1A Trico football: La Center 56, Ilwaco 6

Passes and penalties were few and far between as the La Center Wildcats defeated the visiting Ilwaco Fishermen in a game that was quickly put out of reach.

La Center’s first drive lasted only a few minutes as Taylor Dreyer ran in his first carry of the season for a 36-yard touchdown.

The Wildcats recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and scored a play later on a Dylan King 52-yard pass to A.J. Myers.

Moments later, Dreyer returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown and a quick 21-0 lead. That gave Dreyer two touches, two touchdowns, and 98 yards in just the opneing minutes of the 2012 season.

La Center’s next offensive possession quickly resulted in another touchdown and a commanding 29-0 lead with just under 4 to play in the first quarter.

The Wildcat defense never faltered, even with its huge lead behind them. Ilwaco was held to only 39 yards from scrimmage in the first quarter.

King ran in his own touchdown in the second quarter from 33 yards out.

“We could do a lot of things this year I think,” La Center head coach John Lambert said. “We have players that can throw, we have kids that can catch, we have stable running backs that can run and our offensive line is solid.”‘

Lambert said he was not too concerned about first-game jitters.

“We had a lot of confidence and we knew what we could do,” he said. “I think that really helped us.”

The Wildcats have reason to be optimistic. La Center realizes it has something special this year, although Lambert isn’t getting ahead of himself.

“We have a good outlook,” he said. “We did what we were supposed to tonight.”

LA CENTER 56, ILWACO 6

Ilwaco 0 0 0 6– 6

La Center 29 20 7 0–56

First Quarter

LC — Taylor Dreyer 36 run (Connor Wonderly kick)

LC — A.J. Myers 52 pass from Dylan King (Tony Sandoval kick)

LC — Dreyer 62 punt return (Wonderly kick)

LC — Connor Fulton 39 run (King run good)

Second Quarter

LC — Jared Huddleston 15 run (Wonderly kick)

LC — Wyatt Aguirre 55 run (kick failed)

LC — Matt Braaten 22 pass from King (Wonderly kick)

Third Quarter

LC — Dreyer 11 run (Sandoval kick)

Fourth Quarter

I — Austin Woodby 51 run (run failed)

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Ilwaco — Woodby 11-97, Keishi Thompson 10-45, Eric McMillian 9-28; La Center — Aguirre 2-81, Fulton 4-61, Dreyer 3-55, Huddleston 3-53, Max Hiller 2-31, King 1-14.

PASSING: Ilwaco — McMillian 2-3-0-20; La Center — King 4-4-0-86.

RECEIVING: Ilwaco — Marcus Cox 2-20; La Center — Myers 2-61, Braaten 2-25.