VANCOUVER — Mountain View knew it had a chance to clinch a playoff spot Friday night, so it took the opportunity and ran with it.
Then, it ran some more. And some more after that. And a teecny-weency bit more at the end for good measure.
When the skedaddling finally ceased, the visiting Thunder emerged with a 61-6 win over Columbia River to finish second in the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League.
A first-round playoff game at Timberline in Lacey awaits, but not before a little celebration.
“Until you look at the film, you don’t know who did what in what situation, but our kids were fantastic,” said Mountain View coach, Adam Mathieson, who was the victim of a post-game Gatorade bath. “We haven”t been in a game like that in a long time.”
The “like that” referred to a game with playoff implications. But Mathieson likely won’t have to study the film too closely to see how his Thunder excelled. He need look no further than two running backs —PJ Jones and Sterling Reynolds — and a few offensive linemen clearing crater-sized holes for them.
Jones finished with 191 yards and four touchdowns on nine carries. Reynolds added 161 yards and two TDs on 11 runs. The rampant rushing helped put Mountain View (7-2, 5-1 in league) ahead 41-0 at halftime and 48-0 early in the third quarter, a lead that prompted a running clock for rest of the game.
Columbia River coach John O’Rourke knew he’d be meeting a tough opponent, but he didn”t anticipate it would be this tough.
“We’re disappointed. We thought we could compete,” O’Rourke said. “That’s the fastest team we’ve seen this year.”
Mountain View’s win eliminated Columbia River (5-4, 3-3) from the postseason, but that win looked close to inevitable from the Thunder’s first possession on.
Mountain View first scored when Jones broke loose for a 47 yard TD run less than five minutes into the game, although the point-after attempt failed. Reynolds added a 35-yard scoring run with 50 seconds left in the first quarter to give the Thunder a 13-0 lead.
It was just getting started.
Reynolds opened the second quarter with a 62-yard TD run, Jones followed that up less than three minutes later with a 59-yard dash to the end zone, Josh Parker added to the scoring frenzy via a 60-yard interception return for six points, and with less than a minute to go in the half, Mountain View quarterback Ryan Hansen tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Johnson.
“It must have been adrenaline,” said Reynolds just before touting his offensive line. “We didn’t lose track of what we were going for.”
Added Jones: “We wanted to put the pressure on them early. That was our plan.”
The Thunder’s offense grew so prolific that even the scoreboard operator had trouble keeping up. Despite Chavo Camargo drilling Mountain View’s final extra-point attempt, the board showed the final score as 60-6.
Turnovers played big role in the lopsided score, as fumbles and interceptions prevented Columbia River from gaining any momentum.
Quarterback Justin Rinta got the Chieftains on the board with a 3-yard TD run with 5:26 left in the game. Hansen finished 3 of 4 passing for 56 yards and one interception. Columbia River quarterback Clayton Frank was 12 for 19 with 88 yards and two picks.
MOUNTAIN VIEW 61, COLUMBIA RIVER 6
Mountain View 13 28 21 0 — 61
Columbia River 0 0 0 6 — 6
First quarter
MV — PJ Jones 47 run (kick failed)
MV — Sterling Reynolds 35 run (Chavo Camargo kick)
Second quarter
MV — Reynolds 62 run (Camargo kick)
MV — Jones 59 run (Camargo kick)
MV — Josh Parker 60 interception return (Camargo kick)
MV — Ryan Johnson 14 pass from Ryan Hansen (Camargo kick)
Third quarter
MV — Jones 13 run (Camargo kick)
MV — Jones 7 run (kick failed)
MV — Connor Atchison 7 run (Camargo kick)
Fourth quarter
CR — Justin Rinta 3 run (run failed)
Leaders
Rushing — Mountain View: PJ Jones 9-191, Sterling Reynolds 11-161, Connor Atchison 1-7, Sean McCarron 1-3, Ryan Hansen 1-3. Columbia River: Remick Kawawaki 9-27, Clayton Frank 10-22, Dennis Henderson 3-10, Mike McCann 1-5, Justin Rinta 1-3.
Passing — Mountain View: Hansen 3-4-1-56. Columbia River: Frank 12-19-2-88, McCann 2-6-1-31, Rinta 2-3-0-7.
Receiving — Mountain View: Ryan Johnson 2-42, Jeff Carmody 1-14. Columbia River: Henderson 3-32, Cameron Jay 3-25, Ben Kraft 3-20, Thomas Jacobson 3-20, John Mahoney 1-18.
