The opening act of Montesano’s postseason run couldn’t have gone any better for the Bulldogs.

Montesano scored two first-quarter touchdowns in less than 15 seconds and turned up the heat in the second quarter en route to a 49-6 thrashing of the Colville Crimson Hawks in a 1A State Tournament first-round game on Saturday at Montesano High School.

Despite a capacity crowd of hungry Bulldogs fans cheering on their team, it was the Colville offense that threw the first punch, picking up two first downs to take the opening drive inside the Monte 30-yard line.

But on 4th-and-short from the Bulldogs 27, Colville quarterback Brock Benson’s sneak attempt was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, turning the ball over the to the Bulldogs.

Monte (7-3 overall) broke the scoreless tie when senior Marcus Hale scored on a 4-yard run at the 6:48 mark of the first quarter to cap a 7-play, 75-yard drive.

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano senior Marcus Hale scored two touchdowns in a 49-6 victory over Colville in the first round of the 1A State playoffs on Saturday at Jack Rottle Field in Montesano.

“(Monte defensive coordinator) Todd Hoiness put in a new defense for that situation and what we anticipated them doing,” Monte head coach Terry Jensen said. “He called the perfect defense and we stuffed it and went down and scored.”

On the ensuing kickoff, Bulldogs all-league kicker Cristofer Tobar placed a perfect pooch kick down the right sideline. The ball was mishandled by Colville’s Braxton Brown, who failed to secure the loose ball. Montesano’s Mason Fry jumped on the pigskin to give the Bulldogs offense the ball in great field position.

One play later, Monte junior quarterback Tyson Perry threw a strike down the left sideline to senior wide receiver Mason Rasmussen, who hauled it in for a 30-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 6:36 to play in the opening frame.

“That’s what the coaches have preached all week: Start off fast and start off strong. Don’t let them think they have a chance,” Rasmussen said. “That’s exactly what we did.”

Monte ramped up the pressure in the second quarter, starting with an interception by junior defensive back Zach Timmons on a tipped ball early in the frame to kill a Crimson Hawks drive.

Later in the quarter, Rasmussen would come up with a pick of his own, and this one went for six points. Playing from his outside linebacker spot, Rasmussen read a pass from Benson, jumping the route and returning another tipped ball 25 yards for a pick-6 touchdown.

Tobar’s extra point made it a 21-0 game with 7:19 to play in the second quarter.

“That’s my first time doing that this year,” Rasmussen said of scoring a touchdown on both offense and defense in the same game. “It starts with the O-line, it starts with (linebacker) Felix Romero getting a hand on the ball and it luckily getting into my hands. It starts with everyone else.”

Monte would go up 28-0 when on the first play of a drive, Toren Crites took a handoff and motored through a wide-open hole through the left side of the Colville defense for a 77-yard touchdown with just under five minutes to play in the first half.

With under two minutes left until halftime, Timmons would cap off a 5-play, 55-yard drive that included two Monte holding penalties with a 23-yard scoring run.

The Bulldogs defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back with under a minute to go.

Monte’s offense wasted no time, scoring on the first play of the possession when Perry found Hale near the end-zone pylon for a 44-yard touchdown and a commanding 42-0 lead with 34 seconds until halftime.

“Our captains made sure that we came out fast,” Hale said of Monte’s hot start. “The whole team was playing fast. I don’t think there was anybody taking a play off. Everybody was working very hard.”

The Bulldogs added one more touchdown when reserve running back Carter Conklin-Smith scored on a 20-yard run in the third quarter to put Monte up 49-0.

With Monte’s underclassmen in the game and a running clock in the second half, the Crimson Hawks scored a late garbage-time touchdown to prevent the Monte shutout.

“Playoff games are a lot about momentum,” Jensen said. “It’s a lot easier to play when you are going downhill than when you’re going uphill. … Once you get to a running clock, it’s almost a lock at that point.”

The Bulldogs defense allowed 201 yards – nearly half coming on Colville’s 98-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter – forced four turnovers and seven punts against the Crimson Hawks.

Montesano junior defensive back Ashton McKinney also had an interception in the game while Fry added a sack for the Bulldogs.

Monte’s offense collected 344 yards on Saturday, 239 of those on the ground led by Crites (2 carries, 97 yards) and Timmons (8-71).

Perry went 3 for 8 passing for 105 yards without an interception.

Hale led Monte with two catches for 75 yards.

Monte was also solid on special teams, with Tobar a perfect 7 for 7 in extra-point attempts and all-state punter Felix Romero pinning the Crimson Hawks inside their own 10-yard line twice.

Though Monte played great, the Bulldogs performance was not without its faults. Monte committed eight penalties for 75 yards, which is an area of concern as the Bulldogs face tougher playoff competition.

“Penalties are a little bit concerning right now,” Jensen said. “Especially the pre-snap ones are the ones that are just killers because those are just mental mistakes. We’re not listening to what the snap-count is and we’re too undisciplined on some of those and we’ve got to get a lot better. It’s a lot easier to call plays when it’s 2nd-and-3 than 2nd-and-15.”

“We’re all a family and everybody here shows each other love,” Hale said of how the Bulldogs overcame the yellow flags, the bulk of which were thrown in the first half. “If we make a mistake, everyone comes together and picks that guy up.”

“You can’t look at it as ‘We just got a penalty.’ You have to have the mindset on the next play as a team,” Rasmussen said. “We never dog on our teammates. One person gets a penalty, the whole team gets a penalty. It’s a team mistake.”

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano’s Zach Timmons (4) races down the sideline during a 49-6 win over Colville in the first round of the 1A State playoffs on Saturday at Montesano High School.

Another area of concern has been health as several Monte players just coming off of injury and others that have been dealing with illness, many of them First and Second Team all-leaguers.

“They gutted it out and it was just awesome to see. I’m really proud of those guys,” said Jensen, mentioning Rasmussen, Timmons, Terek Gunter and Kyle Caton, to name a few. “They are just willing to put it on the line. Some guys are looking to whenever the next season is, these guys want to keep playing.”

With the win, the Bulldogs earned a favorable No. 6 seed when the WIAA announced their seeds for the final 12 playoff teams on Sunday.

The Bulldogs will host No. 11 Omak (6-4) on either Friday or Saturday (time, date to be determined).

Colville 0 0 0 6 – 6

Montesano 14 28 7 0 – 49

Scoring

First quarter

Montesano – Hale 4 run (Tobar kick), 6:48

M – Rasmussen 30 pass from Perry (Tobar kick), 6:36

Second quarter

M – Rasmussen 25 interception return (Tobar kick), 7:19

M – Crites 77 run (Tobar kick), 4:59

M – Timmons 23 run (Tobar kick), 1:48

M – Hale 44 pass from Perry (Tobar kick), 0:34

Third quarter

M – Conklin-Smith 20 run (Tobar kick), 2:47

Fourth quarter

Colville – Dunham 68 pass from Benson (pass fail), 0:20

Passing: C – Benson 6-19-3-103. M – Perry 3-8-0-105.

Rushing: C – Dunham 10-61, Benson 9-25, Lewis 6-11, Ottak 1-1. M – Crites 2-97, Timmons 8-71, Hale 3-36, Perry 5-29, Conklin-Smith 1-20, Mann 1-(-1), Stott 2-(-1), Messick 2-(-2), Williamsen 1-(-10).

Receiving: C – Dunham 4-90, Ottak 2-13. M – Hale 2-75, Rasmussen 1-30.

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Other games

Friday Harbor 24, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 22