The ground game of the Woodland Beavers was virtually unstoppable and the Trico League opener for both teams was never really in doubt after the first quarter.
The good news for Kalama fans is that the Chinooks scored with less than four minutes remaining in the game, avoiding what looked to be a certain shutout.
Even though the score continued to rise throughout the game, Kalama continued to battle for every yard on offense and defense.
“Kalama had to throw several freshman out there tonight,” Woodland coach Mark Greenleaf said. “They showed a lot of courage and battled very hard for how young they are.”
The game was all Woodland on both sides of the ball. Woodland ground out 302 yards on 39 carries, while the Woodland defense forced Kalama into three quick punts and a fumble in the first half alone.
The first quarter was all Woodland. After two penalties on their first three plays from scrimmage, Woodland’s Cy Whitmire ran for a 47-yard touchdown with 8:32 remaining in the first quarter. Whitmire followed with a 20-yard touchdown later in the first quarter, and a 19-yard strike from Hunter Huddleston to Kyle Hendrix for a touchdown closed out the scoring in the first.
Huddleston once again found Hendrix in the end zone with a 15-yard toss in the second quarter while Eli Whitmire scored on runs of 1 and 17 yards in the second and third quarters.
With an arsenal of running backs, Woodland continued grinding the ground game with a 5-yard touchdown run from Troy Flanagan in the second quarter and a 2-yard touchdown run from Kolten Snyder in the fourth quarter. Woodland kicker, Todd Bosen was 7 for 8 on PAT kicks.
Kalama scored late in the fourth quarter on a 31-yard touchdown run from Tony Vigoren and on the ensuing kickoff Kalama recovered a fumble on the Woodland 27-yard line shortly before the game ended.
“These guys are virtually our cross-town rivals,” Greenleaf said “We have an eight-mile war on our hands and now we’re finally in the same league.”
Now in his tenth year as Head Coach, Greenleaf felt it was crucial for his players to win this first game in their new league.
This year Woodland dropped down from 2A to the Trico 1A league and if tonight’s game is any indication, they’re a force to be reckoned with. Woodland fielded 75 players for tonight’s game while Kalama fielded 39.
WOODLAND 55, KALAMA 6
Kalama 0 0 0 6– 6
Woodland 21 20 7 7–55
First quarter
W — Cy Whitmire 48 run (Todd Bosen kick)
W — C. Whitmire 20 run (Bosen kick)
W — Kyle Hendrix 19 pass from Hunter Huddleston (Bosen kick)
Second quarter
W — Eli Whitmire 1 run (kick failed)
W — Hendrix 15 pass from Huddleston (Bosen kick)
W — Troy Flanagan 5 run (Bosen kick)
Third quarter
W — E. Whitmire 18 run (Bosen kick)
Fourth quarter
W — Colton Snyder 2 run (Bosen kick)
K — Tony Bigoren 35 run (run failed)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Woodland — C. Whitmire 12-139, E. Whitmire 5-32, Huddelston 5-18, Levi Leach 6-33, Jeremy Koonce 8-51, Snyder 3-23, Flanagan 1-5, Trevor Huddleston 1-3.
PASSING — H. Huddleston 4-5-0-65.
RECEIVING — Hendrix 3-59, Tanner Knight 1-6.
