TACOMA — Four seniors on the Quilcene Rangers football team have now won five straight SeaTac 1B titles.
That’s right, five straight. In eight-man football, eighth-graders are eligible to play on the high school teams. Seniors Kevin Alejo, Bishop Budnek, Nate Kieffer and Ashton Johnston have been a part of all five of those SeaTac title teams.
Quilcene (7-1) crushed Evergreen Lutheran 69-38 on Saturday to win its fifth straight title, getting a staggering 525 yards on the ground.
Now, the Rangers will see how much damage they can do in the playoffs. Their playoff run begins with the only team that has beaten them this year. Lummi edged Quilcene 28-22 early in the season and will be the Rangers’ playoff opponent. The time and place of that game had not been set Sunday, but Quilcene is officially the home team.
“They jumped right on us with a really good opponent,” said Rangers coach Trey Beatherd. “I’m sure it will be a challenge.”
Lummi was the No. 2-ranked 1B team in the state and went into this weekend undefeated, but they were upset 40-30 Friday by Neah Bay, making the Blackhawks the No. 2 seed out the Northwest 1B League.
In Saturday’s win over a team that traditionally plays the Rangers tough, Bishop Budnek had 19 carries for 244 yards and three touchdowns and Kevin Alejo had 15 carries for 196 yards and three TDs. Budnek had TD runs of 13, 8 and 5 yards. Alejo had TD runs of 18, 40 and 44 yards.
Shannon Kutler also had four carries for 68 yards and TDs of 32 and 3 yards.
Isaiah Reimann also kicked a 28-yard field goal and scored a short touchdown on a run. Alejo and Dominick Smith each had 11 tackles, with Smith adding four quarterback sacks. Budnek had nine tackles.
Crescent 64, Darrington 32
JOYCE — The Loggers football team got behind early, but then caught fire with a lot of help from Wyatt Lee to beat Darrington 64-32 to finish the regular season on a winning note.
Lee ran for 348 yards on 21 carries and scored five touchdowns, on runs of 6, 6, 89, 28 and 58 yards.
The Loggers found themselves down 12-6 in the first quarter after Darrington scored on an 88-yard interception return.
Coach Brian Shimko thought the Loggers should have won the game more easily. The interception return and some lapses on defense helped keep Darrington around, he said.
“We gave up some big plays to keep them in it,” coach Brian Shimko said. “We need to work on stuff.”
Brayden Emery also had 15 rushes for 85 yards and four catches for 91 yards, scoring three total touchdowns. It was the last game in Joyce for seniors Lee and Emery and Shimko said the duo showed the rest of the team their leadership in the win.
“Brayden had the best game of his life,” Shimko said.
Quarterback Weston Hart had 54-yard and 28-yard touchdown passes to Emery and a 17-yard TD catch from Conner Baners.
The Loggers (3-3), the No. 3 seed out of the Northwest 1B League, next plays at Naselle (6-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday in the opening round of the playoffs.
