Junior workhorse Takari Hickle ran for three first-half touchdowns to fuel Tenino to a 54-6 thrashing as the Beavers captured their first win of the season against Seton Catholic in a non-league matchup Thursday in Tenino.
“It feels really good,” Tenino coach Cary Nagel said “The boys worked hard and played extremely well.”
Seton Catholic scored on the opening drive of the game on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Noah Carlos to put the Beavers up 6-0 with 5:56 left in the first quarter.
Tenino answered right back with Triston Whitaker’s 60-yard kick return that led to Shawn Mickelson’s 2-yard touchdown run, followed by a 2-point conversion run that put the Beavers up for good at 8-6.
Minutes later, Hickle scored the first of his three first-half TDs, smashing his way through from 22 yards out, followed by another 2-point conversion run, to give Tenino a 16-6 lead. Hickle broke off a devastating 55-yard touchdown jaunt to put the Beavers up 24-6 with 7:27 left before the break.
He wasn’t done yet. Hickle tacked on his third rushing score, this time from 3 yards out, to give the Beavers a commanding 32-6 lead at the break.
“Takari ran the ball well,” Nagel said. “Triston, Dylan Spicer, we try to feed the hot guys. The line did a really nice job opening up holes.”
Nagel credited the Beavers’ offense for turning things around after starting the season off 0-3 in the vaunted 1A Evergreen Conference. Tenino’s 54 points Thursday was more than its previous three games combined (41 points).
“Our defense has showed up every week,” Nagel said. “We’ve just had some miscues on offense, but we’ve kept working and pounding the ball.”
Tenino (1-3) will look to make it two in a row when it travels to Elma at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 12.
