WENATCHEE — Quilcene’s dream season came to an end this weekend as the Rangers fell in the State 1B Football semifinals to a very powerful Odessa team 65-6 Saturday in the Apple Bowl.
The Rangers went 12-1 on the season, making it to the final four teams left in the state playoffs. Odessa is an undefeated team that will play Almira-Coulee-Hartline for the championship. ACH (12-1), the defending 1B state champion, beat Naselle 82-28 in the other semifinal. Odessa (13-0) beat the Warriors earlier this season 56-22. That is the closest anyone has come to keeping up with Odessa all season.
Quilcene coach Trey Beathard said Odessa is a very good team, but that the Rangers didn’t play their best game of the year.
“We made a ton of mistakes. Some of them were because Odessa is a good team, some of them had nothing to do with them,” Beathard said. “It was disappointing we didn’t play our best.”
Odessa was well-coached, Beathard said, and gave the Tigers’ coaches credit for preparing their players better than he prepared Quilcene’s.
Beathard said the Rangers had several offsides penalties and several hikes over the quarterback’s head, which made it that much harder to keep up with the Tigers. Beathard also said he didn’t want to take anything away from Odessa.
“That’s definitely the best team we’ve played. The two best teams in the state are playing for the championship,” he said.
Quilcene hung with the Tigers early. After Odessa quickly got up 8-0 on a long kickoff return and then a short pass for a score, the Rangers responded with a 55-yard touchdown from Holdem Elkins to Ben Bruner to make it 8-6.
However, Odessa ran the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown and from that point on, the game went downhill.
While the score of 65-6 looks back at first blush, that’s actually the second closest-game the Tigers have played in all year. That’s how good they are. They have had seven games this season with more than 80 points and two games with more than 90. They beat Naselle, a powerful team in south Washington 76-14 and Neah Bay 71-8 in the first round of the 1B playoffs.
“Naselle and Quilcene were the next best teams in the state. We weren’t there because of a fluke,” Beathard said.
Though the season came to a disappointing end, this year capped off a 20-2 run for the Rangers over the past two years and 35-8 record for the Ranger seniors over the past four years.
Those seniors are Olin Reynolds, Bruner, Brennen Filmer, Robert Comstock III, Dustin Hughes, Steward Beck and Garon Terry.
Beathard said the Rangers will continue to be good, with 20 players returning, including 12 eighth-graders and freshmen. Starting quarterback Holdem Elkins will be a returning senior next year.
“You have to feel good about this season, we’ve gotten a little better each year,” Beathard said. “We’re going to miss those [seniors] but we’ll have some kids next year.”
