King’s knocks out Sultan quickly

If the Oct. 16 contest between King’s and Sultan had been a boxing match, it would have been called after the first round.

There are no such rules in football, and so after landing an extremely impressive knock-out blow in the first quarter, King’s played out the remainder of the game.

While everything might have lasted the full 48 minutes on the clock, quarterback Thomas Vincent and the rest of the Knights just needed the first 12 to secure the win. Vincent scored five touchdowns in the first quarter – three rushing and two passing – as 1A King’s erupted for 37 points in the first period en route to a 51-7 Cascade Conference victory at Sultan High School.

“It was a quick start,” King’s head coach Jim Shapiro said.

It was 37-0 after the first quarter, 44-0 at halftime and 51-0 to start the fourth quarter.

Sounds like a pretty good day for the King’s offense, right?

Well, it certainly was, but Shapiro preferred to credit the other side of the ball when it came time to name the key to the game.

“We caused a lot of pressure defensively,” Shapiro said. “Give the hat to the defense. We scored two defensive touchdowns. … It’s pretty cool when (your) defense can put points on the board.”

In miserable, wet weather King’s frustrated the Sultan offense throughout the night. By the end, King’s had forced six fumbles and three interceptions for a whopping total of nine turnovers and one safety.

“The weather (had an effect),” said Shapiro, who added that he thought his own receivers improved as the game went on in the rainy conditions. “I told my team before the game ‘both teams have to play in this.’ … (Sultan’s) turnovers, (I think) part of it was the weather, either mentally or physically.”

For King’s, Nick Swanson returned an interception 24 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, and senior Weston Gover (three solo tackles) returned a fumble 45-yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. Senior linebacker Paul Lutgen finished with four tackles, four assisted tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery.

With the weather making it difficult to establish a passing game, Sultan standout quarterback Zach Beebe could never quite get on track against a determined King’s defense.

Beebe finished 17-for-46 for 240 yards, with an 8-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Theo VandenEkart in the fourth quarter for Sultan’s only score of the game.

“They’ve got a great QB in Beebe,” said Shapiro, who added that he thought the weather helped take Sultan out of its passing game. “We thought it’d be comparable to the Lakewood game (which King’s won 54-34 in a shootout last month). … We wanted to contain him, get some turnovers. We thought the turnovers would be interceptions, but we’ll take it.”

Playing on a short field for most of the night, King’s was led offensively by Vincent (8-for-20, 91 yards, two passing touchdowns) and his touchdown runs of 41-, 35- and 5-yards. Swanson added a 5-yard TD reception in addition to his interception return, and Curtis Clauson had a 21-yard touchdown catch.

Freshman running back Ben Welch added 12 rushes for 47 yards.

“Offensively, our game plan was to hold on to the ball,” Shapiro said of his team, which improved to 4-1 in the Cascade Conference and 5-2 overall. “We did that. We moved the chains. We accomplished what we needed to accomplish.”

Up next for King’s is a road game this Friday against fellow Cascade Conference member Granite Falls (1-4, 2-5).

Shapiro said that Granite Falls primarily runs a power I-formation offense, and that his team isn’t taking anything for granted, noting that last year Granite Falls defeated King’s 42-13.

“Our game plan will be to hang on to the football, and if you don’t have it, go get it,” Shapiro said. “… Again, with (a) 2A (team) playing 1A, we anticipate them being big and strong.”