JOYCE — Crescent’s home football opener couldn’t have gone better.
The Loggers, after holding on and winning by just two points the first week at Quilcene, smashed Lake Quinault 72-24 Saturday to open the 2012 campaign at 2-0.
Crescent coach Darrell Yount gave his players the challenge to slow down a Lake Quinault Elks team that had just rung up 62 points one week ago in a 62-50 romp over Evergreen Lutheran.
The response was a stout Crescent defense that limited the Elks to 12 first-half points and only 24 for the game.
That allowed a wicked offense to get multiple possessions, ripping off more than 600 yards of total offense in a 72-point explosion.
Eric Larson led the way, churning off 278 yards on 25 carries for four touchdowns and three two-point conversions.
Teammate Derek Findley, one of the pieces of Crescent’s “Bo-Derek show,” rushed for 152 yards on 12 carries and four touchdowns, caught four passes for 83 yards and two scores, and he added another two-point conversion.
He added 27 yards on a kick return to total 262 yards of total offense and six touchdowns.
“Eric and Derek were superb,” Yount said.
“Just a great resolve to hit the hole hard and run to daylight. Great decision-making on both their parts.
“And to top it off, they were both exceptional blocking for one another.
“A true team performance of working together. And a real testimonial of our offensive line’s resolve to take care of business up front.
“We demonstrated great technique between the tackles and on our student-body sweeps. Fairly unstoppable once we got into a good offensive rhythm.”
Defensively, the Loggers were led by big Gene Peppard dominating the middle, and the slashing of Larson (21 tackles; 10 solo and a fumble recovery) and Findley (11 tackles, eight solo, and an interception).
“All three stayed aggressive, played smart and just had a dominant outing on that side of the ball,” Yount said.
Saturday’s outing gives the Loggers a lot more confidence, Yount added.
“So with Evergreen Lutheran coming to our place next Saturday, we’re now able to prepare for them with much more confidence and the ability to build upon our success.
“We still have a long ways to go, make no mistake about it, but I like the response of our kids this week.
“We took on the challenge and rose to the occasion; a great win to keep us progressing in the right direction.”
Crescent 72, Lake Quinault 24
L. Quinault 6 6 6 6— 24
Crescent 12 16 28 16— 72
First Quarter
C—Eric Larson 19 run (conversion failed)
C—Derek Findley 54 pass from Beau Bamer (conversion failed)
LQ—Dalton Lines 10 run (conversion failed)
Second Quarter
LQ—Pablo 2 run (conversion failed)
C—Larson 21 run (Larson run)
C—Larson 21 run (Bamer run)
Third Quarter
C—Findley 28 run (conversion failed)
C—Findley 14 run (conversion failed)
C—Findley 22 run (Findley pass from Bamer)
LQ—Pablo 15 run (conversion failed)
C—Findley 8 pass from Bamer (Larson run)
Fourth Quarter
C—Findley 29 run (Larson run)
LQ—Pablo 5 run (conversion failed)
C—Larson 19 run (Bamer run)
Individual Stats
Rushing— C: Larson 25-278, Findley 12-152, Bamer 3-11, West 2-23.
Passing—C: Bamer 4-7-2, 83 yards.
Receiving—C: Findley 4-83.
Nooksack Valley 35, Forks 6
EVERSON — The heat and the Nooksack Valley Pioneers (2-0) were too much for the Spartans (1-1) in their first road game of the year Saturday afternoon.
The temperature was in the mid-80s on the field, which seemed to wilt Forks in the nonleague game.
“You could see [Forks players] dragging a little bit, and you want to take advantage,” Nooksack Valley coach Robb Myhre told The Bellingham Herald.
“But at the same time, you want to keep your own guys fresh. So we did some creative play calling to take advantage of what we saw.”
Tanner Myhre, the coach’s son, threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for two more scores.
The Pioneers led 21-0 at halftime and 35-0 at the end of the third quarter.
Braden Decker scored the Spartans’ lone touchdown on a 12-yard run in the fourth quarter. The pass for a two-point conversion failed.
Mitchell Leppel led Forks with 74 yards on 13 carries.
The Spartans next host Toledo this coming Friday at 7 p.m.
Nooksack Valley 35, Forks 6
Forks 0 0 0 6— 6
Nooksack 7 14 14 0— 35
First Quarter
NV—Tanner Myhre 1 run (Ethan Vinup kick)
Second Quarter
NV—Myhre 2 run (Vinup kick)
NV—Trey Handy 33 pass from Myhre (Vinup kick)
Third Quarter
NK—Handy 24 pass from Myhre (Vinup kick)
NK—Handy 15 pass from Bret Rediger (Vinup kick)
Fourth Quarter
F—Braden Decker 12 run (pass failed)
Individual Stats
Rushing— F: Mitchell Leppel 13-74, Brett Pederson 10-39, James Salazar 3-6, Dimitri Sampson 7-27, Braden Decker 5-32, Ricky Barragan 2-16. NV: Tanner Myhre 9-34 Bret Rediger 11-20.
Passing—F: Decker 3-13-2, 45 yards. NV: Myhre 19-26-2, 281 yards; Rediger 4-6-0, 18 yards.
Receiving—F: Pederson 2-32, Mark Jacobsen 1-13. NV: Trey Handy 8-129, Joe Scheffer 6-100.
Mary M. Knight 66, Quilcene 6
QUILCENE — The short-handed Rangers couldn’t keep it going in Week 2 after staying with powerhouse Crescent last week before losing 36-34.
The Loggers showed that they are no pushovers after blasting Lake Quinault 72-24 on Saturday.
Quilcene, though, ran out of gas against Mary M. Knight of Elma.
The Rangers will try to regroup at Lopez Island on Saturday for a 2:15 p.m. game.
