MONTESANO – It wasn’t perfect, but some early scoring from Montesano was enough to stay undefeated for another week.
The Bulldogs defeated Columbia-White Salmon, 24-14, Friday night at Jack Rottle Field with the help of a fast start thanks to the quick feet of Teegan Zillyet, who took the opening kick off 90 yards to the end zone, giving the Bulldogs the 7-0 lead.
Zillyett was a key part of the offense as he accumulated 133 rushing yards and 143 kick return yards in the game.
Monte (3-0 overall) got on the board again when Sam Winter caught a short slant pass from quarterback Shaydon Farmer, broke several tackles and stretched over the goal line for a 29-yard touchdown receoption to put Monte up 14-0 with 3:14 left in the first quarter.
A fruitful first quarter for Monte didn’t carry over into the second, where both teams struggled to move the ball.
Montesano head coach Terry Jensen said some key injuries created some problems for the Bulldogs’ offense.
“I thought our kids played hard to overcome that adversity and that was kind of part of the struggles,” he said. ”We had new bodies in there who don’t get as many reps during the week. We sputtered sometimes but we also shot ourselves in the foot with penalties.”
The Bruins (2-1) tried to get back in the contest by establishing their running game in the second quarter but Monte didn’t give up a whole lot of daylight on interior runs.
The Bulldogs had a Zillyet touchdown called back when a holding penalty was called on the opposite side of the field. Montesano would have settle for a Jordan King field goal and a 17-0 halftime lead as a result.
Passing plays weren’t getting it done for the Bruins in the first half either as Monte came away with three sacks before halftime.
Columbia-White Salmon scored on their opening drive of the second half when Trenton Howard found some running room up the middle to score from 9-yards out, bringing the score to 17-6 with just under 10 minutes on the clock in the third.
Jensen thought his defense played well for the most part but wasn’t pleased with some of the big plays his team allowed in the second half.
“I thought we played hard defensively we just made some mistakes,” he said. “We gave up a long 70-yard run and a long 60-yard run, but for the most part we made them work for the yards.”
Montesano’s offense looked like it had regained its earlier form when running lanes opened up for Zillyet, who concluded a long drive with an 8-yard run to get the lead to 24-6 just before the end of the third.
A Bulldogs’ defensive breakdown occurred when Bruin Alarick Blankenship got open on a seam route and went 72 yards to bring the score to 24-14 halfway through the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs survived the mistake, however, and ran out the clock to secure the win.
Jensen said though the game plan wasn’t executed perfectly, he was glad his team fought through its struggles to pick up the victory.
“We had a lot of adversity and it was good for our kids to experience that since sometimes our kids don’t get that until late in the season,” he said. “I thought our kids played hard, but we have to turn up the emotion a little bit next time and get better.”
Montesano 14 3 7 0 — 24
Columbia-White Salmon 0 0 6 8 — 14
Top players: Montesano – Farmer (9-12, 107, TD), Zillyett (16-133 rushing, 2 TD), Trace Ridgway (2 sacks)
Montesano’s Sam Winter leaps for joy and celebrates with his teammates after scoring a touchdown against Columbia-White Salmon on Friday. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
