SNOHOMISH
One question was answered in Snohomish County’s league opener against Oregon.
The Thunderbolts, last year’s runner-up to league champion King County, sure look to be a top contender in 2008.
Oregon dominated play on both sides of the line and cruised to a 43-0 victory over the Vikings in a Northwest Football League game June 7 at Snohomish High School.
Snohomish County was not able to get its new double wing offense on track until late in the game.
“It definitely was not the way we wanted to start the season,” said Viking offensive coordinator/assistant head coach Scott Betzvog. “We know that it was a tough team, probably pound for pound the toughest team in the league, and we felt like if we could get our ground game going, we could hopefully get them to play at our level. But where we really struggled was early on getting those plays going. We seem to be giving up a lot in the backfield, giving up a lot of penetration in the backfield. I think part of that is we haven’t gotten the commitment we need from guys in practice.”
Snohomish County produced only one first down in the first half and most of the five the team had in the second half were when the lead was too large to overcome.
The lack of production on offense eventually took its toll on the Viking defense that spent far too much time on the field.
“We left our defense out there to dry and eventually that trickled into a stream, which turned into a flood and that was that,” Betzvog said. “We talked about being a team that could move the ball and take some of that load off the defense and we failed to do that.”
Snohomish County has the players to be competitive, Betzvog said.
“We just have an awful lot of talent,” he said. “If we can get them to buy into the goal of being here all the time, I think we could do real well.”
Oregon coach David Brannon was impressed by his team’s overall play.
“It was against a good opponent,” he said. “The Vikings are always tough. (Coach) Wes (Fischer) puts together a good program. We always respect that.”
The Thunderbolts rotated Matt Davidow and Kevius Clark in at quarterback and both played well.
“We had a few timing issues, but for the most part (the passing game) was good,” Brannon said.
Oregon focused on its running attack in the fourth quarter with good success.
“I was most pleased with our running game because in this league … when it comes to winning close games, you’ve got to have good running,” Brannon said. “So late in the game, we got the opportunity to work on a lot of running plays and for the most part it worked well.”
Oregon scored on its first offensive possession of the game, taking the ball from its own 24 and marching down to the Snohomish County 28, where Mike Dunn booted a 45-yard field goal. The Vikings caught a break on the Thunderbolts’ next offensive possession when Brian Carter picked off a pass from Davidow and returned it to the Oregon 36. Snohomish County moved the ball down to the 24 before stalling.
Snohomish County’s Larry Moody was going to attempt a 42-yard field goal but the snap was botched and Moody was forced to throw a pass that was intercepted by Oregon’s Chris Will.
The Thunderbolts took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter when Davidow connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass to Deshawn McKenzie. Oregon then tacked on seven more points on a fake field goal attempt at the end of the second quarter. The Thunderbolts lined up to kick what appeared to be a 20-yard field goal. Instead, holder Marvin Bronson passed the ball to Chris Will as Oregon took a 17-0 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, Clark threw touchdown passes of 30 and 68 yards to Bronson. Another potential Thunderbolt scoring drive was thwarted at the goal line when Ishmael Easton recovered a fumbled at the Snohomish County 1.
The Vikings then put together their best drive of the game so far, moving out to their own 44 before turning the ball over on a fumble.
“They were just a very fast team, so what we did late was we decided we wanted to start running the ball,” Betzvog said. “We did have some success … but by that time it was too late.”
Clark found McKenzie on a 1-yard touchdown pass and Anthony Nettles returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown to close out the scoring in the fourth quarter.
“We thought we could get them coming in here taking us a little bit soft,” Betzvog said. “I think we saw that opportunity come and go because it was a 3-0 ball game until about halfway through the second quarter. Then finally it was too much for our defense to bear.”
Betzvog did see some brights spots in the backfield.
“Michael Hall late in the game, he started getting some big yards on carries,” Betzvog said. “JT Butler was getting some nice carries. Chris Stokes, we put him in at running back to get some of that blocking that we needed on those plays and that worked out real well,”
Snohomish County (0-1) looks to rebound against the Washington Cavaliers (0-1) at 6 p.m., Saturday, June 14 at Tumwater District Stadium in Olympia. Oregon (1-0) takes on the Puget Sound Titans (1-0).
NOTE
TRAFFIC DELAY:
“Most of them made it (to the game),” he said.
BACK HOME: Snohomish County was unable to play at its regular home field, Edmonds Stadium, because of a conflict with a youth football camp. But the Vikings will be back home at Edmonds Stadium for their next home game, 6 p.m., June 28 against the Seattle Stallions.
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