.png)
Don Gronning
Grizzlies exploit turnovers in 56-6 win
NEWPORT – The Newport Grizzlies football team took advantage of five turnovers and got a 55-6 first round state 2B tournament playoff win over Rainier at home Saturday, Nov. 15.
With Newport up 46-0 at the half, the clock kept running, following a mercy rule. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rule requires the clock not be stopped in the second half when one team is up 35 points, except for the quarter and injury timeouts. Newport scored once more in the second half.
Newport coach Mark Duxbury said that Newport had 317 yards of offense, while holding Rainier to half that, 155 yards.
“We rushed 21 times for 278 yards and had 39 yards passing,” Duxbury says. “We had four interceptions on defense.”
In addition, Newport recovered a defensive fumble.
With Newport leading, Duxbury was able to use junior varsity players in the second half.
“It was nice to give them the opportunity to play in a playoff game and they did very well,” he says.
About half of Rainier’s yards and their sole touchdown came in the second half.
On its opening drive Rainier got to the Grizzly 11 before Newport’s defense stopped them, taking over on the 16 after a Rainier penalty. Both teams had penalties on the drive.
Three plays later Newport junior Kutter Driver broke a 77-yard run up the middle to score a touchdown, the first of his three TDs in the game. He ended up with 143 yards on 21 carries to go with the touchdowns. Junior Damien Hamburg kicked the extra point.
Except for an occasional run and completed pass, Rainier didn’t have an answer for Newport’s defense. Newport sophomore Preston Wasenske intercepted an overthrown pass and returned it to the Rainier 36 on their second possession. It was the first of four interceptions by Newport. Following a 17yard quarterback keeper by senior Brad Martin, Driver returned to the end zone on a 17-yard run. Hamburg missed the extra point.
Rainier’s next drive was interrupted by an interception by Grizzly sophomore Keaton Schultz that he returned for a touchdown. This time Driver ran in the 2-point conversion and Newport was up 21-0.
Rainier didn’t give up, returning a kickoff about 35 yards before Hamburg, the kicker, made the tackle at the 42.
But Newport kept scooping up turnovers. Junior Gavin Hunt Estrada recovered a fumble after a completed Rainier pass, giving Newport the ball at midfield.
After a pair of solid runs by senior Jacob Reimers to get to the 6-yard line, Driver got his third rushing touchdown. Reimers carried four times in the game for 67 yards. With a successful Hamburg PAT kick Newport was up 28-0 early in the third quarter.
Reimers picked off the first of two Rainier passed he grabbed for Newport’s third interception.
Martin scored next for Newport on a keeper.
Newport’s next score came on a 9-yard Martin to Dylan Aubrey pass play. Martin completed three of four passes for 39 yards and one touchdown. Aubrey caught two for 28 yards. Junior Nate Shaw caught the other pass for 11 yards. Martin also ran three times for 39 yards and a touchdown.
The Grizzlies scored once more before the half following Reimer’s second interception, on a 6-yard Wacenske run.
In the second half, with a running clock, Shaw, the backup quarterback, scored on a 5-yard third quarter run.
Rainier got on the scoreboard in the last minute with a 7-yard touchdown pass. They didn’t make the 2-point conversion.
The win puts Newport in a game with No. 7 seed Adna of the C2B West League. Friday Adna (5-0, 9-2) beat Kittitas-Thorpe, the No. 10 seed, 36-15. This year they’ve only lost to No.1 seeded Toledo and Tenino, a 1A size playoff team. Newport is the No. 2 seed in the state tournament.
“Adna looks big up front, has some athletic running backs and they look very well coached,” Duxbury says. “But as usual we will focus on ourselves and our preparation.”
The game was originally going to be played in Newport but was changed to Roos Field in Cheney because of field conditions. That game will take place Saturday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m.
