Prep football: Battle Ground 28, Woodland 12

WOODLAND — The Battle Ground football team is one-third into its season and already has surpassed last year’s win total. The Tigers improved to 2-1, ensuring that a rigorous offseason conditioning regimen yielded at least some improvement.

And Battle Ground certainly celebrated the win — mainly because it had to earn it.

After a scoreless first quarter, Woodland took a 6-0 lead when quarterback Adam Shoup capped a long drive with a 2-yard TD run five seconds into the second quarter. But the lead lasted for less than two minutes, as Tigers QB Ian Humphrey tossed a 53-yard scoring pass to Tyler Bergeron to put Battle Ground up 7-6.

Eight minutes later, Woodland (1-2) recaptured the lead when Shoup ran it 80 yards into the end zone to put the Beavers up 12-7. But the good feelings would again be short-lived, as Humphrey threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Haynes 15 seconds later, giving the Tigers a 14-12 lead and prompting a Woodland assistant coach to mutter “seriously?”

Battle Ground would go on to score on the final play of the first half, when Humphrey again hooked up with Haynes for a 5-yard scoring reception following an offsides call against Woodland. The Tigers iced the game in the third quarter when Trevor Ingram crossed the goal line on a 23-yard run.

Battle Ground coach Larry Peck said that last year’s team would have cracked after falling behind late in the second quarter. Bergeron didn’t disagree.

“We would have fallen apart,” said Bergeron, who finished with 150 rushing yards on 12 carries. “But now we’re like brothers. We decided we were going to change the tradition here.”

Next up: Battle Ground at Hudson’s Bay; Woodland at Scio.

Battle Ground 0 21 7 0—28

Woodland 0 12 0 0—12

Second quarter

W — Adam Shoup 2 run (pass failed)

BG — Tyler Bergeron 53 pass from Ian Humphrey (Hayden Humphrey kick)

W — Adam Shoup 80 run (run failed)

BG — Kevin Haynes 71 pass from Ian Humphrey (H. Humphrey kick)

BG — Kevin Haynes 5 pass from Ian Humphrey (H. Humphrey kick)

Third quarter

BG — Trevor Ingram 23 run (H. Humphrey kick)

Leaders

Rushing — Battle Ground — Tyler Bergeron 12-150, Trevor Ingraham 8-38, Ian Humphrey 3-7, Kevin Haynes 3-3; Woodland — Adam Shoup 12-123, Cy Whitmire 20-76, Eli Whitmire 8-39, Hunter Huddleston 3-9

Passing — Battle Ground — Ian Humphrey 13-28-0-219; Woodland — Adam Shoup 6-19-2-55, Hunter Huddleston 1-2-0-10.

Receiving — Battle Ground — Kevin Haynes 4-102, Tyler Bergeron 3-67, Jake Sachen 5-37, Trevor Ingram 1-13; Woodland — Trevor Huddleston 2-20, Cy Whitmire 3-23, Nick Fuller 2-22.