By Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
FORKS — Forks’ offense controlled the ball and the clock and its defense clamped down on Elma in a 20-3 Evergreen League win that sealed a return trip to the district playoffs for the Spartans.
It was the second straight season Forks has defeated Elma to clinch a district playoff berth, and just like last year, the Spartans (2-1, 6-2) will face Hoquiam with the winner taking the Evergreen League’s second seed and likely earning a home playoff game.
The Forks-Hoquiam game is set Friday at 7 p.m. at the Grizzlies’ Olympic Stadium.
“This game was the same [circumstances] as last year, do-or-die, win and make the playoffs or we are out, so we knew they were going to come with the fire and we had to play better than we have been,” Forks junior lineman Luke Dahlgren said.
“We’ve been struggling a lot the last couple weeks, making a lot of mistakes, and we kind of got them cleaned up this week.”
The Spartans started strong on their opening drive as five Forks players ran the ball on a 12-play, 84-yard march capped by Caleb Peters’ 1-yard TD run with 7:41 to play in the first quarter.
Brett Moody made the key play on the initial drive, taking a wildcat snap and slicing through the middle of the Eagles’ defense for a 23-yard keeper on fourth-and-7 from the Eagles 24-yard line.
Cole Baysinger had five carries for 43 yards on the opening drive after missing last week’s nonleague loss to North Mason.
“We got Iziah Morton back, No. 71, and that was a big help, a big boost and Cole was back healthy, so we were back running the ball like we should,” Forks coach Emil West said.
On a rainy night in Forks, the Spartans kept the ball on the ground, piling up 375 yards on 53 carries as a team. Forks didn’t complete a pass in three attempts.
“We should have put more points on the board but I was a little bit gun-shy just because of the rain,” West said. “I didn’t want to give them any turnovers. But the offensive line took the game over and we took it to them.”
Baysinger led the way, rushing 26 times for 213 yards and two scores on the game. He also had an interception that curtailed Elma’s first drive deep in Spartans’ territory.
Fullback Caleb Peters also had a big night for Forks, rumbling for 84 yards on 15 carries.
“Caleb Peters ran the basic wedge, my favorite play in football, because its the best blocking scheme,” West, who played center at the NCAA Division II-level said. “You just step inside and block the first guy you see. And we did that all night long. I tell the kids if we had to run just one play and still win it would be that 22 Wedge with our fullback and it set up Cole for that weakside power [run].”
The Spartans held the Elma offense in check for much of the night, allowing just one score, a 35-yard field goal early in the second quarter.
“The defensive line shut down their run game and our linebackers were there to fill when they did get a little bit of yards,” West said.
“And we got that big pick from Cole early when they threw the rock and I know that shook them up.”
Baysinger answered the Eagles’ score with a 13-yard TD, and the Spartans, who narrowly missed another getting another TD at the end of the second quarter, led 14-3 at halftime.
Baysinger put the game out of reach at 20-3 with a 64-yard run through the heart of the Elma defense with 7:01 left in the third quarter.
Forks held Elma to 142 rushing yards on the game, 69 of them coming on a late drive that ended with a turnover on downs with about a minute to play.
“They were trying to hammer the ball a lot but we did a good job of shutting them down,” Dahlgren said.
Elma’s passing game wasn’t much of a threat as Eagles QB Cody Vollan totaled 75 yards on 6 of 15 passing with interceptions by Baysinger and Tony Hernandez-Flores.
“We clinched [a playoff spot], but we’re not done and we are gunning for Hoquiam,” West said. “We had a good battle at [summer] camp at Central [Washington University] and they’ve gotten the best of us a little bit [in the past]. We faced Monte and Hoquiam at Central, so we could know what we were up against.”
The Grizzlies (2-1, 4-4) were blown out by Hockinson, the No. 2 team in Class 2A, 56-3 Friday.
Forks 20, Elma 3
Elma 0 3 0 0 — 3
Forks 8 6 6 0 — 20
First Quarter
F—Peters 1 run (Baysinger pass from Reaume)
Second Quarter
E—Hernandez 35 field goal
F—Baysinger 13 run (pass failed)
Third Quarter
F—Baysinger 64 run (run failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing—E: Brumfield 17-82, Vollan 10-46, Shriver 6-10, Krippelcz 2-4. F: Baysinger 26-213, Peters 15-84, Moody 5-54, Demorest 2-19, Reaume 4-8, Prose 1-6, Kullander 1-4.
Passing—E: Vollan 6-15-83, 2INT F: Reaume 0-2-0; Moody 0-1-0.
Receiving—E: Baxter 2-39, Brumfield 1-21, Wyeth-Jones 1-12, Richardson 1-8, Billerbeck 1-3. F: None.
