Evergreen overcomes miscues in 27-6 win over Washougal

Evergreen is 2-0, and that’s the good news.

But the Plainsmen feel like they can be so much better.

Evergreen scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to open up a close game to beat Washougal 27-6 on Friday in a non-league game at McKenzie Stadium.

“I felt like the opportunities were there, and we were just that close,” senior Kyle Norton said. “We’ve just got to capitalize off that next time and finish the play, really. Block all the way through the play and not get off the blocks. And then we got to break those big ones and score more touchdowns.”

The Plainsmen looked they were on their way to doing that when Norton broke loose on a 33-yard touchdown in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.

But when they looked up at the scoreboard after three quarters, it was still 7-0.

“I felt like we did a lot of things to hurt ourselves tonight,” Evergreen coach Christian Swain said. “Just a lack of discipline. We’ve got to do a better job with penalties, extra stuff after plays. We really pride ourselves on the way we play defense. So they’re playing physical, but there are times they got to know when they’re kind of riding the line a little too close.”

Norton scored a second touchdown to open the fourth quarter, and Jonathan Landry pulled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Crace to give Evergreen a 20-0 lead.

Norton finished with 187 yards on 26 carries.

“Kyle is a senior captain, a leader who has done every single thing right,” Swain said. “And I’m just glad to see him playing so well the first couple of weeks of the season.”

Key moments

After Washougal drove 63 yards to the Evergreen 1 in the first quarter — a drive extended by a fourth-down penalty by Evergreen — David Kailea came up with a fumble recovery on the 1-yard line to turn the Panthers away.

Washougal drove inside the 5 again right before halftime. After passing up a field goal try on the half’s final play, Evergreen came up with a defensive stop with Jordan Peters nearly picking off a pass that could have led to a 99-yard touchdown return.

Key players

Jonathan Landry, Evergreen — The junior caught seven passes for 73 yards and one touchdown.

Jayden Crace, Evergreen — The sophomore quarterback, in his first home start, passed for 123 yards and a touchdown.

Holden Bea, Washougal — The sophomore quarterback took a hard hit from Royall Wilson in the first quarter. But returned to pass for 171 yards and a touchdown.

Quotable

“I feel like (this game) was not indicative of the type of team we have. But tonight we just kind of had one of those games that we’ll need to go back Monday and clean some things up,” Evergreen coach Christian Swain on having 10 penalties for 105 yards.

EVERGREEN 27, WASHOUGAL 6

Washougal 0 0 0 6—6

Evergreen 0 7 0 20—27

Second quarter

E — Kyle Norton 33 run (Gavin Herbert kick)

Fourth quarter

E — Norton 1 run (kick blocked)

E — Jonathan Landry 44 pass from Jayden Crace (Herbert kick)

W — Carson Morris 35 pass from Holden Bea (kick failed)

E — Royall Wilson 7 run (Herbert kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Washougal: Garrett Mansfield 2-14, Bea 7-1, Liam Atkin 6-1. Evergreen: Norton 26-187, Wilson 11-48, Landry 5-2, Crace 4-3, team 2-(-10).

PASSING — Washougal: Bea 19-34-1-171. Evergreen: Crace 14-22-1-123.

RECEIVING — Washougal: Morris 2-41, Thomas Brown 6-63, Matt Brown 4-30, Sam Evers 4-10, Mansfield 2-9, Will Cooper 1-3. Evergreen: Landry 7-73, Jordan Peters 3-25, Shane Newell 1-6, Norton 1-2, Logan Trotter 1-9, Arthur Ban 1-8.