1A Trico League Football: Stevenson 20, King’s Way Christian 14

Stevenson held off a fervent second-half comeback to edge King’s Way Christian 20-14 in a 1A Trico league football game on Friday night at S.R. Preece Memorial Stadium.

Tucker Wyninger plowed in the opening score for the Bulldogs (1-0 overall, 1-0 1A Trico) on their first possession of the season, using a second effort to dive in for a 4-yard rushing touchdown.

Stevenson turned to the arm of Kacen Bach to extend the lead, the senior finding short passes to Garrett Funk and Nate Kick near the goal line to give the visiting Bulldogs a 20-0 lead less than 18 minutes into the game.

King’s Way (0-1, 0-1) struggled with containing the snap in the shotgun, marking nine negative runs in the first half on the way to just 22 yards from scrimmage.

The Knights would turn it around in the third quarter, finding a rhythm with a faster tempo offense. Sophomore quarterback Sam Somarakis got King’s Way on the board early in the second half with a high-arcing pass to Zachary Lewis in the back corner of the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown.

Knights junior Ryan Charlton did all the work on the next possession, taking a pitch off the right tackle and turning on the burners for a 63-yard score to narrow the deficit to 20-14 with 8:39 to play.

King’s Way had a chance to win the game late, retaking possession with 34 seconds to play but couldn’t find the end zone.

Bach led Stevenson with 183 passing yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Charlton had 130 rushing yards for King’s Way and Somarakis finished with 105 yards passing.

STEVENSON 20, KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 14

Stevenson 14 6 0 0 – 20

Kings Way 0 0 7 7 – 14

First Quarter

S – Tucker Wyninger 4 run (Derek White pass from Kacen Bach), 8:15

S – Garrett Funk 3 pass from Bach (incomplete pass), 1:01

Second Quarter

S – Nate Kick 10 pass from Bach (kick blocked), 6:19

Third Quarter

KW – Zachary Lewis 31 pass from Sam Somarakis (Rylan Richter kick), 3:02

Fourth Quarter

KW – Ryan Charlton 63 run (Richter kick), 8:39

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Stevenson, Derek White 6-32, Nate Kick 2-18, Tucker Wyninger 11-9, Jordan Waymire 1-1, Kasen Polzel 2-minus 2, Kacen Bach 19-minus 5. King’s Way, Ryan Charlton 20-130, Sam Somarakis 22-2.

PASSING – Stevenson, Kacen Bach 16-24-0-183.King’s Way, Sam Somarakis 12-23-1-105.

RECEIVING – Stevenson, Derek White 6-89, Garrett Funk 4-49, Jordan Waymire 3-23, Nate Kick 2-20, Jayden Lankford 1-2. King’s Way, Zachary Lewis 7-67, Brayden Zimmerman 2-20, Auston Dornbusch 2-11, Cameron Disbrow 1-7.

INTERCEPTIONS – Stevenson, Garrett Funk 1.