TUMWATER — The Crescent Loggers ran into a familiar roadblock.
The Lake Quinault Elks kept Crescent from its first state playoff appearance since 1996 for the second straight year, riding quarterback Cameron Daniels’ 357 yards of offense to a 64-29 preliminary playoff victory at Tumwater High School on Friday night.
Crescent (7-4), which held a 21-18 lead with five minutes left in the first half, was outscored 46-8 during the game’s final 29 minutes.
In the end, turnovers (four) and the athletic abilities of Daniels (199 rushing yards, 158 passing) simply proved too much to overcome.
“We played hard but made a few key mistakes that ended up putting us in too deep of a hole,” Crescent coach Tim Rooney said.
“We could not stop the option tonight, plain and simple, that was it.”
Crescent and its group of nine seniors reached the preliminary playoffs in back-to-back seasons only to be dropped by Quinault both times.
Prior to last fall, the Loggers hadn’t made the postseason since 1997 (then an 11-man team).
“These seniors. . . they have nothing to hang their heads about,” said Rooney, who began his tenure as Loggers head coach when they were freshmen.
“When I took over, it was their goal and mine to bring Crescent football back to where it should be, and I feel they’ve done that.
“It’s too bad they have to end their careers with a loss, but it works out that way. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose, and [Quinault] just got it done tonight.”
The Elks (7-2) bottled up Crescent standout runner Dylen Heaward most of the night, holding him to his third-lowest rushing total of the season (97 yards on 17 carries).
Other than his first play from scrimmage, a 50-yard touchdown run that gave Crescent an early 7-0 lead, the senior running back had a hard time busting big gains against a defense focussed on him from the beginning.
“We keyed on [Heaward] quite a bit because he’s had some really good games for them this year,” Lake Quinault coach Ron Hoiness said.
“I knew coach Rooney would have these guys ready, and they played hard. It was a wake-up for our kids at first, but finally their experience helped us get through.”
Crescent had a chance to race out to a double-digit lead after it recovered a Daniels fumble inside Elks territory following Heaward’s long run.
But the Loggers were forced to punt after getting just one first down, giving the Elks the ball at their own 2-yard line.
The Elks responded with a 9-play, 98-yard drive, highlighted by Daniels’ 45-yard run, to put the score at 7-6.
Quinault scored two straight touchdowns after that — aided by an onside kick recovery and interception of Heaward on a halfback pass — to take an 18-7 lead late in the first quarter.
The Loggers answered with two straight touchdown drives of their own, capped by runs from Heaward and Marcus Decker to go back up 21-18.
An onside kick recovery by Dylan Christie was sandwiched in between
That’s when Daniels took over.
First he hit Cameron Pumphrey (4 receptions, 108 yards) for a 55-yard touchdown pass, the receiver managing to stay in bounds on an out route for the second of three long touchdown receptions on the night.
Daniels then scrambled 33 yards for a score on the Elks’ next possession, giving them a 34-21 halftime lead that would never be challenged.
“Not a lot of offenses in eight-man [football] run the option, and that just seemed to get to us,” Decker said. “Overall they were just a better team. We just lost it up front.”
Curtis Steinhauer scored three straight touchdowns to open the second half for the Elks, part of a 15-carry, 130-yard day for the senior.
It wasn’t until freshman quarterback Joey Barnes (7-of-14, 135 yards) hit Josh Anderson for a 53-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth that the Loggers were able to get back on the board.
By that time, the Loggers were down 56-29 and in no position to make a comeback.
“I think we played great, they just kind of outdid us today,” said Heaward, who was part of a winless Loggers team in his first season as a freshman.
“It’s not easy [to fall a game short of state], but we’re the guys that are there to give the other kids a stepping stone to get there. So they will get there soon.
“It’s been a tremendous climb from losing every game we ever played to going to the playoffs. I take a lot of pride in it.”
