MONTESANO – Entering Friday’s game, the Montesano Bulldogs knew what Columbia-White Salmon wanted to do offensively, and they proceeded to shut them out for three quarters in Monte’s 32-7 1A District IV Crossover win at Jack Rottle Filed.

The win puts the Bulldogs into the state tournament where they, and the rest of the state qualifiers, will wait to hear from the state selection committee to determine their next opponent when the brackets are announced on Sunday.

Monte head coach Terry Jensen said he was concerned his team’s energy would be lacking after an emotional win in a rivalry game last week.

“We were a little bit worried we would come out with an Elma hangover from last week,” he said. “Even though it didn’t start well I thought the kids had a great week of practice and they came out with a lot of emotion.”

The Monte defense was stout from the start but it took the Bulldogs some time before the offense could get rolling.

A bad snap that led to a fumble snuffed out what looked to be a promising drive early in the contest, however, Monte started to pick up steam late in the first quarter. A methodical drive was capped off with an 11-yard touchdown run from Teegan Zillyett with less than a minute to go in the first quarter that gave Monte the 7-0 lead.

Zillyett set the pace for the offense with 16 carries for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

Montesano’s Teegan Zillyett runs to the outside on a 15-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Zillyett ruished for 136 yards and two touchdowns in the game. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor Newsgroup)

“I was really hoping to play well because you never know, it could be the last game any week,” Zillyett said. “I saw the offensive line was blocking well and just took the holes they were giving me.”

Even as his team began pulling away after establishing its run game, Jensen didn’t expect the Bruins to deviate too much from what they’ve done all year.

“No matter what the situation, they stick to what they do best,” he said. “They want to get the ball out in space to their playmakers, so we knew they were going to continue to run the ball. They’ve only passed the ball 60 or 70 times on the season.”

In an attempt to catch the Bulldogs flat-footed, the Bruins elected to run a fake punt and pass the ball downfield on 4th-and-12. Shaydon Farmer jumped the route and returned the ball to just outside the red zone.

Taking advantage of the good starting field position, Zillyett found more holes to run though and broke three tackles on his way on a 15-yard touchdown run to put his team up 13-0 with 1:28 in the second quarter.

Monte’s defense kept the Bruins from getting within striking distance.

Kai Olson gave problems to opposing blockers, coming away with 10 tackles, two sacks and six tackles for loss.

Jensen said his team locked in defensively once they got used to Columbia-White Salmon’s speed.

“We knew they had three really good playmakers with wide receiver Chandlor Bucklin, quarterback Austin Charters and running back Trenton Howard. We knew they would try to get the ball in their hands,” he said. “We missed some tackles early but once we caught up to their speed a little bit I thought we did a much better job containing the fly sweeps and the inside runs.”

Not satisfied with the 13-0 lead they took into halftime, the Bulldogs put more points on the board on their first possession of the second half when Farmer found Sam Winter on a short pass that Winter turned into a 52-yard touchdown, breaking several tackles on the way to pay dirt to give Monte a 19-0 lead.

Farmer got into the end zone himself with a quarterback sneak on the goal line to go up 25-0 with less than five minutes to go in the third.

Montesano added another touchdown on anther goal line run from Farmer with time winding down in the fourth, allowing the Bulldogs to get bench players in the game, and the starters to rest.

The Bulldogs don’t have an idea of who they will face in the first round of state.

Jensen said he plans to be checking the WIAA website Sunday morning to find out who to prepare for and is confident his team will rise to the occasion regardless of who is scheduled.

“I have no idea what they’ll do but I hope that we end up in the top seven so we could get a home game, but we’ll take on anyone, anytime, anywhere,” he said.

CWS 0 0 0 7 — 7

Monte 7 6 12 7 — 32

Leading Passer: Montesano — Farmer (11-16, 120 1 TD)

Leading Rusher: Montesano — Zillyett (16-135, 2 TD)

Leading Receiver: Montesano — Winter (5-76, 1 TD)