EDMONDS
In a back-and-forth battle, the Willamette Valley Raiders aired it out and made big plays late in a July 14 game to top the Snohomish County Vikings.
The Raiders scored a pair of touchdowns early in the fourth quarter and the defense slammed the door to end the Vikings’ three-game winning streak with a 35-28 come-from-behind win at Edmonds Stadium.
“It was a tough one,” said Vikings receiver Davie Beeks, who caught a pair of second-half touchdowns in the loss. “We had a couple where the defense didn’t clamp down and the offense didn’t move the ball.”
Raiders’ receiver Kyle English snagged a pass in mid-stride from quarterback David Littleton, did a spin move and danced down the right sideline for a 46-yard score with 12:22 to play. That gave the Raiders a 29-28 lead after Jamiel Taylor’s extra point.
The Raiders’ Kenny Roberts took a few steps back followed by a lot of steps forward while juking would-be tacklers on a 43-yard punt return for a touchdown with 9:39 left. Despite a failed extra point, Willamette Valley led 35-28.
Snohomish County’s subsequent drive stalled at the Raiders’ 31-yard line and the Vikings turned the ball over on downs.
The Vikings caught a break when Littleton fumbled the snap on a punt attempt and scrambled to get off a short punt of only 11 yards.
Despite an encroachment call on the Raiders that gave the Vikings a first-and-five at the Raiders’ 33-yard line, the Vikings couldn’t get a first down. Apollo Lewis caught a screen pass on fourth-and-nine but went out of bounds two yards short of the marker. Willamette Valley (2-3) ran out the clock on Snohomish County (3-2).
The Vikings led twice in the third quarter, but things slipped away.
The Vikings took the lead with 2:27 left in the third quarter when Beeks beat one-on-one coverage on a post route for a 22-yard touchdown pass from Daimino Stewart. Jason Skahan’s extra point made it 22-15.
Willamette Valley answered with 1:01 left in the quarter when English caught a 7-yard strike from Littleton that tied the score with Taylor’s extra point.
The Vikings finally took advantage of the Raiders’ short kickoffs when Drew Jenkins returned the ball about 40 yards to the Raiders’ 24.
Two plays later, Stewart punched it in on a 15-yard quarterback sneak and the Vikings went up 28-22 as the extra point was botched.
But the Raiders rallied in the fourth.
Penalties hurt the Vikings who were flagged 13 times for 117 yards, with four penalties coming on unsportsmanlike and personal foul penalties.
“We’d get ourselves some momentum, get a couple penalties and back ourselves up,” Beeks said. “Put ourselves in tougher situations than need be.”
Snohomish County head coach Wes Fischer said that many penalties, “just kills you. It makes you predictable.”
The Raiders’ Littleton had his way with the Vikings’ secondary most of the night. He threw four touchdown passes and completed 11-of-14 passes for 156 yards and was intercepted once by Ty Williams.
Blown coverages proved to be the Vikings’ undoing on more than one occasion.
“We didn’t execute, missed assignments, guys out of position,” assistant head coach Dave Broussard said.
Littleton threw his first touchdown pass of the game, a 9-yard strike to Bobby Bridges in the second quarter. The Vikings responded with a 2-yard touchdown by Stewart with 19 seconds left in the half.
Littleton made it look easy when he hooked up with Roberts on a 34-yard pass play with 11:19 left in the third. Roberts ran the ball in for a two-point conversion.
“I have to give credit to the Raiders, they kept coming at us,” Broussard said.
Beeks caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Stewart with 7:28 left in the third and Stewart ran the ball in for two points to tie it at 15.
Stewart threw for 97 yards on 7-of-16 passing and was intercepted once. Beeks caught three passes for 58 yards and Marchello Garcia had two catches for 24 yards.
The Vikings didn’t throw much in their previous games but against the Raiders, Stewart rolled out and passed more.
“We have great weapons at receiver,” Broussard said. “We don’t want to become one-dimensional because (Stewart’s) a great run threat.”
Stewart said the Raider defense did enough to make plays at key moments.
“They weren’t a speedy defense but they could contain,” Stewart said. “They called the right defensive plays on our offensive plays.”
Snohomish County racked up 198 rushing yards on 35 carries, led by Stewart who had 75 yards on 14 carries. Apollo Lewis rushed eight times for 67 yards and Brandon Lewis ran 11 times for 45 yards. The Raiders’ Antonio Harris led all ball carriers with 94 yards on 18 carries.
Fischer estimated that 200 fans showed up for the home game on the sunny summer evening, about half as many as came out for the Vikings’ 21-20 win over West Sound June 30.
Next up for the Vikings is the Seattle Stallions at 6 p.m., July 21 at Chief Sealth High School.
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