ADNA — Napavine coach Josh Fay said it himself. There are no style points for winning a football game, especially in the C2BL.
“I don’t care if it’s an ugly win or a pretty win,” Fay said. “We’ll take any one we can get.”
It was far from Napavine’s best on Friday in Adna, but the Tigers were able to do enough to top their county rivals 27-13.
“We had to work pretty hard,” Fay said. “It’s been a while since we got to work that hard.”
After allowing a touchdown on the opening drive of the game and fumbling on the ensuing kickoff, the Pirates did more than hold their own. After a couple of punts, Adna went on a seven-play, 79-yard drive to tie the game at seven late in the second.
Napavine (3-2, 1-0 C2BL West) marched into Adna territory looking for points before halftime, but Luke Mohney came up with a pass breakup on the penultimate play of the half. On the final play, Stephen O’Dell brought down Napavine QB Grady Wilson for a sack.
“It’s a game of inches, and we’re getting closer,” Adna coach Aaron Cochran said. “I think that the kids played with a lot of pride tonight. I thought they worked their butts off.”
One of the closest plays of the game ended up giving Napavine a huge boost early in the third quarter.
On just the fourth play of the second half, the Pirates tried to run a screen on a third and long. Napavine’s Pono Moniz-Taitague got his hand up and deflected the pass, which fell into the hands of a waiting Kaden Smith. Smith returned the interception inside the five.
“That was a big one for us,” Fay said. “We needed something to jump start us.”
Two plays later, Wilson got into the end zone for the second time and gave Napavine a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Wilson became stronger as a runner as the game went along, and Fay wasn’t afraid to turn to him often.
The junior finished with 25 carries for 169 yards and all four Napavine touchdowns, including a 45-yard scamper that doubled Napavine’s advantage late in the third.
“I just like his toughness running the ball,” Fay said. “He's running hard, he's making some good decisions on the reads and he's doing a good job.”
The Tigers will likely have to keep relying on Wilson and all-league receiver Karsen Denault over the next few weeks, as a few key playmakers, including Beckett Landram and Caleb Von Pressentin, are nursing injuries.
Fay said it’s week-to-week for Landram and Von Pressentin, but senior Cayle Kelly is out for the remainder of the season.
“We’re always gonna be a next man up program,” Fay said. “We can't wave a wand and make somebody better … We're gonna get reps out of guys. We get those guys experience and we’ll see if we can build from there.”
Even as the Napavine offense got going, the Pirates weren’t letting them run away with it.
Early in the fourth, Layden York found Gavan Muller in the back corner of the end zone on a fourth and long to cut the deficit to just one score.
“We’re not there yet, but those gut punches didn’t last the whole game,” Cochran said. “The kids fought back.”
A stop would have given Adna (2-3, 1-1 C2BL West) the ball back with a chance to tie and time to work with, but the Tigers went on a 12-play, 58-yard drive that lasted more than six minutes and drained the clock below two minutes.
Beau Miller finished with over 100 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and Mohney added 70 yards on the ground and 54 more receiving.
Defensively, Mohney added his PBU and 7.5 tackles, while Jack Smith finished with a team-high 8.5.
“The best part about football is watching the kids grow and develop and get better,” Cochran said. “I think that every day we’re getting better … We’re five plays away from winning that game.”
Fay also feels that his team’s best football is ahead of them, and he’s confident that they’ll get to where they need to be.
“We're gonna enjoy it tonight,” Fay said. “It’s about playing well at the right time, and that’s still a ways away for us.”
