Standout back leads South Kitsap by Snohomish

By Morris Malakoff

Herald Writer

SNOHOMISH – It was simply a case of too much of South Kitsap’s Ryan Cole as the Wolves downed the Snohomish Panthers 18-17 Friday in a non-conference high school football season opening game at Snohomish Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Cole, a highly-touted senior running back, rushed 32 times for 213 yards, including two touchdown runs. Cole was the ballcarrier on all but a half-dozen South Kitsap plays, most of those being passing plays. Snohomish, by comparison, managed 217 yards in total offense.

The Panthers opened the scoring in the first quarter when Ross Fay recovered a fumble at the South Kitsap 36 yard line. The Snohomish drive stalled on the 24-yard line and the Panthers settled for a Derek Bennion field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Cole put the Wolves ahead midway through the second quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run making the score 6-3 in favor of the Narrows League team. The point-after failed. That was a pattern that would hold through the game as South Kitsap failed to convert any point-after kicks or runs.

Panther Tom Foisy closed out first half scoring with a 5-yard run to the end zone sending the teams to the locker room with Snohomish leading 10-6.

The Snohomish defense struck 17 seconds into the second half when Ross Fay picked off a Travis Vetters pass at the 20-yard line and raced through the stunned South Kitsap offense to put the Panthers up 17-6.

But an evening of Ryan Cole finally wore down the Snohomish defense. Vetters connected with Josh Meeker deep in the end zone to bring the Wolves to 17-12. Followed by Cole breaking open a 40-yard dash to the end zone, putting South Kitsap into the lead for the first time since the second period.

Snohomish coach Mark Perry took the loss philosophically.

“This is why we play exhibition games,” said Perry. “It was a good game but we made a couple of tactical and mental errors. We missed some key assignments and tackles. But now we have to prepare for league play”.

Perry had specific praise for the defensive play of Mark Fay who spent the night chasing down Cole.

“Fay made some great tackles,” said Perry of the junior defensive back. “We knew Cole would carry the ball 30 to 35 times. But Mark was there. Without some of his stops, Cole would have run for hundreds of yards”.