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HORNETS BEAT RIVERSIDE AGAIN!

Hornets beat Riverside again!

TNT

TNT | 9/24/2018

Riverside again, opens 4A NPSL division play with a win
BY THOMAS KYLE-MILWARD

September 22, 2018 12:48 AM

Updated September 22, 2018 12:49 AM

It wasn’t pretty, but for Enumclaw High School, Friday’s win sure was satisfying.

A first half peppered with penalties and a stalling offense was quickly forgotten after two huge special-teams plays fired up the crowd and helped pace Enumclaw to a 21-7 victory over 4A NPSL Mountain rival Auburn Riverside at Pete’s Pool in Enumclaw.

“We knew they were 3-0, we were 3-0,” Hornets coach Mark Gunderson said. “We talked to our kids all week, we want this game to go into the fourth quarter because that’s what we need. We needed to be tested.”

Putting points on the board was a struggle for both teams, with plenty of false starts, short runs and incomplete passes to go around. But while the Enumclaw attack was stymied, the Hornets’ defense stayed solid, and then the special teams ignited.

A weaving 65-yard punt return for a touchdown by junior running back Jackson McCann as the second quarter began got Enumclaw on the scoreboard first, and brought some much-needed energy into the stadium.

“Jackson’s a playmaker,” Gunderson said. “We just like to have the ball in his hands because he’s a shifty, strong, electric player. Anytime you have the ball in one of those kids’ hands, something good can always happen.”

The lead was short-lived, though. Two possessions later, Auburn Riverside’s standout junior free safety and tailback Javon Forward intercepted Enumclaw senior quarterback Kellen Kranc, returning the ball for a touchdown with 6:59 remaining in the half to tie the game at 7-7.

But the Hornets’ special-teams bag of tricks wasn’t yet empty.

The Enumclaw offense stalled on the ensuing drive, but a fake punt near midfield sent Kale Engebretsen sprinting past flat-footed Auburn Riverside defenders for a 25-yard gain, setting up a first down deep in Ravens territory.

Jacob Burns and Ethan Eilertson hauled in passes to take the Hornets down to the 2-yard line, then Nicholas Harberts rumbled for a touchdown with 2:55 remaining in the half to put Enumclaw ahead for good, 14-7.

“That’s the philosophy that we live with, we want to run the ball,” Gunderson said. “We have a good passing game too, but we want to control the chains and win a game like this, 21-7.”

The ground game took control in the third quarter. Enumclaw received the kick to open the second half and methodically marched into Auburn Riverside territory before Harberts took a handoff up the middle, broke right to the outside and turned on the gas for a 42-yard touchdown.

“We talk about it all the time, once he gets up to speed he’s hard to stop,” McCann said. “He’s a great player.”

The clock-chewing drive ate up almost five minutes, leaving Auburn Riverside in a hole it couldn’t climb out of.

“We just kept doing our responsibilities and the other team started getting tired — and we kept going,” said Harberts, who finished with 75 yards and the two scores on 13 carries.

The Hornets gained 259 yards of total offense, including 173 on the ground.

The Ravens showed flashes of brilliance on the ground themselves in the first half. On their third drive, junior Jayden Solis carried Auburn Riverside into Enumclaw territory with punishing runs between the tackles, bludgeoning his way to first-down gains of 8 and 13 yards.

But, just when the running game started clicking, penalties ended it — a false start on third-and-3 backed the offense up, then a D’Andre Stevens incompletion forced a punt and ended the threat.

Auburn Riverside couldn’t get its offense going in the second half, totaling just 57 yards of offense in the final two quarters and 154 total for the game.

Stevens was 2 of 16 passing for 11 yards and an interception deep down the right sideline, and Forward finished with 87 yards rushing on 15 carries.

Kranc finished 7 of 11 for 66 yards and a pick for the Hornets.

Enumclaw (4-0) defeated Auburn Riverside (3-1) last year for its first division title in 21 years — and the Hornets hadn’t forgotten.

“It was almost reversed roles (last year). They were the team that was ranked and we were hungry,” Gunderson said. “We emphasized on that, too, we wanted to put a target on their back coming in and we’re going to do the same thing next week.”

AUBURN RIVERSIDE 0 7 0 0_7

ENUMCLAW 0 14 7 0_21

E – Jackson McCann 65 punt return (Fult Gunderson kick)

AR – Javon Forward 57 interception return (Joel Guerrero kick)

E – Kellen Kranc 2 run (Gunderson kick)

E – Nicholas Harberts 42 run (Gunderson kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing: AR – D’Andre Stevens 2-16-1-12. E – Kranc 7-11-0-66; Harberts 0-2-... Click here to read full article

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