EVERETT – Prior to Saturday night’s kickoff, the Everett Hawks knew precisely what they needed to do.
“It seems like lately we’ve played for 55 or 56 minutes,” Kai Zeigler said as the Hawks readied themselves for their arenafootball2 match-up with the Boise Burn. “Tonight we’ll play the full 60 and it will be magic.”
And it was magic indeed as the minutes counted down in Everett’s 52-32 West Division victory before an announced crowd of 2,850 at the Events Center:
* In the 57th minute, Everett’s Tali Atoe sacked Boise quarterback Bart Hendricks to stymie the Burn’s comeback bid.
* In the 58th minute, the Hawks’ Josh Richey (nine receptions, 135 yards) caught his third touchdown pass from quarterback Jason Campbell.
* In the 59th minute, Larue Burley made Everett’s second interception of the game.
* In the 60th minute, Kelvin Wallace dumped Hendricks in the backfield for Everett’s third sack, and moments later Richey caught his fourth TD pass to put an exclamation point on the triumph that kept Everett’s faint playoff hopes alive.
Everett (3-7) has a bye this week and then hosts Arkansas (6-3) on June 23. Boise dropped to 4-5 with its fourth straight loss.
Everett jumped all over Boise with a dominant first-half defense, built a 20-0 lead and never caved in, although the Burn did get within 40-32 on Hendricks’ TD toss to Casey Allen with 6:15 remaining in the game.
Everett’s Campbell threw seven TD passes, including one to Warren Holloway on the Hawks’ first possession and a pair later to Phil Goodman.
But it was Hawks’ defense that carried the day, especially in the pivotal first half.
On its opening possession, Boise was stymied by a fumble it lost to Everett’s Chuck Jones at the Hawks’ 10-yard line. That set an ominous tone for the expansion Burn.
“It just popped out,” Jones said. “I think Vai (Notoa) hit it.”
On the next Boise series, Everett’s Raymond Little intercepted a Hendricks pass. The half also included a fumble recovery in the Everett end zone by Vai Notoa Goodman.
“The defense shut them down,” Campbell said. “Boise has a timing offense and our defense was all over them.”
Meanwhile, Campbell threw touchdown passes to Holloway and Richey, and Notoa rumbled in on a short TD run to give the Hawks a 20-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Boise finally scored before the half ended, but the Hawks didn’t flinch.
On the opening series of the second half, Boise had a first down inside the Everett 10-yard line, but pressure up front and the secondary trio of Aaron Dunklin, Burley and Little stopped the Burn on downs.
Campbell immediately led Everett on a scoring drive, capping it with a 7-yard touchdown toss to Goodman to give the Hawks a 26-6 advantage.
Boise’s Hendricks threw a 5-yard TD pass to Casey Allen to cut the gap to 26-12, but Notoa blocked the point after attempt.
On Everett’s ensuing possession, Campbell answered quickly by throwing 30-yard touchdown pass to Richey – who is busy rewriting the team’s receiving record book – . in the right corner of the end zone.
Richey handed the ball over the wall to former Everett standout receiver Milton Myers.
Of note
Please stick with the ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’: An otherwise thoroughly enjoyable game was tainted by an ill-advised choice of pregame and halftime entertainment. With hundreds of Arena Youth Football League players and their families in attendance, the pregame and halftime show featured three hip-hop artists who screamed unintelligibly at maximum volume. The fans reacted strongly to the overly long and ill-advised entertainment, booing throughout during the halftime performance.
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