TOLEDO — Halftime fireworks to celebrate homecoming weren’t the only explosives that took place on Friday night at Toledo High School.
Headsets thrown into the grass, coaches getting flagged on the sideline for arguing with officials, heated conversations at midfield and all-around chippiness between Toutle Lake and Toledo unfolded in front of a packed house.
And the final whistle didn’t take place with triple zeros on the clock.
After the last Riverhawks score and the ensuing kickoff, a Toutle Lake and Toledo player swung at each other and a near sideline frenzy promptly ended a 48-0 victory by Toledo with 3 minutes, 42 seconds left in regulation.
Riverhawks head coach Mike Christensen and Ducks head coach Austin Carey met at midfield as two shirtless Toutle Lake male students ran across the field. It was shortly thereafter both sidelines dispersed towards the locker rooms.
“Football is a high passion game,” Christensen said. “You’re out there every play, trying to have a controlled battle and things got a little bit out of hand. I don’t like that, but for the most part, our guys were composed.”
The game itself was close for a bit. The Riverhawks ran just 14 offensive plays in the opening half in large part due to the Ducks chewing clock and an opening drive interception by quarterback Eli Weeks.
It was a turnover fest for much of the night. There were nearly double digit fumbles lost combined and a handful of interceptions.
Still, Toledo led 13-0 at the half behind a 25-yard Carter Swofford touchdown run and Weeks plowing ahead from nine yards out.
“We should have come out (with) way more power; the first half was a little shaky,” Weeks said. “The social media part – Toutle thought they were going to stay with us – we got pretty mad about that. We just thought we would go and blow out.”
The second half was not close.
Swofford, Weeks and Nathan Beaver all had a hand in the team total of 386 rushing yards. Beaver notched two scores and Weeks had a passing touchdown to Trevin Gale plus a 43-yard dash to the end zone.
By the time the fourth quarter was halfway complete, a running clock was activated.
“I don’t really know how good we are,” Christensen said. “We have talent and there’s times when we show we can be really good and there’s times we show that we could be an early exit in the playoffs.”
Bomani Birdwell had his fingerprints defensively, providing interior pressure to stymie Toutle Lake. He had a couple tackles for loss in helping Toledo post its first shutout of the season.
The senior is only 190 pounds, not typical size for a down lineman. It didn’t matter.
“It is the boys that do all the dirty work, they don’t get the credit,” Birdwell said. “Instead of using my strength, I use my quickness. I always wanted to be that.”
Despite sitting at 4-0 and 1-0 in the C2BL East division, the Riverhawks believe there is plenty of improvement still to be had. The last two first halves have seen either a multi-score deficit or a slow start.
Weeks stated it is the exact opposite of last fall.
“We play flat and we just need to come out and play hard,” the junior quarterback said.
Toledo hosts Mossyrock next week, who had Friday off due to fellow divisional foe Winlock forfeiting the game. Birdwell believes the guys in the locker room are nearing a complete performance.
Close? Perhaps sooner rather than later.
“We aren’t at where I think I want our team to be, but it is downhill from here,” Birdwell said. “It is achievable. We do have a lot we have to work on. Not on the cusp, but close.”
