Tumwater torches Columbia River

During the past four weeks, Columbia River had its way with a string of Class 2A opponents.

On Friday night at River Stadium, though, Tumwater came to town and humbled the Chieftains 62-6 in their final game before they finally kick off Class 3A Greater St. Helens League play.

The Thunderbirds (5-0), ranked No. 2 in 2A, took advantage of three turnovers and two special teams miscues to hand Columbia River (4-1), ranked No. 6 in 3A, its worst loss since the final week of the 2010 season.

“This is a momentum game, and against as strong and disciplined a team as Tumwater, when you get down, you start thinking about how good that other team is,” said River quarterback Gabe Evenson. “People all try to step up and do it on their own, and they lose sight of the team, of trusting the guy next to you.”

The good news, if any could be had after a 56-point loss, is that the game means nothing in the standings for the Chieftains, who open GSHL play next week against Fort Vancouver in their Homecoming game.

“We’re excited that league starts a week from tonight,” Evenson said. “We get to show we can do better than this. It’s an opportunity to turn things around.”

The Chieftains handled Tumwater’s run-heavy attack on its first three drives, forcing three punts without giving up a first down.

But on the third punt, they were flagged for roughing the kicker, and that one play changed everything.

The Thunderbirds capitalized on their good fortune by going 64 yards in eight plays to take a 6-0 lead on Ian Saner’s 3-yard run.

River’s next drive ended in a three-and-out, and on the punt, the snap sailed over Garrett McKee’s head toward the goal line. McKee picked up the football and rolled left to try and get a left-footed punt off.

He whiffed on the kick, though, and Devon Shedd-Kirkland grabbed the ball up from the turf and dived into the end zone for a bizarre touchdown.

“And then I can’t sequence the mistakes we made,” River coach John O’Rourke said, shaking his head. “We’ve got to be able to create a turnaround in that situation, but we weren’t able to complete any plays. We just kept coming up short.”

Tumwater led 28-0 at halftime, and only a hustle play by Jacob Ringold to rip the ball free from the T-Birds’ Tyrus Snow at the River 2 just before the half ended kept the score from getting worse.

Evenson’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Bystry with 5:21 left in the third gave River fans a glimmer of hope, as the Chieftains got within 35-6.

The glimmer was snuffed out, though, when Griffin Shea hauled in a perfectly-lofted pass at midfield from Spencer Dowers and sprinted untouched for an 86-yard score a minute later.

“I was disappointed to see how we reacted tonight,” said Evenson, who finished 8-of-23 passing for 154 yards. “We kind of collapsed early, but we can learn from that. We need to learn how to handle things when we get down early and not point fingers. We need to pick each other up.”

River senior Nathan Hawthorne finished with 165 all-purpose yards, including four catches for 97 yards, and also had five tackles.

TUMWATER 62, COLUMBIA RIVER 6

Tumwater 14 14 21 13–62

Columbia River 0 0 6 0– 6

First quarter

T — Ian Saner 3 run (kick failed)

T — Devon Shedd-Kirkland 2 punt return (Easton Trakel pass from Spencer Dowers)

Second quarter

T — Cade Otton 30 pass from Dowers (Elijah Hill kick)

T — Trakel 9 run (Hill kick)

Third quarter

T — Griffin Shea 4 pass from Trakel (Hill kick)

CR — Jacob Bystry 30 pass from Gabe Evenson (kick failed)

T — Shea 86 pass from Dowers (Hill kick)

T — Saner 7 run (Hill kick)

Fourth quarter

T — Trevor Davis blocked punt recovery in end zone (Hill kick)

T — Brian Marty 11 run (kick blocked)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Tumwater, Trakel 13-168, Tyrus Snow 8-80, Dominic Jones 8-45, Saner 7-21, Dowers 2-8, Caleb Whiteash 2-50, Zach Jones 2-1, Marty 2-32, Jarid Barrett 1-20. Columbia River, Vincent Daniels 15-49, Evenson 9-(minus 2), Travon Santiago 7-17, Nathan Hawthorne 4-29, team 1-(minus 10).

PASSING — Tumwater, Dowers 4-10-0-161, Trakel 1-1-0-4. Columbia River, Evenson 8-23-1-154, Garrett McKee 3-6-0-28.

RECEIVING — Tumwater, Shea 3-96, Otton 2-69. Columbia River, Hawthorne 4-97, Bystry 2-35, Carson Bassett 2-22, Holden Fielding 1-6, Rory Menegat 1-9, Code Schoene 1-13.