Eastlake wins football season opener
September 5, 2009
By Christopher Huber
New: Sept. 5, 1:08 p.m.
It’s a good thing for the Eastlake High School football team that it worked out its first-game jitters early on against Mount Si.
Because at the rate the Wolves produced on offense in the first 11-and-a-half minutes of the season opener Sept. 4 at Eastlake, they would have totaled about 76 yards, given up four fumbles and scored a big goose egg.
Again, luckily that wasn’t the case for the now 1-0 Eastlake, which turned things around early and eventually dominated the Wildcats from Snoqualmie 37-7 in front of the home crowd in Sammamish.
“I’m really happy we pulled it out,” Eastlake quarterback Kelby McCorkle said after the game.
Both teams came out a bit flat in the first, each going three-and-out on their first three possessions. The Mount Si defense, however, took an Eastlake fumble at the Wildcat 16 yard line. And running back Matt Bangston drove it in for the first touchdown of the game.
“If it was a one-quarter game, it was a heck of a game,” said Mount Si head coach Charlie Kinnune. “We haven’t gone against that speed.”
Eastlake recognized the deficit and quickly composed itself on both sides of the ball. Down 7-0 it only took two minutes for the Wolves to strike back.
“It felt like we needed to work out the first game kinks,” McCorkle said about the sloppy start for the Wolves. “I knew we had it. We pushed back pretty hard.”
McCorkle finished 6 of 11 for 127 yards passing.
The offensive play of the game came with less than a minute left in the first when Eastlake had the ball on its own 24 yard line. McCorkle took the snap and tossed a little screen pass to senior wide receiver Sam Olmstead to his left. Taking the ball from a few yards off the line of scrimmage, Olmstead cut right across the field, danced past a couple of Wildcat defenders and sprinted down the right sideline into the end zone for the 76-yard touchdown.
Tie game.
“We had to adjust and had one play with our base stuff,” Dales said of the play and subsequent momentum swing. “That was a real big momentum killer for Charlie and those guys.”
It quieted the visiting Mount Si fans, too.
Eastlake proceeded to intercept two passes from Mount Si quarterback Ian Ilgenfritz. First, Eastlake senior linebacker Austin Reifeis took a pass that ended a 10-play 60-yard Wildcat drive. Eastlake capitalized by marching 93 yards in six plays, including 35- and 44-yard runs from McCorkle and running back Cameron Hunt, to score the go-ahead touchdown.
In Mount Si’s next possession, Ilgenfritz under-threw the ball and Eastlake’s Michael Maguire came down with it and ran it back for another Wolves TD, with about two minutes left in the second.
Eastlake cornerback Robert Sharps stole another pass from Ilgenfritz in the second and set up a 32-yard McCorkle scramble into the end zone.
“They’re a pretty good team,” Kinnune told the team as they huddled after the game, “and we had them on the ropes.”
Down 28-7 at the half, Mount Si struggled to deal with the adversity and couldn’t get much going on offense. It produced just over 180 yards of total offense Sept. 4.
“Give credit to them for bringing it hard,” Eastlake head coach Gene Dales said.
Eastlake finished with 303 yards of offense.
Dales said for the season opener, he was pleased with his Wolves limiting turnovers to just one, the fumble in the first that led to the Wildcats’ only touchdown. He was also pleased with running back Cam Hunt’s performance Sept. 4. The senior 6-foot senior ran the ball 15 times for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.
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