Union’s rally falls short vs. Bothell, 42-21

BOTHELL — The Union Titans are not used to going out so early in the high school football playoffs.

They’re not used to playing a team like Bothell, either.

Braden Foley surprised the Titans with four touchdown passes Friday night at Pop Keeney Stadium, leading the Cougars to a 42-21 victory over Union in a Class 4A state preliminary-round game.

Union, which cut a 21-point second-half deficit to seven early in the fourth quarter, saw its season come to an end with a 7-3 record and a second-place finish in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League.

Even though the Titans reached the state championship game and state semifinals the past two seasons, the coaches said this campaign was a success, as well.

With a host of new faces in starting positions, the Titans had a seven-game win streak before losing the league title game to Skyview by three points.

“This season meant a lot,” senior Zak Browning said. “Just coming into the year, we had a chip on our shoulder. When nobody believed in us, we believed in ourselves. That’s all we needed.

“Unfortunately tonight, it wasn’t enough.”

With the loss last week, the Titans were forced to face the sixth-ranked team in the state in Week 10.

“It’s the way our playoff system works,” Union coach Cale Piland said. “There were two really good football programs playing. Unfortunately, it had to happen this early in the playoffs. I feel we stood toe-to-toe with them tonight.”

Indeed, the statistics backed him. Bothell gained 314 yards, Union had 310.

But a couple of first-half miscues turned into a 14-point deficit for the Titans. And even after the Titans rallied, Bothell got going again, capitalizing on Foley’s accuracy.

Bothell’s quarterback was 8 of 10 for 206 yards and four touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter to squash Union’s hopes.

The Cougars are known more for their rushing attack, and that helped the passing game, Foley said.

“We just switched up. We have excellent coaches,” he said. “They can adjust against any defense. I’ve got to give it to the coaches. We just executed.”

The Cougars caught the Union defensive backs peaking in the backfield.

“It’s all the running game. We do one play-fake, and all the DBs come up, and we’re open downfield all the time.”

“We had some breakdowns at times,” Piland said. “When you play a team that runs the ball as well as they do, there is a tendency for that to happen.”

The Titans, who trailed by 17 last week only to tie the game, looked poised for another rally.

Browning scored on a 2-yard run late in the third quarter to make it 28-14. The next three possessions — two by Bothell, one by Union — all resulted in turnovers. Browning recovered a fumble deep in Bothell territory, then quarterback Kaben Humphrey-Butler cashed in from a yard out to make it 28-21 with 10:54 left in the game.

Foley struck back quickly, though, finding Wendell Galvan for a 52-yard touchdown less than a minute later.

And when Union lost possession on downs, the Cougars went back to the run game, killed some clock, then faked out the Union defense again on an 11-yard TD pass from Foley to Brad Monson to make it 42-21.

“We battled. 28-21. Huge momentum swings right there,” Piland said. “If we were able to get a stop there, we had it going.”

Bothell took advantage of a blocked punt to score the first touchdown of the game, a Foley pass to Dylan Hanley from five yards out.

The Titans bounced right back, going 62 yards on five plays and tying the game on Brandon Brody-Heim’s 5-yard run.

Foley’s bomb to a wide open Trent Sewell made it 14-7 for Bothell. After a Union fumble, the Cougars pounced again, this time on an 11-play drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown run from Luke Proulx.

Proulx opened the scoring in the second half with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 28-7.

For the seniors, their run of Union football has come to an end.

In 2011, it will be time for this year’s juniors, such as Brody-Heim, Humphrey-Butler and Tanner Nelson, to lead the next wave of Titans.

Brody-Heim led the ground game Friday night with 75 yards on 13 carries. Humphrey-Butler completed 12 of 20 passes for 204 yards. Nelson caught seven balls for 84 yards and also threw for 37 yards.

“We lost two close games,” said Nelson, referring to the final two weeks of the season. “Next year we’ll come back much more composed and get the job done.”

BOTHELL 42, UNION 21

Union 7 0 7 7—21

Bothell 14 7 7 14—42

First quarter

B — Dylan Hanley 5 pass from Braden Foley (Jon Mercer kick)

U — Brandon Brody-Heim 5 run (Hudson Poissant kick)

B — Trent Sewell 59 pass from Foley (Mercer kick)

Second quarter

B — Luke Proulx 1 run (Mercer kick)

Third quarter

B — Proulx 14 run (Mercer kick)

U — Zak Browning 2 run (Poissant kick)

Fourth quarter

U — Kaben Humphrey-Butler 1 run (Poissant kick)

B — Wendell Galvan 52 pass from Foley (Mercer kick)

B — Brad Monson 11 pass from Foley (Mercer kick)

LEADERS

Rushing — Union: Brody-Heim 13-75, Browning 7-36. Bothell: Proulx 26-78, Seymour Ottorbech 9-29.

Passing — Union: Humphrey-Butler 12-20-0-204, Tanner Nelson 1-1-0-37. Bothell: Foley 8-10-0-206.

Receiving — Union: Nelson 7-84, Tre Christensen 3-77, Browning 1-40, T.J. Boatright 1-36, Brody-Heim 1-4. Bothell: Sewell 3-90, Galvan 2-77, Monson 2-34, Hanley 1-5.