Edmonds-Woodway football team rallies after slow start

Published 11:31 pm Friday, November 4, 2011

EDMONDS — The game began ominously for the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors. A first possession ended on downs after an untimely quarterback sack and a second possession resulted in an intercepted pass that was returned all of 3 yards for a South Kitsap touchdown.

At that point it had to get better for the Warriors because it could hardly get worse.

And get better it did. Edmonds-Woodway shrugged off the early miscues and went on to defeat visiting South Kitsap 29-19 on Friday night in a quad-district football playoff game at Edmonds District Stadium.

With a powerful ground game led by junior running back Desmond Young, the Warriors churned out 382 rushing yards. Young, a speedy 5-foot-10, 155-pound junior, totaled 275 of those yards on 32 carries while scoring two of his team’s four touchdowns.

“I think we handled the line of scrimmage pretty well,” Edmonds-Woodway coach John Gradwohl said. “The kids got after it.” And as the game went on, he added, “I think we kind of wore them out a little bit (up front).”

A week ago, Young had 293 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-31 loss to Lake Stevens in the Western Conference championship game. Added to his totals from Friday, he has 568 yards and five TDs in Edmonds-Woodway’s past two games.

“We lost in the fourth quarter against Lake Stevens last week, so our mentality this week was just to finish,” Young said. “We need to finish games. Our line pushed through the whole game and our defense stepped up in the fourth quarter, which is what we really needed. If we do that, you can see us going far.”

The Warriors got another 71 yards on 14 carries from backup running back Mark Coutee, a 5-10, 160-pound senior.

“Mark got some tough yards tonight, too,” Gradwohl said. “With both of them, it’s like a one-two punch. And it’s nice that when Desmond comes off to rest, Mark’s in there doing the same (thing).”

Edmonds-Woodway dug itself a hole midway through the first quarter. Moments after recovering a South Kitsap fumble at the E-W 4-yard line, the Warriors promptly gave up the ball and the lead.

On a second-and-7 play from the 7, Edmonds-Woodway quarterback Davis Giles dropped to his own end zone to pass. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage, popped into the air, bounced off a South Kitsap helmet, and was intercepted by Wolves defensive end Chase Lopez. He then stumbled into the end zone for a touchdown.

The Warriors countered with an 80-yard scoring drive, with Young bursting through a hole on the right side for a 1-yard TD.

South Kitsap answered early in the second quarter on a 36-yard scoring pass from quarterback Eddie Meisner to wide receiver Devon Newquist, who broke one tackle and eluded two other defenders on his way to the end zone. But the Wolves failed on the PAT when the holder bobbled a low snap and was tackled.

Edmonds-Woodway followed with another scoring drive, with Giles scoring on a 1-yard sneak to give the Warriors a 14-13 lead at halftime.

South Kitsap held one more brief lead early in the third quarter on another Meisner TD pass (the two-point PAT failed), but the Warriors went on top to stay less than a minute later. After an onside kick try went awry for the Wolves — the ball failed to travel 10 yards — Edmonds-Woodway took over at the South Kitsap 49 and needed two plays to score.

Young got his second touchdown of the night on a pitch around right end, a sprint down the sideline and a dive for the pylon. The Warriors added a two-point PAT.

The Warriors put the game away midway through the fourth quarter on a 2-yard TD run by Coutee.

Next up for Edmonds-Woodway, which improved to 6-4 this season, is a meeting next weekend with top-ranked Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma.

At Edmonds Stadium

South Kitsap7660—19

Edmonds Woodway7787—29

SK—Lopez 3 interception return (La Deaux kick)

EW—Young 1 run (Davis kick)

SK—Newquist 36 pass from Meisner (run failed)

EW—Giles 1 run (Davis kick)

SK—Lopez 6 pass from Meisner (run failed)

EW—Young 41 run (Willcock pass from Gilees)

EW—Coutee 2 run (Davis kick)