ONALASKA — They don’t all have to be pretty.
While it was a sluggish performance from the Onalaska offense, the Logger defense stole the show Friday night, putting together its best performance of the season to lead Ony to a 20-0 victory over Toledo to kickstart homecoming weekend.
“Coach Nelson and our defensive staff … they did a hell of a job this week getting the kids prepped,” Onalaska coach Mazen Saade said. “And on top, the kids just played their tails off. This meant something to them.”
In the week leading up to the game, the Loggers focus was on being the more physical team on both sides of the ball, something that stemmed from last year’s 38-12 loss to the Riverhawks.
"Last year, it went around everywhere in the county that we got out-physicaled by Toledo,” Saade said. “That was all over the headlines … These kids sat on that all summer, that was billboard material for them. And that was something they focused on every single day.”
The Loggers front seven held strong against Toledo’s rushing attack throughout, allowing just 3.4 yards per carry. Exclude an Ethan Carver 42-yard run on the second Toledo offensive play and that number drops to 2.4.
“I couldn’t fricking be prouder of those guys,” Saade said. “That’s a big time win for this group of kids. Their growth in a year, man, they were physical tonight … They were hitting people. It was awesome.”
While it was the Logger rushing attack led by Rodrigo Rodriguez that did most of the damage over the course of the night, it was a deep shot on the third play of the game that got the Loggers on the board.
Facing a third-and-3, Mozingo dropped back and found Cooper Lawrence open deep in the middle of the field. Mozingo dropped it in the bucket, and Lawrence outran his defender for the 72-yard score.
When Carver broke free for 42 yards on Toledo’s first possession, it seemed that the two teams were destined for a shootout. Instead, both defenses clamped down.
Onalaska had three straight three-and-outs before punting the ball away, and while the Riverhawks were able to get a few first downs, they kept stalling on the plus side of the field. They turned it over on downs in or just outside of Logger territory on four straight possessions.
After the fourth turnover on downs, the Loggers’ ground game finally gained some steam. Onalaska went 49 yards on 10 plays, nine of them running plays, and Rodriguez capped off the drive with a 4-yard score.
With less than a minute before the break, Toledo turned to some trickery to try and gain some yardage with a hook-and-ladder, but the pitch was fumbled and recovered by the Onalaska defense.
The biggest gut punch for the Riverhawk offense came on their second possession in the second half.
Facing a fourth-and-14 on their own side of the field, quarterback Eli Weeks scrambled around and eventually found Trevin Gale downfield for a 29-yard gain. The play was the boost the Toledo offense needed, but it was nullified by a hold on the offensive line.
“We’d get something going and then kind of shoot ourselves in the foot,” Toledo coach Mike Christensen said. “We’ve had a lot of success offensively early and we needed to kind of get hit in the mouth a little bit and learn from it.”
Two possessions later, Weeks tried to go deep to Gale again, but this time, it was intercepted by Lawrence. Twelve plays after that, Rodriguez scored his second touchdown of the game to put the game out of reach.
Both teams are now 4-1, but it’s the Loggers that kickstarted Southwest Washington 2B South play with a win.
“We’re so freaking proud of these guys, “ Saade said. “It was a big homecoming win, and now they get to go shake their booties and enjoy it.”
