Titans receivers juke way past Vikings

BELLEVUE

For a moment, Chris Stokes and the Snohomish County Vikings had the momentum against the Puget Sound Titans.

But just as quickly it disappeared, in a Northwest Football League contest Saturday, July 12 at Newport High School. The Titans talented receivers and a lackluster week of practice for the Vikings, combined with some missing players figured into a 49-13 Titans win.

With less than a minute to play in the first half, Stokes’ intercepted Titans’ quarterback Casey Hughes at the Vikings 2-yard line and rumbled 97 yards before being caught from behind at the Titans 1-yard line by Mike Bush, the former standout wide receiver for Washington State.

“I saw the receiver back in and I jumped in front of him on the route,” said Stokes, who was playing left outside linebacker.

The Titans, the NWFL North leaders, were primed to score their third touchdown of the half and go up by two touchdowns before Stokes play shut down those plans.

The Vikings’ Kalani Book punched it in on the third try from the 1-yard line, but Larry Moody’s extra point was blocked and Puget Sound retained a 14-13 lead.

Then that brief momentum went away.

Receiver Piper Jordan, who juked two Viking defenders on his way to a 60-yard touchdown pass play in the second quarter, struck again with 14 seconds left in the half. He slipped a tackle down the right sideline and sprinted 49 yards to paydirt to make the score 20-13 at the half.

In the second half the onslaught continued. Puget Sound rattled off 29 unanswered points, took a 49-13 lead and it was good night Vikings. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter as some of the backups got to play. Puget Sound improved to 5-0 and Snohomish County dropped to 2-3.

Back John Monte scored two touchdowns for the Titans, one on a 16-yard pass play and another on 10-yard run. The defense got involved when defensive back Mory Keith caused a fumble, scooped it up and raced 26 yards to the house. Jerimah Captain then concluded the scoring with a 65-yard punt return, followed by a two-point conversion.

The Vikings had an occasionally steady ground game cutting the lead to 14-7 when Jamar Brown piled into the end zone on 29-yard run to cap a 12-play touchdown drive in the second quarter. Snohomish County racked up 126 yards on the ground on 43 carries but only had 10 yards passing.

“We had some moments we were effective, but for some reason we couldn’t finish drives,” Stokes said.

Much of that was because the Vikings were missing two of their top running backs: Mike Hall, was out after having finger surgery, and J.T. Butler, was at a family reunion in Florida. Two starting offensive lineman are also out. Dan Gough broke his finger and finger socket and had to undergo season-ending surgery and Burley Lockhart got bit by a poisonous spider and has a swollen arm.

“The deal is you have to stay healthy in this league,” Snohomish County coach Wes Fischer said.

Puget Sound’s Hughes completed 12-of-18 passes for 241 yards, including two to Jordan for 109 yards, three to Captain for 89 yards and three to Bush for 30 yards. The Titans piled up 191 yards on the ground, mostly in the second half led by Hughes 49 yards on five carries.

Bush, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound receiver who has had workouts with New England and San Francisco in the NFL, made a leaping catch from four yards out for the game’s first touchdown.

Thirteen penalties slowed down the game, especially in the fourth quarter.

Snohomish County had few players turn out of for its Tuesday practice and while its Thursday practice was better it wasn’ t enough to prepare the team for the Titans, Stokes said.

Next up for the Vikings are the Pierce County Bengals (2-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 19 at Edmonds Stadium. For more information go to www.nwfootball.net.