SATURDAY’S PREPS: Crescent’s defense shines in 34-6 win over Concrete

JOYCE — The Crescent football team put on a defensive clinic in beating Concrete 34-6 in the Loggers’ final home game Saturday.

Concrete wasn’t able to score until the fourth quarter. Coach Brian Shimko said that despite limited offensive numbers, it was the best overall game the Loggers have played all year.

“I watched the Quilcene-Concrete game earlier in the season and Concrete looked pretty good,” Shimko said.

“All the stars aligned for us. We game-planned really well. We spent more time watching film than on the practice field,” he said.

Lukas Love had a big game for Crescent. He had five catches for 100 yards, including touchdown receptions of 30 and 18 yards. He also ran a reverse for a 56-yard touchdown and scored two two-point conversions.

“He was pretty frustrated last week,” Shimko said. “He was really focused this week.”

Dominique Sprague ran 18 times for 43 yards and a 2-yard touchdown while Tommy Leonard ran seven times for 21 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown. Josh Berson had three catches for 21 yards.

Defensively, Shimko said Conner Bauers had the best game of the day with five solo tackles, six assisted tackles and a fumble recovery. Carter Clifford had an interception.

Berson also had a good game, playing spy on Concrete’s quarterback, who likes to run, Shimko said. The Loggers’ defense kept him surrounded.

“I told them don’t chase the jackrabbit,” Shimko said. “They kept him in the pocket.”

Crescent (2-3, 4-4) has a chance for the postseason, but with only five seeds from this region, they likely have to win next week and have a tall order with a 1 p.m. home game Saturday against 7-1 Darrington.

Darrington got off to a fast start this season but has shown cracks lately, getting crushed by Neah Bay 64-14 two weeks ago and barely beating Charles Wright last week 46-42. The Loggers split two games against Charles Wright. Shimko said that he kept some of his starters out in the loss against Charles Wright because it was a nonleague game. Darrington also gave up 38 points to Concrete earlier this year.

Tulalip Heritage 28, Quilcene 25

ARLINGTON — The Quilcene Rangers had just about every break go against them in a heartbreaking 28-25 loss to Tulalip Heritage on Saturday.

The Rangers had a 70-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter called back due to a penalty and three other big plays called back on penalties. They still had a chance to win after an Oliver Hopkins 60-yard catch set up a quick Andrew Perez touchdown in the final four minutes. The Rangers recovered an onside kick, but the refs ruled that Quilcene had touched the ball before it went 10 yards, giving Tulalip the ball.

“We just came up a little bit short,” said coach Trey Beathard. He said it was just “sloppy” holding penalties that hurt the Rangers on the big plays called back.

Hopkins had a big day with four catches for 151 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown on the first play of the game.

Dominik Smith was 4-for-9 passing with a touchdown and an interception.

Andrew Perez ran 10 times for 87 yards, while Mason Iverson ran 11 times for 65 yards. Smith had a 5-yard touchdown run.

On defense, Taylor Boling had 10 tackles and caused two fumbles, while Eli Mason recovered a fumble. Mason Iverson and Kaeden Faller each had nine tackles and Hunter Simmons had eight tackles.

Quilcene (2-3, 2-5) completes its regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday with a game at Neah Bay (5-0, 5-2).