Cruisers Survive Another Test, Improve To 5-0

Job Kralik outraces Tenino’s Brody Noonan to the end zone in Eatonville’s 24-22 victory on Saturday. The Cruisers are now 5-0 on the season. Photo: Vince Miller Photography

The #2 ranked Eatonville Cruiser football team would face their toughest test of the season so far against #7 ranked Tenino on Saturday and passed that test with a 24-22 victory to improve to 5-0 on the season.

The Cruisers knew coming into this game it would be a battle and a battle it was.

The Cruisers would go on offense first and strike quick. On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Kevin Wulff would drop a nice ball over the shoulder to Jakob Lucht who race in for the 51 yard score. After the Job Kralik extra point kick sailed through the uprights, Eatonville took an early 7-0 lead.

Jakob Lucht hauls in the Cruisers first touchdown of the game. It ended up being a 51 yard touchdown strike from Kevin Wulff. Photo: Trinity Potter

Knowing the Cruisers had a powerful offense and could score when they wanted, the Beavers tactic to help stop that from happening was to slow the game down and eat up as much of the clock as possible. During each offensive possession, they would wait until the play clock wound down to 5 seconds before they would snap the ball. This tactic seemed to work as it really limited the number of offensive possessions the Cruisers would have in the game, thus keeping the Cruiser scoring down.

On their first offensive possession and starting at their own 25 yard line, the Beavers would put together a 10 play, 75 yard drive that would be capped by a 34-yard Takari Hickle touchdown run. Dylan Spicer would punch in the two-point conversion and the Beavers retook the lead with 5:43 left in the first quarter.

The Cruisers offense would respond 5 plays later when Job Kralik would take the reverse 50 yards for the score. After the successful extra point, the Cruisers would retake the lead 14-8, with 3:21 left in the first quarter.

After bringing the kick off up to their 25 yard line, the Beavers would again be very slow and methodical in their offense.

The Beavers would pound the ball on the ground behind running backs Takari Hickle, Dylan Spicer, and Shawn Nicholson. After making their way into Cruiser territory, they would face a 4th and 2. Beaver Head Coach Cary Nagel elected to go for it, which is something he would do almost every time they faced a 4th down during the game.

The Cruiser defense, which struggled all day corralling the Beavers on 4th down would get a huge stop and take over at their 42 yard line.

The elation from the huge 4th down stop would fade quickly. On the Cruisers first play after the stop, the Beaver defense would punch the ball out of quarterback Kevin Wulff’s hands during a designed QB keeper. Tenino would recover at the Cruiser 43.

Fourteen plays later, the Beavers would find the end zone again when quarterback Kyson Knox would find Bryan Budsberg in the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown, giving Tenino the lead back at 16-14 with 43 seconds left until halftime.

The Cruisers would once again respond. With time running out, the Cruisers would march down the field and with 2 seconds left on the clock, Job Kralik would hit a 40 yard field goal to put the Cruisers back on top at 17-16 at the half.

The Beavers would receive the 2nd half kickoff and would go to work starting at their 30 yard line. After 3 plays, Tenino would be faced with yet another 4th and 2 situation. The Cruiser defense would again come up big and bottle up the big 6’4” 260lb Takari Hickle and take over on downs at the Beaver 38 yard line.

Tenino's #44 Takari Hickle runs the ball for the Beavers. Hickle would be a load to bring down all game. There was a lot of gang tackling whenever he had the ball.

In true Cruiser fashion, two plays later Job Kralik would take the jet sweep handoff 35 yards for the score. Add the extra point and Eatonville would extend their lead to 24-16 with 9:06 left in the 3rd.

The Beavers wouldn’t be discouraged. Tenino would drive to the Eatonville 23 yard line. Facing a 4th and 20, Tenino’s Kyson Knox connected with Max Craig in the back of the end zone, pulling the Beavers within two at 24-22 with 11:54 to play. The Cruiser defense would stop the 2-point conversion and would still hold onto the lead at 24-22 with just under 12 minutes left in the game.

After both defenses stepped up and kept each other out of the end zone, the Beavers would have the ball at their own 23 yard line with just under a minute left to play.

Needing to cover a lot of field fast, the Beavers would take to the air and attempt only their third pass of the game but that pass would be intercepted by Kralik at midfield and the Cruisers would go into victory formation, kneel on the ball to run the clock out and take the 24-22 win.

Job Kralik celebrates his interception that sealed the Cruiser 24-22 victory over Tenino. Photo: Trinity Potter

“We knew Tenino was a team capable of beating us if we didn't play a good game. Hats off to Tenino for how well they competed. We feel like this wasn't our best game from an execution standpoint. We were fortunate to come out of the game with a victory,” Head Coach Gavin Kralik told me after the game.

Eatonville now sits at 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in league play. Next up for the Cruisers will be a trip to Montesano on Friday 10/8 to face the currently #4 ranked Bulldogs. The Bulldogs dropped their first game of the season this past week to Napavine and will be looking to rebound.

Kralik went on to say about next week’s opponent, “Montesano is well coached and their kids play extremely hard. They do a lot of things on offense and defense that can make things really hard for their opponents. They also are the best team we have played so far on special teams so we will need to compete and execute really well in the kicking game to help our chances of coming out on top.”

Game Stat Leaders

Passing: Kevin Wulff – 7/10 passing, 1 TD, 1 INT

Rushing: Job Kralik – 3 rushes for 90 yards, 2 TD

Receiving: Jakob Lucht – 2 receptions for 54 yards, 1 TD