BATTLE GROUND — Battle Ground fancies itself as a contender in the Greater St. Helens 4A League this season.
But before next week’s showdown with big, bad Camas to open league play, the Tigers had to contend Friday with the little matter of facing their intradistrict rivals from Prairie.
“A rivalry game focused us, for sure,” said BG coach Larry Peck. “We were going for three wins in a row, and the seniors reminded the team that they were not going to lose to Prairie.”
Led by the senior tandem of Gunner Talkington and Max Randle, the Tigers got that third straight win in the series, rolling to a 48-14 victory over the Falcons at District Stadium.
“We never look past any opponent,” said Talkington, who was 22-of-25 passing for 343 yards and four touchdowns to go along with two rushing TDs. “But it’s onto Camas now.”
The Tigers travel to Doc Harris Stadium next week, looking to end a string of losses to the Papermakers during which the average margin of victory is almost 42 points per game.
“Honestly, it’s the biggest game of the season,” Talkington said. “We only get two (playoff) berths this year, so we’ve got to start off good.”
Randle caught nine passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns, and his six tackles — two for loss — led a defensive effort that held the Falcons (0-4) to just 141 yards of total offense.
“We just came out, did our thing and came out with a win,” Randle said. “Everybody did their jobs staying home and being physical on defense.”
Prairie coach Kevin Baker pointed to that difference in physicality as well.
“We have to be more physical all the way across the board,” said Baker, whose team opens 3A GSHL play at home next week against Evergreen. “We just couldn’t sustain a drive tonight.”
The Tigers (4-0) led 20-0 after one quarter, as Talkington was perfect on 13 attempts for 180 yards and two TDs and also ran for a score in the period.
“They were dropping off our receivers, leaving those flat routes open, and we just took what they gave us,” Talkington said.
BG extended the lead to 34-6 by halftime and 48-6 after three quarters.
Still, Peck saw areas for improvement as he also looked ahead to the Papermakers matchup.
“I’m happy with how we played tonight, but still too many mistakes,” he said, pointing to two first-half turnovers and 10 penalties for 87 yards. “We’ll celebrate tonight, but then like everyone else in America, we’ve got a game next week. It just happens to be against perhaps the best team in the state.”
And the Tigers likely will be without standout receiver Austin Adams, who suffered a knee injury on Prairie’s second-quarter scoring drive. Peck said Adams went to the hospital to undergo tests to discover the extent of the injury.
BATTLE GROUND 48, PRAIRIE 14
BatGround 20 14 14 0–48
Prairie 0 6 0 8–14
First Quarter
BG–Riley Phillips 8 pass from Gunner Talkington (pass failed)
BG–Talkington 16 run (Phillips kick)
BG–Tommy Renfroe 36 pass from Talkington (Phillips kick)
Second Quarter
BG–Talkington 24 run (Phillips kick)
P–Alec Gawley 3 run (kick blocked)
BG–Max Randle 8 pass from Talkington (Phillips kick)
Third Quarter
BG–Curtis Stradley 13 run (Phillips kick)
BG–Randle 20 pass from Talkington (Phillips kick)
Fourth Quarter
P–Gawley 28 run (Kevin Aguirre run)
Individuals statistics
RUSHING–BG, Talkington 9-65, Stradley 7-49, Prince Grotte 7-48, Brock Robinson 1-6, Seth Workman 1-(minus 2). P, Aguirre 12-32, Aaron Brumley 7-29, Carson Slagle 7-19, Gawley 5-25, Bryson Pena 2-(minus 4), Henry Le 2-(minus 1).
PASSING–BG, Talkington 22-25-0-343, Randle 1-1-0-49, Workman 0-1-0-0. P, Aguirre 2-10-1-41.
RECEIVING–BG, Randle 9-149, Phillips 6-99, Bailey Buckner 2-18, Renfroe 2-55, Austin Adams 1-23, Robinson 1-16, Stradley 1-21, Bowden Strouse 1-11. P, Gawley 1-33, Pena 1-8.
