Between his three touchdown passes and a pick-6, Hoquiam’s Payton Quintanilla was too much for Montesano to handle.
Quintanilla passed for 150 yards and rushed for 159 more in Hoquiam’s 37-25 win over Montesano on Friday at Olympic Stadium.
Quintanilla said he envisioned having a game like this all week.
“It feels amazing to win this one. It’s a great feeling to have since it’s been three years (since our last win over Monte),” he said. “I was hoping to have a big game. I’ve been working my butt off in practice and everything was working tonight.”
Hoquiam’s Payton Quintanilla breaks free from a tackle on a run play in the second quarter. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
The game was Monte’s first league loss since they fell to the Grizzlies in 2015. Hoquiam could wrap up a league title with a win against Forks on Oct. 26.
Things were working on defense for both teams in the first quarter as the offenses struggled to find a rhythm early on.
Hoquiam (7-0, 3-0 Evergreen 1A) and Montesano (5-2,1-1) both went three-and-out on its opening drives and battled for field position for most of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs got a little bit of momentum going into the second quarter and finished off a long drive with 30-yard touchdown pass from Shaydon Farmer to Sam Winter to give them the 6-0 lead.
Hoquiam didn’t take too long to respond and took the lead on a 28-yard pass from Quintanilla to Jackson Folkers at 9:48 in the second quarter.
As a follow up to his first touchdown pass of the evening, Quintanilla jumped a route in the flat, intercepted Farmer’s pass and returned 30 yards for the score with 8:33 left in the second quarter.
“We talked about that play all week and Quintanilla read it, jumped it,” said Hoquiam head coach Jeremy McMillan. “That was a big momentum swing because I think they thought that was going the other way.”
Down 14-6, Monte decided to get a little creative. Backup quarterback Trace Ridgway took the snap while Farmer lined up as a wide out. Ridgway tossed the ball to Farmer on what appeared to be a jet sweep until Farmer pulled up to pass and hit Brennen Wolcott down the sidelines for a 66 yard-touchdown. The trick play pushed the score to 14-12 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.
Hoquiam then put together a methodical 70-yard drive that concluded with a QB sneak from Quintanilla to stretch the lead to 21-12.
Monte seemed to be in good position to make it a one-score game before halftime. The Bulldogs found themselves with the ball on the Grizzlies 1-yard line with about three seconds left in the first half after getting stuffed on a goal line run. With the clock running after the failed play, Montesano head coach Terry Jensen tried to get the official’s attention, but his request for a timeout fell on deaf ears as the clock ticked down to zero.
A frustrated Jensen had an animated conversation with the referees before heading to the locker room and said after the game that not getting a timeout called in that scenario hurt his team’s momentum.
“We tried to get the timeout at the end of half and we didn’t get it. That was huge because it could have been a six- or three-point turnaround,” he said.
Hoquiam got on the board with 3:07 left in the third quarter with a 15-yard catch-and-run to Monte’s Camden Templer on a screen pass.
But Monte didn’t go quietly, as Aydan Darst got into the endzone on a 4-yard run and was followed by Farmer hitting Dohmann with a 9-yard scoing pass on the Bulldogs’ subsequent possession. The back-to-back scores brought Monte to within a touchdown at 30-25 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
Montesano’s Sam Winter, right, breaks away from Hoquiam’s Cameron Bumstead to make a touchdown catch in the first quarter. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Looking to put the game away on 4th-and-1 from Monte’s 22-yard line, Quintanilla found Dane McMillan for a touchdown to secure the win.
Quintanilla said he knew somebody would be open with the defense showing blitz.
“Everyone was blitzing in the middle, so we ran slants and I found Dane McMillan wide open in the middle. It was awesome,” he said.
Despite the loss, Jensen was proud of the way his team competed with starters, such as leading rusher Teegan Zillyett, out of the lineup.
“We’re patched together with duct tape right now but I’m really proud of our kids. They competed,” he said. “We talked a lot about playing with courage and they did that tonight.”
Monte will lick its wounds and look to notch its next league win in a road game against Tenino on Friday.
After the intensity of the rivalry game, Hoquiam will play a non-league contest against Sequim next week at home at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Coach McMillan is expecting another focused effort next week.
“They were dialed in all week and minimized distractions throughout,” he said. “They didn’t focus too much on the undefeated season and they’re just playing each week like its rivalry game.”
Montesano 0 12 0 13 — 25
Hoquiam 0 21 6 10 — 37
Leading Passer: Hoquiam — Quintanilla (11-18-1, 150 3 TD, INT); Farmer (14-30-0, 239, TD)
Leading Rusher: Hoquiam— Quintanilla (22-159); Monte — Sam Winter (6-95)
Leading Receiver: Hoquiam — Folkers (3-48); Monte — Wolcott (2-82)
