The first two games of the Mount Si football season have been strong in their own right, as the team scored two shutout victories in dominating fashion. But as the Kingco season opened last night for the Wildcats, what the fans saw against Juanita wasn’t just more of the same. It was more of the same and thensome.
Mount Si was up 29-0 after one and cruised from there for a 60-6, yes, 60 points, victory over the Rebels as the Wildcats dominated in all facets of the game, scoring touchdowns both on offense and defense, and using special teams to help set up scores. And Mount Si’s senior kicking phenom knotted his place in Washington state high school football history as well, so all in all, it was a great night for the Wildcats and their fans. “Kids played well,” said an elated Mount Si coach Charlie Kinnune. “Everything kind of came together tonight.”
Things started right away in the first quarter, when about five minutes in, Joey Cotto ran one up the middle about 25 yards or so and scored a touchdown. The point-after try turned into a two-point conversion, with senior Methus Weldon doing it all himself to get the two points and that was just the start of what turned out to be an amazing night for Mount Si.
On the following Juanita possession, the Rebels fumbled the ball and it was picked up by Wildcat Griffin McLain, and that set up scarlet and gray’s second score, a Nick Mitchell quarterback sneak from three yards out on the first play following McLain’s heroics. After that, Juanita tried again to get something going, but again, just like with the previous drive, it ended with the Wildcat defense collecting another turnover. This time, though, it was senior Hank Van Liew, who picked off a pass from Rebel quarterback Riley Hilliker and brought it back to set up a 28-yard scoring strike from Mitchell to Trent Riley and now it was 22-0. Van Liew said the defense stuck to one theme. “We stick to the motto of turnovers win games, so that’s one thing we just keep preaching,” Van Liew said. Riley credited defensive coordinator Wayne Lewis. “He prepares us; without him, we wouldn’t be doing this right now,” Riley said.
But he was not done. Just seconds after scoring the offensive touchdown, the senior struck on defense, picking another Hilliker pass off and running it back 30 yards for another score. The “pick six” as it’s called made it 29-0, and that’s how the first frame ended. Riley, who has had a strong start to the season after being out all of last season with a knee injury, indicated he’s looking to have a big season and has prepared well for it. “I lifted and just put the time in and physical therapy and I wanted to come back and have a big season and that’s what I’m on track to do,” he said.
The second quarter brought the historic moment. Cameron Vanwinkle kicked a 37-yard field goal with about nine minutes left in the stanza, and that kick, which was his 33rd field goal at the high school level earned him the distinction of tying the Washington state record for most career field goals at that level. The record is currently also held by Andrew Furney, who kicked 33 field goals for 2A Burlington-Edison from 2006-09. Furney is currently a kicker for Washington State, where he is a junior. Vanwinkle later in the contest had a shorter kick attempt to break the record, but that one missed. Vanwinkle, incidentally, also holds the state record for field goals in a season with 18; that came last year in his big season which set a number of school records.
Later on in the quarter, Mitchell connected with Riley again for a much longer touchdown strike than the one in the first quarter – 48 yards -and that made it 39-0, and that was followed by another defensive gem, this courtesy of Jimbo Davis, who returned a Juanita fumble 20 yards for another touchdown. At half it was 46-0 and the entire second half had two elements to it as a result: a continuous clock and second-stringers in a number of offensive positions for the Wildcats, including at quarterback, as Jon Hillel saw some decent playing time.
The second half saw two more scores for Mount Si. First, late in the third, junior running back Jordan Chapman scored his first varsity touchdown, on a run from about 20 yards out, then in the fourth, Hillel fired a ball about ten yards to junior tight end Beau Shain, helping him score his first varsity touchdown. It was Hillel’s first varsity passing score as well, and it was 60-0 at that point.
Any hopes of Mount Si making it three for three in shutouts to start the season ended with about two minutes left in the game, when Juanita’s Landyn Milburn took a tipped pass and ran it about 60 yards through a number of Wildcat defenders for the score. They attempted a two-point conversion, but that was intercepted. The Rebels may have salvaged a little something out of it, but for them, it’s back to the drawing board, while for Mount Si, it’s time to hit the road for another Kingco game against a potentially dangerous foe in Interlake.
Kinnune, believe it or not, is looking for improvement this next week. “We’re just going to really work hard to try to improve. We need to practice better next week. We didn’t have a great practice week so we’re going to really concentrate on practicing really well on Tuesday and Thursday,” the coach said. “We’re not going to look down on any opponent. We’re going to treat them like they’re all just as good as us. We’ve just got to come out (with ) the same heart (and) mentality and just do this again,” Riley said.
About Rhett Workman
Rhett Workman is the editor of the Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal. Workman is a veteran sports journalist, having covered Snoqualmie Valley sports for nearly a decade with the Snoqualmie Valley Record newspaper before starting up the SVSJ. Workman’s coverage has earned the support and respect of Valley coaches, players, parents and fans, and the SVSJ continues the standard of coverage that Workman brought to the Valley Record.View all posts by Rhett Workman →