JOYCE — Clallam Bay with just eight players on its team, hung tough with Crescent until two minutes left in the first half, when the talented and powerful Loggers erupted for five touchdowns in less than seven minutes to put the game away en route to a 73-19 win.
Saturday’s game was a six-man game and the Bruins’ first game of the year.
Outmanned Clallam Bay played hard and stayed close over the first 22 minutes. After a Ryan McCoy touchdown on a 7-yard pass from Ryan Strid, the Bruins found themselves down just 12-6 with two minutes left in the half.
Then the Loggers, who normally play eight-man football but redesigned several plays to take advantage of six-man rules including a clever hook and ladder play that resulted in two TDs, started exploiting their speed to take control of the game. Robert Cox, who had a spectacular all-around game with five TDs, got the ball rolling with a 43-yard return of the Bruins’ kickoff. After two plays, Crescent scored on a 25-yard run by Leonard. The Loggers got another quick score right before the half on a 18-yard pass from K.C. Spencer to Eric Emery, then on the opening play of the second half Spencer hit Emery again with a 55-yard TD pass to open the score to 32-6. From that point on the Loggers never looked back.
“Not taking anything away from Crescent, but we were gassed [with just eight players]. The lack of substitutes hurt us,” said Bruins coach Cal Ritter. He said the Bruins kept at it, but Crescent is a very fast team.
Loggers coach Brian Shimko said his team tried a ground game first, then opened up its offense with its passing game, where Spencer in particular could shine.
McCoy was a workhorse for the Bruins, gaining 176 yards on 22 carries and another 39 yards on four receptions. He also had 11 tackles on defense.
“I can’t say enough about [McCoy]. He gives us everything. I wish I had more of him,” Ritter said.
Ritter thanked Crescent for scheduling the Bruins for the unusual six-man contest after other games this year were canceled.
Strid had 109 yards on eight carries for the Bruins and the best run of the game on a 47-yard scamper in which he nearly went down two or three times, ran to both sidelines but stayed on his feet until he crossed the goal line.
In addition to Strid’s great run, McCoy also had a spectacular TD on a 32-yard scamper.
Crescent literally went the entire length of the field in one play in the second half — 79 yards in six-man football — on a pass from the Loggers’ own goal line from Spencer to Noah Leonard.
For the Loggers, Cox led the way with five TDs. He had 93 yards receiving, 64 yards rushing (on the pair of hook and ladder plays) and 107 yards on kickoff returns, including a 64-yard return TD.
Leonard had four rushes for 107 yards, giving him over 559 yards rushing on the season. Spencer rushed four times for 75 yards and threw 8 for 10 with 229 yards passing and five passing TDs.
Emery caught four passes for 88 yards and two TDs and he also threw for a touchdown.
Another big play for the Loggers was when eighth-grader Kolten Corey got in on a tackle and brought down a Bruin nearly twice his size.
“That’s the thing about our eighth-graders, they’re not afraid,” Shimko said.
The Bruins (0-1) have a game scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday at Evergreen Lutheran.
Crescent (2-1) has tallied 201 points in three games (66.7 points a game) and has a very interesting game Saturday against Quilcene, which is 2-0 and has scored 118 points in its two wins. That’s 319 points of offense colliding on the field this week in Joyce, which should make for an exciting football game.
Crescent 73, Clallam Bay 19
Clallam Bay 0 6 6 7 — 19
Crescent 6 19 27 21 — 73
First Quarter
C — Leonard 62 run (xp failed)
Second Quarter
C — Cox 46 pass from Emery (attempt failed)
CB — McCoy 7 pass from Ryan Strid (attempt failed)
C — Leonard 25 run (attempt failed)
C — Emery 18 pass from Spencer (Leonard run)
Third Quarter
C — Emery 55 pass from Spencer (Cox pass from Spencer)
C — Leonard 79 pass from Spencer (Buchanan pass from Spencer)
C — Cox 31 run (Cox pass from Spencer)
CB — McCoy 32 run (attempt failed)
C — Spencer 35 run (attempt failed)
Fourth Quarter
C — Cox 33 run (Spencer run)
CB — Ryan Strid 47 run (Eastwood pass from Strid)
C — Cox 64 kickoff return (Scheid pass from Spencer)
C — Cox 47 pass from Spencer (Lee pass from Emery)
Individual Stats
Rushing—CB: McCoy 22-186, Ryan Strid 8-109, McGraw 7-27, Preston 2-9. Crescent: Leonard 4-107, K. Buchanan 1-4, Spencer 4-75, Cox 2-64, L. Buchanan 1 (-4).
Passing—CB: Ryan Strid 5-7-69, TD, INT; McCoy 1-2-4. Crescent: Emery 3-4-67, TD; Spencer 8-10-229, 5 TDs.
Receiving—CB: McCoy 4-39, Eric Strid 1-30. Crescent: Leonard 2-99, Cox 2-93, Emery 4-88, L. Buchanan 1-9, Ward 1-7.
