Cruisers Battle Weather And Castle Rock And Come Out On Top

While the wet and windy weather the state experienced on Friday slowed down and hampered many teams around the state, the Eatonville Cruisers were able to battle through it successfully. Led by two Ky Nation touchdowns the Cruisers were able to get past the Castle Rock Rockets 24-18 in the Southwest Washington District IV playoffs this past Friday night to claim their fourth consecutive trip to the state playoffs.

Eatonville's Max Henley (#10) and Payton Hanly (#7) bring down Castle Rock's Wyatt Orth (#3) in the Cruisers' 24-18 win this past Friday night. Photo: Alyssa Wood.

Eatonville would open up the game by receiving the kickoff and set themselves up with great field position at the 40-yard line however, the Cruisers' first drive would go nowhere and they would be forced to punt.

The Rockets would get the ball at their 32-yard line and put together a nice drive down, aided by many penalties, to the Cruisers' 19-yard line before the Eatonville defense would get a big stop on 4th down and Castle Rock would turn the ball over on downs.

Like in their first possession, the Eatonville offense would sputter and end up punting the ball back to the Rockets. Two plays into their drive, the Castle Rock ball carrier would cough up the ball and Eatonvile's Max Henley was there to pounce on it for the Cruisers just before the 1st quarter came to an end with the game scoreless.

With the ball in Castle Rock territory at the 40-yard line, Eatonville would need 10 plays before their drive was stalled at the Castle Rock 18-yard line, and Head Coach Gavin Kralik would send the field goal unit out. In the torrential downpour and swirling wind, Job Kralik would hit on a 35-yard field goal for the first score of the night to give the Cruisers a 3-0 lead with 9 minutes left in the half.

Castle Rock would return the kick to the 20-yard line and then string together a 13-play, 80-yard drive that was aided by a Lane Partridge 38-yard run. The Rockets would cap the drive when Stephen Ibsen found the end zone on a 5-yard run. The extra point would be missed and Castle Rock would lead 6-3 with just under 4 minutes left in the half.

A touchback on the kickoff would leave the Cruisers deep in their own territory at the 20-yard, needing to move fast to claim the lead back.

Ky Nation didn't want to wait long to steal that lead back. On the first play of the drive, Job Kralik would hand off to Walker Bruun who would then pitch the ball to Nation going back the other way on a reverse and Nation would follow blockers Job Kralik, Aaron Tozier, and Dylan Norman up the sideline before finding open space and turning the jets on to zoom past all defenders into the end zone for the score to extend Eatonville's lead to 10-6 with 3:43 left in the half.

Castle Rock would answer back with another 80-yard drive, this time in only 8 plays that saw Ibsen find the endzone again on an 18-yard scoring run. The Rockets would opt to attempt a two-point conversion to steal back that point they lost with the missed extra point earlier in the game. The Rockets quarterback would drop back to attempt a pass, but Eatonville's Isaiah Duncan would bust through the line and flush Ibsen, forcing him to run right into a pack of Cruiser defenders that would drop him, making the conversion no good. Castle Rock would take back the lead at 12-10.

With under a minute left until halftime, the Cruisers would once again need to move quickly.

Again, Ky Nation didn't want to wait. He would take the kickoff 40-yards to set the Cruisers up at the Castle Rock 44-yard line with 45 seconds left in the half.

On the very next play quarterback Job Kralik would hit a streaking Nation at the 20-yard line and he would outrace the defender to the endzone for the score to steal the lead back at 17-12.

The Rockets, with time running out, would move the ball to the Eatonville 19-yard line but would be unable to answer back and Eatonville would head into the locker room at the half leading 17-12.

Castle Rock would receive the kickoff to start the second half and after Kralik's kick sailed into the endzone for a touchback, the Rockets would start at their 20-yard line.

Facing a 4th and 7 from their own 23-yard line, Rockets Head Coach Aaron Gehring felt a bold play call was needed to spark his team. So, he called a fake punt that caught the Cruisers off guard. The punter had just enough time to throw up a pass that would be caught and they would convert the 1st down.

Marching to the Eatonville 4-yard line, the Rockets would be faced with a 4th and Goal. Gehring would call an option play and Ibsen would run right and pitch to Lane Patridge. Cruiser linebacker Payton Hanly would break free from his block and meet Partridge at the goal line. As he went in for the tackle, Hanly would lower his shoulder right into the ball, popping it loose from the hands of Partridge and the ball would roll into and out of the endzone for a touchback and Eatonville would deny the Rocket score.

Following the touchback, the Cruisers would take over possession at their 20-yard line.

Eatonville would then put together a 14-play, 80-yard drive that would see Job Kralik score on a 2-yard keeper to put the Cruisers up 24-12 late in the 3rd quarter.

As they had done all night, Castle Rock would answer back by going 74-yards on 16 plays and finding the endzone when quarterback Stephen Ibsen picked up a fumbled snap and hit receiver Jayce Womack at the 5-yard line where he would fight his way into the endzone for the score. Eatonville's Job Kralik would bust in from the right side of the line to block the extra point attempt and the Cruisers' lead was trimmed to 24-18 with just under 5 minutes left in the game.

The Rockets would then attempt an onside kick to try and get the ball back but Eatonville would recover the attempt at their 49-yard line.

Facing a 3rd and long, Eatonville's Kralik would be flushed from the pocket and he would scramble and pick up the first down at the Rockets' 40-yard line. Then, facing another 3rd and long, Kralik would keep the ball and make it to the Castle Rock 4-yard line before sliding down to keep the clock running. One more play would put the Cruisers at the 1-yard line where they would go into victory formation and just knee the ball to run out the clock.

Eatonville would take the win 24-18 to clinch their 4th straight state berth into the final round of 16 teams.

Only four players would be needed to account for all of Eatonville's 321 total yards. Nation and Kralik accounted for all of the Cruisers' scoring and most of the team's offense. Nation would finish with 84 yards rushing, with 80 of those yards coming on his first touchdown of the night and he would haul in one catch for 44 yards coming on his second touchdown. Kralik would go 4 for 7 passing for 69 yards and a score while carrying the ball 10 times for 113 yards and a touchdown. RJ Schrimpsher would haul in Kralik's other 3 passes for 25 yards. Dylan Norman would add to the rushing statistics with 55 yards on 14 carries.

EATONVILLE 24, CASTLE ROCK 18

Scoring Summary

Second quarter

E — Job Kralik 35-yard FG

CR — Stephen Ibsen 5-yard run (kick failed)

E — Ky Nation 80-yard run (Kralik kick)

CR — S. Ibsen 18-yard run (kick failed)

E — Nation 44-yard pass from Kralik (Kralik kick)

Third quarter

E — Kralik 3-yard run (Kralik kick)

Fourth quarter

CR — S. Ibsen 13-yard pass from Trevor Rogen (kick blocked)