gradwohl said. “That was a huge play, a big momentum-changer, absolutely.”

Cascade cut it to 27-20 in the third quarter after Chris McGrath’s 88-yard kickoff return set up a 7-yard TD rush by Jordan Duffy. But the Bruins simply couldn’t stop E-W’s versatile offense.

“We just couldn’t get anything going on defense. … (Heard) beats you up and when you have to play man-to-man on an all-state (caliber) receiver (Kuses) you just can’t catch up,” Duffy said.

Getting the ball early and often, Heard plowed for 110 yards rushing on 20 carries in the first half and scored two short TDs, helping E-W take a 21-6 advantage to the intermission. On the game-opening drive he rushed eight times for 52 yards, including a 6-yard scoring burst that completed an efficient 11-play, 63-yard march. His most memorable carry during the sequence was a 9-yard gain on the play before he scored. Slowed down by two defenders after 4 yards, he churned his powerful legs and left the Bruins duo behind before picking up 5 more yards.

E-W came in with shutouts in its past three outings, but Cascade needed just three offensive plays to score Friday. On third and 9 near midfield, Spencer Hancock cut across the middle and at the E-W 30 grabbed a pass from Frye. Hancock raced untouched 47 yards for a score that got Cascade within 7-6. The touchdown was set up by Duffy’s 52-yard kickoff return.

At Everett Memorial Stadium

E-W147621—48

Cascade60140—20

Edmonds-Woodway-Heard 6 run (Lindsey kick)

Cascade-Hancock 47 pass from Frye (Wiedmer kick failed)

Edmonds-Woodway-D. Kuses 40 pass from Willcock (Lindsey kick)

Edmonds-Woodway-Heard 1 run (Lindsey kick)

Cascade-Frye 32 run (Wiedmer kick)

Edmonds-Woodway-D. Kuses 30 pass from Willcock (Lindsey kick failed)

Cascade-J. Duffy 7 run (Wiedmer kick)

Edmonds-Woodway-Heard 1 run (Lindsey kick)

Edmonds-Woodway-A. Primacio 4 run (Lindsey kick)

Edmonds-Woodway-Spencer 23 interception return (Lindsey kick)

Records-Edmonds-Woodway 4-1 in division, 6-2 overall. Cascade 3-2, 4-4.

Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.