SHORELINE — Shorewood football was humming late in the first quarter against Monroe at Shoreline Stadium on Friday, and quarterback Kyson Vanee was in control.
Having already thrown a 15-yard touchdown pass to give his side a 7-0 lead, the 6-foot-2 junior ripped off a 37-yard run to set up 1st-and-goal on Monroe’s six-yard line. But as the two sides rose from the turf to reset for the next play, Vanee remained down. He had been hit underneath his helmet and sustained a concussion.
In stepped sophomore Julien Woodruff, tasked with carrying the offense the rest of the way. The two signal-callers had rotated series throughout the season, but now it would be Woodruff’s show for the rest of the night, at minimum.
“You always got to prepare for it,” Woodruff said. “I take my practice reps like they’re game reps. I always gotta think that I’m gonna be in a position where I need to play and put my team where it’s (at its best). I always gotta trust God that I’m going to be in the right situation.”
It took just two plays for Shorewood to get in the end zone to make it 14-0, and Woodruff kept things rolling without missing a beat, relying on the other skill positions to gain yards on the ground while executing longer passes when he needed to. By halftime, Woodruff scored four total touchdowns to give the Stormrays (3-0) a 49-7 lead before ultimately cruising to a 49-21 win against the Bearcats (0-3).
Shorewood’s Julien Woodruff hands off the ball to Shorewood’s Maximus Uckun during the game against Monroe on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025 in Shoreline, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
It marked Shorewood’s first win against Monroe since 2007. After losses in 2008 and 2009, the two programs did not face each other again until 2022, with Monroe winning each of the next three matchups — including a 49-7 win last year — before the Stormrays came out on top on Friday.
With Shorewood’s defense generating three turnovers to help give the offense good field position, Woodruff finished 7-for-11 with 99 passing yards and three touchdowns in the air to go with a nine-yard touchdown on the ground. With a running clock in the second half due to the scoring margin and the reserves coming in to play the entire fourth quarter, Woodruff put up the vast majority of those stats in the second quarter alone.
What could have been a mountain to climb ended up being just a speed bump.
“We have 26 seniors, and these guys pick everybody up whenever there’s an issue,” Shorewood coach Rob Petschl said. “So our offensive line and our skill kids, they practice with those two quarterbacks all week long, so for them, it’s kind of the ‘next man up’ situation, and hopefully Kyson’s back soon.”
Senior receiver Finn Bachler recorded 93 all-purpose yards (64 rushing, 29 receiving) on just eight total touches, scoring touchdowns on two of them. Senior defensive lineman Kyson Castellano had one sack, while sophomore defensive lineman Lukas Probizanski recovered a fumble. Senior linebacker Cole Petschl and senior safety Frank Burn each had an interception to round out a shutdown defensive effort.
“The whole defense did a great job today,” Burn said. “Secondary did a great job, and I just did my job, went out there and made a play, and I’m proud of everyone.”
As for Woodruff, it wasn’t the first time he took over for an injured starter. Last season, after then-senior Tyler Giles went down against Shorecrest to end the regular season, Woodruff was shuttled in to start against Ferndale in the opening playoff game, a 49-7 loss. After gaining that experience, he was able to turn it into a positive against the Bearcats on Friday.
“We didn’t come up with a victory (last year), but I threw a nice touchdown pass and we played hard, so that’s all that matters,” Woodruff said. “We’re gonna come back this year and we’ll go farther than we did last year.”
Once Burn punched in a one-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 just two plays after Woodruff entered the game, Shorewood forced a punt on the next Monroe possession and moved 74 yards down the field in just 1:49 to score their next touchdown. Woodruff connected with junior receiver Edward Hensel for back-to-back 13-yard completions before Bachler picked up 39 yards across two rushes to reach the end zone.
“Everyone contributes so well. The O-line does a great job blocking,” Bachler said. “Everyone really clicked today. This is the first game we really clicked as a team and everything just went great.”
Monroe’s BK Kingsley runs the ball down the field during the game against Monroe on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025 in Shoreline, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Monroe got on the board with 8:25 left in the half when senior running back BK Kingsley had a 64-yard touchdown on a catch-and-run, giving some life to the Bearcats and making it 21-7. It was the only meaningful score they would pick up before grabbing two more touchdowns in garbage time.
Hampered with injuries on each side of the ball — at least four starters on both offense and defense — Monroe is reeling in what’s quickly turning into a down season. However, with a handful of younger reserves gaining experience, and several sidelined starters expected to return later this season, Bearcats coach Scott Darrow is trying to keep his group optimistic.
“It’s just one of those things. This happens to teams here and there. We’ve been fortunate the last few years to stay healthy, and it’s our turn to go through it,” Darrow said. “So we’re going to go through it, keep our heads up, and just try and build it back and keep going forward. But like I said, hand it to Shorewood. Give them all the credit. They got a good team, and I don’t know, they lost the quarterback tonight, but their backup’s pretty (darn) good too.”
Shorewood responded by forcing turnovers on the next three Monroe possessions, and scoring touchdowns on four straight drives to end the half. Woodruff displayed his arm talent by connecting on a couple of perfectly executed fade routes to senior receivers Lukas Wanke and Jack Gallagher, respectively, in the back corners of the end zone.
With Shorewood holding a 42-point halftime lead, the second half was played with a running clock. Monroe picked up two more scores, with junior quarterback Chris Britt connecting with senior receiver Josh Ward on 15-yard and 41-yard passing touchdowns, before the Stormrays ran the clock out.
“We tell the team every week, we can’t slow down, we can’t keep the foot off the gas pedal. We got to keep pushing,” Bachler said. “So (we’re) going to practice hard every single day, keep working towards it. We can’t worry about the last week, we got to worry about next week, so keep looking forward.”
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