ARLINGTON — Two seasons ago the Stanwood High School football team was on the wrong end of a lopsided 48-0 loss to Lakewood.
The Spartans flipped the script and got their revenge Friday night in their season opener.
Ryder Bumgarner and Carson Beckt combined for five touchdowns, Stanwood reached the end zone on its first six drives and the Spartans’ defense recorded a shutout on the way to crushing the Cougars 42-0 in a non-league game at Lakewood High School.
“It feels really good,” Bumgarner said. “… We just wanted a revenge game and that’s what we’ve been working for this whole time. The shutout feels real good.”
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Bumgarner was a force all night and kept the chains moving with hard-nosed run after hard-nosed run while leading Stanwood’s Wing-T rushing attack. All but one of his 23 carries went for positive yardage, including five runs of 20 yards or more. The senior fullback finished the night with 232 yards and two TDs on the ground, averaging 10.1 yards per carry.
“What’s nice is you’ll see him get four or five yards and then all of the sudden he breaks a tackle and he’s going for 25,” second-year Stanwood coach Jeff Scoma said. “So that’s what’s really nice is that capability to break a big one because his legs are so powerful.”
When Bumgarner wasn’t picking up chunks up the middle, the Spartans (1-0) continued to show just how dangerous their deceptive offense can be.
Stanwood marched into the red zone on each of their first three drives with Bumgarner taking the bulk of the carries. But each time the offense got inside the 20-yard line Beckt’s number was called on a misdirection.
All three plays resulted in touchdowns for the senior halfback.
“It was awesome,” Beckt said. “Everyone was doing their job on those plays. Big shoutout to all the linemen blocking and running backs doing the fakes. It was them that scored the touchdowns.”
Stanwood’s Carson Beckt celebrates after scoring the first touchdown of the season against Lakewood on Friday, Sep. 2, 2022, at Lakewood High School in Arlington, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
It was also a stellar showing for the Spartans’ defense.
Stanwood held the Cougars (0-1) to just 93 yards in the first half, recovered two fumbles, and forced a turnover on downs and two punts. The shutout was the team’s first since 2017.
The Spartans opened the scoring at the 2:24 mark of the first quarter on Beckt’s 18-yard run off the right tackle, capping a 13-play, 85-yard drive that took just over 6 minutes off the clock.
A personal foul on Stanwood and an 11-yard run from Jackson Lovell gave Lakewood a chance at a 39-yard field attempt on the ensuing drive, but the kick fell just short and to the right.
The Spartans marched down the field and Beckt followed a 30-yard outburst by Bumgarner with his second touchdown of the game, bouncing off a pair of Cougars defenders on his way to a 16-yard score.
After a Lakewood three-and-out, Stanwood worked its way back into the red zone. Beckt answered the call again with a 17-yard TD run around the right side.
Bumgarner opened the second half with a 27-yard run and finished off the half’s first drive by rumbling his way up the middle for a 16-yard score.
Stanwood’s Ryder Bumgarner squeezes between defenders before tumbling into the end zone against Lakewood on Friday, Sep. 2, 2022, at Lakewood High School in Arlington, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
He added his second TD shortly after, taking a handoff up the middle before breaking a pair of tackles and bouncing around the left side and into the end zone from 20 yards out.
Sophomore quarterback Evan Stacey and Lovell connected on a 25-yard pass and Stacey brought the Cougars inside Stanwood’s 5-yard line with a pair of runs as Lakewood threatened to get on the board midway through the third quarter. But the Spartans forced a fumble and recovered inside their own 1 to preserve the shutout.
Senior quarterback Wyatt Custer ripped off a 71-yard touchdown run for a 42-0 lead five plays later.
“It was a full team effort,” Scoma said. “I think that everybody did a great job and you can tell that we prepared and did a lot of work in the offseason. We can get a lot better, but for the first game I thought it was really good.”
Custer finished with 76 yards rushing and Beckt chipped in 51 as Stanwood racked up all 407 yards of offense on the ground.
Stacey completed 12 of 19 passes for 135 yards and added a team-high 36 yards on five carries. Toren Jack led Lakewood with 41 yards on three catches and Ben Nuss had 59 total yards on six offensive touches.
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