The bits of offense came few and far between Friday in Cathlamet, but the Adna football team escaped a tough place to play with a crucial league win, beating Wahkiakum 12-7 on Friday.
“Ugly game,” Adna coach Jason Dunnagon said. “We struggled offensively but were still able to pull out the win. Proud of my guys for grinding it out. The defense played well.”
The two teams combined for 245 total yards all night long. Adna managed 36 yards on the ground and 77 more through the air, finishing with a paltry 113. But while the Pirates couldn’t get much going themselves, the defense held strong all night.
After nearly a scoreless half of scoreless deadlock, Adna finally broke through with a 2-yard keeper by quarterback Lane Johnson with 34 seconds left in the second quarter.
But the Mules blocked the Pirates’ extra point attempt, and a bad special teams break was rendered even larger when Wahkiakum took the ensuing kickoff back 90 yards, kicking its own extra point to suddenly lead 7-6 at halftime.
The Pirates continued to hold fast on defense, and the repeated stops paid off when Jaxon Dunnagan plunged into the end zone from 3 yards out midway through the third quarter. Adna couldn’t cash in on its two-point try, but the five-point lead held out the rest of the way.
Johnson finished with a team-high 18 rushing yards to go along with his 7 for 15 passing line. Luke Mohney led the Pirates in receptions with three, while Asher Guerrero’s one catch went for a team-high 33 receiving yards.
Seth Meister caught one ball on offense, but made an even bigger play by hauling an interception in on defense.
Adna (3-2, 1-0 league) will take the long trip to Stevenson next week.