Warriors are No. 1
Published 11:33 pm Friday, October 7, 2011
EDMONDS — As good as Edmonds-Woodway’s offense has been recently — and it’s been very good — it has been the other parts of the Warriors’ game that has been just as vital in their run to the top of the Wesco South.
And that was the case again Friday night. While E-W’s rushing game was its usual dominant self, the Warrior defense scored a touchdown and had four sacks and the special teams once again recovered an onside kick leading to a touchdown as E-W defeated Kamiak 42-21 at Edmonds Stadium.
The win gave the Warriors (3-0 league, 3-3 overall) the league’s No. 1 playoff seed and at least a share of the South title for the sixth time in the last eight years. Kamiak continues to struggle at 0-3, 1-5.
“I’ll take what I can get,” E-W coach John Gradwohl said. “We’ve gotten better, and we need to get better next week, and we will get better.”
That may be a scary thought for other Wesco teams. After starting 0-3, the Warriors have recovered behind a spectacular running game and outstanding special teams. Against Kamiak, E-W ran for 305 yards on 37 carries. Senior Mark Coutee gained 155 on 10 carries and Desmond Young had 138 on 23, with each scoring a pair of touchdowns. What’s the difference between the past three games and the first three?
“We were trying to be too diverse on offense in the first three games,” Gradwohl said. “We were running a bunch of plays poorly instead of running a few really well.”
Kamiak came out strong, driving 51 yards on 14 plays on the opening drive before facing a fourth-and-10. Going to the air, senior quarterback Anthony Berg passed right but Warrior senior cornerback David Hansen stepped in front and picked off the pass, racing down the sideline for an 85-yard touchdown.
“That helped a lot,” Gradwohl said. “That’s a 14-point swing to start the game, which is big.”
It was the special teams’ chance next as kicker Alex Hull, for the second week in a row, recovered his own onside kick. The Warriors took advantage when Young ran 4 yards off right tackle for a touchdown. When Davis Giles ran in from a yard out early in the second, Edmonds seemed to be running away with things at 21-0.
Kamiak, though, showed some life and refused to go away. Answering Giles’ touchdown, Berg scampered 7 yards around right end for a touchdown to keep his team down by just two touchdowns at the half.
The E-W running game then took over in the second half, as Coutee opened things up by running 67 yards on the first play of the half to put the Warriors up 28-7. And while the Knights answered with a 1-yard TD run by Berg, Young ran 13 times for 54 yards, capping it with a 3-yard run to make it 35-14.
“Getting that touchdown to start the second half really got us going,” Gradwohl said. “At that point we really started playing with confidence.”
It wasn’t all perfect for E-W, which committed 16 penalties for 110 yards, most of them on defense, though Jordan Barnes led an overall quality effort by the defense with three sacks. Kamiak had seven penalties for 75 yards.
Now with at least part of the division title in hand, the Warriors focus on going forward and seeing just how good they can be.
“We’re still doing a lot of things wrong,” Gradwohl said. “But we’re also doing a lot right, and we’ll clean those other things up as we go forward.”
At Edmonds-Woodway H.S.
Kamiak 0 7 7 7 — 21
Edmonds-Woodway 14 7 7 14 — 42
EW–David Hansen 85 interception return (Connor Davis kick)
EW–Desmond Young 4 run (Davis kick)
EW–Davis Giles 1 run (Davis kick)
Kam–Anthony Berg 7 run (Chris Menghini kick)
EW–Mark Coutee 67 run (Davis kick)
Kam–Berg 1 run (Menghini kick)
EW–Young 4 run (Davis kick)
EW–Coutee 2 run (Davis kick)
Kam–Tyler Self 1 run (Menghini kick)
