ELMA — Fourth-ranked Montesano stepped onto the Davis Field turf as the favorite over East County rival Elma on Friday night and walked away at the end of the night without injuries nor worries in a 51-0 Evergreen 1A League victory.
The annual East County Civil War was all Montesano (5-0, 9-0), which will stay home next Friday to host Stevenson in a District IV 1A crossover game. For Elma, it celebrated its seniors before the game and showed promise against the Bulldogs as its season ends at 1-3, 3-6.
“Sometimes you worry about it, but the kids really focused on the game, with it being a rivalry game. As you know, anything can happen in those games,” Montesano head coach Terry Jensen said. “I thought the kids came out on fire tonight. Elma is a tough team. We played very well tonight. The main thing was coming in healthy and we’re leaving healthy. That’s important.”
“We’re going to move on,” Elma head coach Ron Clark said. “Montesano is a good team. They are very talented. Hats off to them. For our seniors, there were just five of them. They feel bad because the season is over, but they gave everything they had to the program. This was a year of building. We’re going to be ready next year.”
Montesano only needed three offensive plays to go up 14-0 in the first five minutes of the contest. Following a 47-yard shovel pass from Trevor Ridgway to Carson Klinger, Teegan Zillyett scored the first of his two touchdowns from 5 yards out.
The next Monte possession went quick, a 41-yard touchdown strike from Ridgway to Zillyett for a 14-0 lead. Jordan King added a 35-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Elma’s offense struggled to gain traction and hurt itself late in the first quarter when the snap to the punter went over his head into the end zone. Monte’s Sam Winter recovered the ball for the touchdown at 24-0.
Klinger made it 31-0 very early in the second quarter with a 5-yard touchdown pitch and run, while Ridgway used his legs to sprint 47 yards on a fake pitch to Klinger for a touchdown at 38-0.
Ridgway’s second touchdown pass on the night came with 5 minutes remaining in the first half, a 15-yard seam route to Kooper Karaffa for a 44-0 lead.
Elma had a chance to get onto the scoreboard before halftime, thanks to a 23-yard crossing route pitch and catch from Cody Vollan to Niall Baxter and a 34-yard sprint keeper from Vollan to the Montesano 5-yard line. Zillyette ankle-tackled Vollan to prevent the touchdown.
Four plays later, Elma had the ball at the Monte 1-yard line. On the snap, Vollan never got the ball and Montesano recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchback.
Elma had one last chance in the final seconds when Alejandro Hernandez’s 39-yard field goal had the distance, but was just wide left.
With the mercy rule running clock going in the second half, the game pace sped up and the reserves got time to work.
Shaydon Farmer’s 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter was Montesano’s final score of the night.
