Mountain View escapes in 3OTs against Ridgefield

Who says Week 2 non-league football games aren’t filled with action-packed, down-to-the-wire excitement?

The way the Mountain View Thunder celebrated their 26-20 triple-overtime win — yes, it took three overtimes on Friday afternoon — over Ridgefield at McKenzie Stadium, it felt like a playoff victory instead of win No. 1 on the young 2022 season.

Has a victory ever felt this great for running back Porter Drake?

“I don’t think so,” the junior said. “It felt great … I’m tired.”

The Thunder admit it wasn’t the prettiest way to get it done, but it’s a lot better than staring at an 0-2 record looking ahead to district-rival Union and league play still three weeks away. Ridgefield (0-2) begins league play hosting Hockinson next week.

Friday was the second overtime game in as many weeks for a Clark County team. After Washougal escaped with a 33-32 overtime win over River Ridge to open the season, Mountain View went two steps further needing three overtimes.

The teams entered overtime knotted at 14-all. All four touchdowns came in the first half.

High school overtime rules allow each team to have one possession starting at the 25-yard line for the first, and, if needed, second overtime. Neither team connected on the first overtime. Mountain View’s 37-yard field-goal attempt went wide, and on its first possession, Ridgefield fumbled. Both connected in the second overtime — Ridgefield first with Logan DeBeaumont hitting tight end Kayden Barker for 21 yards, and Mountain View responded back with Kedyn Bolds’ first of two overtime touchdowns.

It wasn’t the prettiest in the kicking game department game for either team. The teams combined for three missed point-after tries in overtime and three missed field goals in the game.

The failed PATs is what extended the game into a third overtime tied at 20. Mountain View and Ridgefield started each possession at the 10-yard line, per high school rules.

Mountain View got the ball to start overtime and on third and 1, Bolds’ 5-yard touchdown score pushed the Thunder’s lead to 26-20.

Ridgefield’s turn. Facing fourth and 8 and after taking a time out, DeBeaumont’s pass to the end zone fell incomplete, sealing the Thunder’s win.

Each team shut each other out in the second half, and the Thunder made it count in the third overtime by keeping Ridgefield out of the end zone.

“It was crazy,” Drake said. “We came out with our brothers and we played our hearts out.

Defense wins games and that’s what we did.”

Quarterback Mitch Johnson accounted for first-half touchdowns — a 72-yard strike to JJ Thompson and a 5-yard run that put the Thunder up 14-7 with 4:18 left in the second quarter.

What’s the biggest takeaway from Friday for the Thunder? Resilience, especially after a 15-14 loss to open the season at 1A Nooksack Valley.

“If we can come back and battle like that,” Johnson said, “after that kind of loss, it’s something special. It shows that we can bounce back and fight hard.

“We came together as a family.”

Ridgefield’s Rocco Wright had a game-high 23 carries. DeBeaumont and Brayden Malella split quarterback reps for a second straight week. Two of his three touchdown passes went to Isaiah Cowley (50 and 5 yards).

MOUNTAIN VIEW 26, RIDGEFIELD 20 (3OT)

Ridgefield 7 7 0 0 0 6 0—20

Mtn. View 7 7 0 0 0 6 6—26

First quarter

MV — JJ Thompson 72 pass from Mitch Johnson (Owen Pervis kick)

R — Isaiah Cowley 5 pass from Logan DeBeaumont (Brandon Rogers kick)

Second quarter

MV — Johnson 2 run (Rogers kick)

R — Cowley 50 pass from DeBeaumont (Rogers kick)

Second overtime

R — Kayden Barker 21 pass from DeBeaumont (kick failed)

MV — Kedyn Bolds 10 run (kick failed)

Third overtime

MV — Bolds 5 run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Ridgefield: Rocco Wright 23-98, Brayden Malella 2-6, Logan DeBeaumont 3-12, Isaiah Cowley 1-3; Mountain View: Porter Drake 10-96, Mitch Johnson 9-59, Akili Kamau 3-11, Kedryn Bolds 7-51, JJ Thompson 1-2.

PASSING — Ridgefield: Logan DeBeaumont 18-26-0-208; Brayden Malella 2-6-0-31; Wyatt Bartroff 0-1-1-0; Mountain View: Mitch Johnson 12-25-0-154.

RECEIVING — Ridgefield: Landon Kelsey 5-68, Isaiah Cowley 7-88, Ben Concannon 2-26, Rocco Wright 2-8, Cash Hill 1-8, Cater Ferber 1-10, No. 3 2-7, Jahlil Lavine 1-5; Mountain View: Akili Kamau 1-(minus-2), JJ Thompson 2-78, Kyle Chen 3-31, Jacob Martin 2-23, Aiden Nicholson 2-14, Porter Drake 1-7.