Prep football: Evergreen 31, Battle Ground 14

Evergreen 31, Battle Ground 14

Richie Townsend’s two touchdowns in less than a minute broke open a three-point game in the fourth quarter, leading the Plainsmen to their first victory of the season.

Townsend’s 10-yard touchdown run gave Evergreen a 24-14 lead with 6:37 left in the game, ending a momentum rush for the Tigers. The Plainsmen (1-4, 1-0 4A GSHL) then recovered a muffed kick, putting them in position to score again. Townsend found the end zone on a 2-yard run, just 59 seconds after his initial score, putting the game out of reach.

Townsend finished with 90 yards on 13 carries, most coming in the second half after Chase Lawrence was knocked out of the game with an injury. Lawrence had 92 yards on nine carries in the first half, including a touchdown, as Evergreen took a 14-0 lead at the break.

Timur Zhividze’s 36-yard field goal midway through the third quarter gave the Plainsmen a 17-0 lead.

Battle Ground, though, responded with an 11-play, 78-yard drive, capped by Kokou Akengue’s 1-yard plunge. The Tigers (1-4, 0-1) recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, then made it 17-14 on a 6-yard touchdown run from Akengue with 10:39 left in the game. Akengue finished with 157 yards on 25 carries.

It was all Plainsmen after that.

Nehemiah Beavers ended the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run, moments after Evergreen recovered a fumble. Quwontae Wallace scored Evergreen’s first touchdown of the game on a 14-yard run.

Evergreen quarterback Anthony Thomas rushed for 87 yards, part of his team’s 349-yard rushing attack.

Next up: Battle Ground (1-4) vs. Skyview, Thursday; Evergreen (1-4) vs. Kelso

Battle Ground 0 0 7 7—14

Evergreen 14 0 3 21—38

First quarter

Eve — Quwontae Wallace 14 run (Timur Zhividze kick)

Eve — Chase Lawrence 6 run (Zhividze kick)

Third quarter

Eve — Zhividze 36 FG

BG — Kokou Akengue 1 run (Mac Brandenburger kick)

Fourth quarter

BG — Akengue 6 run (Brandenburger kick)

Eve — Richie Townsend 10 run (Zhividze kick)

Eve — Townsend 2 run (Zhividze kick)

Eve — Nehemiah Beavers 11 run (Zhividze kick)

Leaders

Rushing — Battle Ground: Akengue 25-157, Nohi Brede 12-61; Evergreen: Lawrence 9-92, Townsend 13-90, Anthony Thomas 10-87, Wallace 10-58.

Passing — Battle Ground: Chris Paul 5-11-1-81, Tyler Bergeron 0-1-1-0; Evergreen: Thomas 5-11-1-71.

Receiving — Battle Ground: Brede 2-39, Seth Belknap 1-32, Jake Blackman 1-8, Akengue 1-2; Evergreen: Beavers 2-24, Bryan Shirts 1-22, Townsend 1-13, Artem Konkin 1-12.