Cruisers Are Headed To State
Cruiser captains Brandon Storm, Blain Hanly, Waylan Mettler, and Reilly McIlraith are joined at midfield for the coin toss by Honorary Captain Hudson Lewis. Lewis goes to Eatonville Elementary and is a huge Cruiser supporter.
The Cruisers scored quickly and they scored often in their District 4 play-in game against Seton-Catholic this past Friday night as they picked up the 44-6 victory to advance to the round of 16 state playoffs.
After forcing a quick three and out, the Cruiser offense would go to work with a short field starting at the Seton-Catholic 17 yard line. Two plays later, Dylan Norman took the Kevin Wulff handoff 7-yards for the score and the Cruisers took an early 7-0 lead and never looked back.
The Cruiser defense would force another Cougar punt on the very next possession and set Eatonville up with great field position again, this time at the Cougar 28-yard line. A few plays later it was Dylan Norman again with the score, this time from 20 yards out. Sebastian Molina’s kick would split the uprights and the Cruisers extended their lead to 14-0 with 9:21 left in the 1st quarter.
After Seton-Catholic would turn it over on downs after attempting a fake punt, the Cruisers would set up shop at the Seton-Catholic 30 yard line where they would waste no time finding the end zone. Wulff would hand it to Jake Wood this time, who would plow in from 1 yard out for the touchdown to make it 21-0 midway through the 1st quarter.
After another Cougar turn over on downs, this time at their 15-yard line. Griffin Clevenger would take the handoff on the fly sweep and ramble 15 yards for the score. Molina's kick would be unsuccessful and Eatonville would lead 27-0 with 4:23 left in the 1st quarter.
As was the theme of the night, Seton-Catholic would turn it over on downs at the 45-yard line. The Cruisers would march those 45 yards and cap the drive with a Reilly McIlraith score off a 14-yard screen pass to make it 34-0 with 2:13 left in the 1 quarter still.
On Seton-Catholic's first play following the kick return, McIlraith would pick off quarterback Joe Callerame’s pass at the Cougar 31.
Three plays later, senior Kaden Olsen got in on the scoring when he took a Wulff handoff at the 23-yard line and outraced the Cougar defense for the score to increase the Cruiser lead to 41-0 as the end of the first quarter neared.
The Cruisers would empty their bench for the most part and sit the starters the rest of the game.
Midway through the 3rd quarter, exchange student Sebastian Molina would hit a 24-yard field goal to round out the scoring for the Cruisers and put the game at 44-0.
Seton-Catholic would never stop fighting and with 9:03 left in the game would find the end zone for their first post-season score in school history. Freshman quarterback Joe Callerame would find receiver Sean Emberlin in the front corner of the end zone for a 4-yard score. Eatonville’s Walker Bruun would bust through the line and block the extra-point attempt and the Cruisers would lead 44-6 in what would be the final score.
The Cruiser offense would rack up 305 yards of total offense with the brunt of those yards coming on the ground. Eatonville would run the ball 31 times for 254 yards with Dylan Norman leading the way with 6 carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Norman would also have the longest run of the night when he reeled off a 29-yard run that almost found him in the end zone before he was stopped at the 1 yard-line.
Through the air, starter Kevin Wulff would attempt only two passes completing one of those passes for 15 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore backup Hunter Klumpar would complete all 3 of his pass attempts for 36 yards.
With that 44-6 victory, the Cruisers secured their spot in the state playoffs.
The seeding committee met on Sunday and seeded all 16 of the teams that had qualified. They awarded Eatonville with the #2 seed. The Cruisers will host the #15 seeded East Jefferson. The Game will be played on Saturday, November 13th at 1 pm at Art Crate Field at Bethel HS.
Below is the full bracket for the 1A classification.
