Photo by Larry Bale - Titan QB Matt Pearson (12) rumbles around the left end as Seagull Reese Garcia (3) slows him down.
Make no mistake about it...Pe Ell-Willapa Valley (P-WV) is the undisputed champion of the Southwest Washington Coastal Division for the second year in a row and the Titans are champions for the third straight time counting three years ago when they won the Pacific League. The Titans, who have been a combine for three years, dismantled Raymond after yielding the first score of the game 45-7 before a nice crowd at Raymond.
"Raymond, first of all, congratulations to them, they took the ball and ran it right into our face," Pe Ell-Willapa Valley Assistant Coach John Peterson told the Herald. "They were very well prepared. They punched us in the mouth and then our kids realized that they were in a ballgame.
"Football is a game of will," Peterson said. "The sign of a good team is when you get knocked down, you don't whine about it, you get up and fight. Our kids did a really, really nice job to recover."
Led by sophomore running back Peter Hamilton's 228 yards rushing, P-WV drove like a tank on the ground with 392 yards rushing on 55 crunching carries for an average of 7.1 yards per pop and 6 touchdowns.
"Peter Hamilton was amazing," Peterson said. "He had 228 yards and 175 of 'em must've been after contact. He was very solid. Peter obviously has very good bloodlines. He's a pretty good looking sophomore who works hard every day.
"We were very pleased with the kids," Peterson said. ""I'm very proud of our kids. (They're) a division champion. You can ever take it away from them.
"We played really hard," Peterson said. "Both teams did. Rivalry games are hard. Heck, you're playing your neighbors."
There was nothing neighborly about what the Titans did to the Seagulls after they found themselves behind 7-0.
Raymond scored first and then The Titan Machine took over. The Seagulls were in this game for about one quarter and then Pe Ell-Willapa Valley made a major defensive adjustment - moving tackle Brad Prestegord (6-4, 295) to linebacker where he was harder to run away from.
"On the first drive, we got number 76 (Prestegord) out of the way by cutting him and that helped create a larger hole," Raymond HS Head Football Coach Luke Abbott told the Herald. "After the first drive, they moved number 76 to linebacker. They made adjustments and it worked well."
The Titans' offensive line completely dominated and wore down Raymond's smaller defensive front.
"We're a power run off tackle team," Peterson said. "We did that really well. Peter ran the Buck Sweep really well, so did Max (Smith, 126 yds rushing, 7.9 ypc, 2 TDs). The Smith kid played very well, too. We had a nice 1, 2 punch. Choose your poison. Who ya gonna stop? Coach (Keith) Shepherd did a nice job of calling plays and he mixed it up well.
"Our line and tight ends did a yeoman's job up front," Peterson said.
Doing the blocking for P-WV were guards Prestegord and Kobe Hoffman, tackles Wyatt Bush and Jeremiah Yost, center Adam Smaciarz and tight ends Ryan Shepherd and Cub Bair, and Tyson Nissell, when he moves to tight end.
"Because our defense was on the field a majority of the time, and they have more depth than we do, I would say we got worn down for sure," Abbott said.
The Titans kept Raymond off balance with a lethal passing game, too. Matt Pearson completed 7 of 9 throws for 110 yards and a touchdown.
"Pearson was really, really efficient throwing the ball," Peterson said. "Matt, being a year older as a sophomore, has been able to improve in a lot of ways and he still has a lot of room for improvement. He is obviously a very fine athlete. He throws the deep ball really well. On that Wheel Route to Ryan (Pearson, 5 recs, 89 yds), he laid it right on him. He has a good touch (and) he's a tough guy. He takes some shots."
The Titan defense held Raymond to just 99 total yards, including 20 through the air and 79 on the ground.
Patrick Edwards netted 84 yards on 20 carries for the Gulls.
"Patrick Edwards is a talented back who found some holes," Abbott said. "He has done a good job for us this year."
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley completely stopped Raymond tailback McCartney Maden to minus 3 yards on 7 carries.
"Defensively, we really concentrated on Patrick Edwards," Peterson said. "Thank goodness we never let McCartney get away."
"Their defense did their jobs and we had difficulty creating large holes, that's how they stopped Maden," Abbott said.
Raymond's defense held Titan fullback Tyson Nissell to 30 yds on 9 rushes.
"It looked like Raymond decided that they weren't gonna get beat by Nissell, so they decided to try to stop our dives," Peterson said. "It was a great plan to take Tyson away. Our fullback's kind of our main guy."
Raymond's Taevon Hubbard led all tacklers with 21, including 14 solo efforts. Maden made 8 tackles, all solo jobs.
Hamilton led the Titans in tackles with 10, Bair had 8 and Shepherd stopped 7 ball carriers.
There was only one turnover in the game, a fumble by RHS, recovered by Shepherd.
The Titans (7-2) host Toutle Lake (3-6) Friday at 7 pm.
"They have a Hall of Fame football coach in Scott Grabenhorst," Peterson said. "He's a Naselle guy and has been a great coach for years, a class act. I have nothing but the highest regard for him. They are fundamentally sound and they play hard.
"They'll give you a Wing T look, will run some 'I' and spread it out a bit," Peterson said. "In their last game, they threw the ball 20 times."
The Seagulls (4-5) visit Adna (8-1) Friday (7 pm).
"Adna is big, fast, strong, talented, and has depth," Abbott said. "It will be a challenge, but I know we will come ready to compete."
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
RHS, 6:29: Patrick Edwards, 1-yd run. Reese Garcia kick.
P-WV, 2:40: Peter Hamilton, 16-yd run. 2-pt failed.
Second Quarter
P-WV, 7:07: Max Smith, 8-yd run. 2-pt failed.
P-WV, 0:25: Matt Pearson, 25-yd pass to Cub Bair. 2-pt failed.
Third Quarter
P-WV, 9:47: Max Smith, 19-yd run. Tyson Nissell kick.
P-WV, 3:36: Pearson, 1-yd run. Kick no good.
P-WV, 0:11: Nissell, 3-yd run. Ryan Shepherd 2 pt-run.
Fourth Quarter
P-WV, 8:25: Hamilton 34-yd run. Kick no good.