A good-sized crowd of Enumclaw High football rooters watched an impressive Capital contingent dismantle their team Saturday evening at Ingersoll Stadium in Olympia by the score of 42-7.
The Hornets met their match and then some as the Cougars, whose overall record on the season swelled to 7-3, dominated in every phase of the game. The Cougars held the ball for 36 of the game’s 48 minutes and rolled up nearly 360 yards in total offense compared with Enumclaw’s 100.
Capital’s junior quarterback, Alex Iverson, executed the option to perfection and scored rushing touchdowns in both the first and second quarters of the lopsided tilt. Capital fullback Jay Malava rumbled to paydirt from 2 yards out late in the second quarter.
The convincing Cougs also blocked a punt in the second quarter that was limited to a safety when Enumclaw’s Jake Christiansen outraced a group of Capital defenders to the end zone and threw himself on top of the loose ball.
Enumclaw’s one shining moment of glory came just before intermission. Sophomore Tyler Carlson electrified the Hornet faithful when he zipped through a hole large enough to drive a truck through and returned a kickoff 95 yards, just after the Malava touchdown, running the final 35 yards courtesy of a bone-jarring block by teammate Terren Houk.
The Hornet momentum didn’t carry over into the second half as Enumclaw fumbled the opening kickoff of the third quarter.
The Cougars took the gift and, five plays later, Tyler Sundberg crossed the goal line for one of his two TDs.
Two of the most exhausted individuals following the debacle were Hornet seniors Riley Carel and Andrew Gamblin.
Carel was forced to scramble almost every time he dropped back to pass and Gamblin went the distance on both sides of the ball. At running back, he repeatedly slammed into Capital’s brick wall defense and on the other side, wound up having to make too many tackles from his defensive back position due to the success of Capital’s trickery with the option.