– reported by Scott Eilertson
The Rams from northwest Tacoma invaded Pete’s Pool Saturday for the Enumclaw Junior Hornets’ final home game of the regular season.
The fourth-grade warriors kicked the day off with swarming team defense, shutting out the Rams 36-0. Quarterback Charlie Fisher connected with Kaden Loop on a 58-yard touchdown pass. Keegan “Twitchy” Sutter had his way with the Ram defense, getting into the end zone for three touchdowns, and Tyler Feddema boomed three extra-point kicks successfully. Layne Boies also scored a touchdown and had an interception and fumble recovery. Carson Covey contributed another fumblerecovery.
In the fifth grade game, the offensive line came ready to play. The Junior Hornets scored on their first possession, a 2-yard touchdown run by Gunner Tolley. In a crazy and memorable play of a lifetime, lineman Max Favro stripped the ball from a Ram running back and lumbered 65 yards down the field with a Junior Hornet entourage of blockers. He ran out of gas at the 10-yard line, which set up a Jackson McCann touchdown on a huge hole, created by the O-line. The Rams scored on a 15-yardtouchdown pass on the final play of the game to make the final score Junior Hornets 14, Rams 8.
The sixth-grade Junior Hornets found themselves in a tussle with a scrappy group of Rams who appeared hungry for an upset. Henry Henken jumpstarted the Junior Hornets with a 42-yard touchdown on a tight-end reverse. Jett VanHoof added another touchdown on an off-tackle running play and Brandon Howard contributed three pass receptions for 85 yards from QB Joe Flanigan. But the Rams had the final say, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, securing a victory 19-14.
The seventh-grade team faced a high-powered offensive-minded Rams team full of speed and size. The Junior Hornets got on the board first with a Travis Baxter 1-yard TD run that was set up by Michael Pedreira’s 50-yard pass reception from Matt Funkhouser. The Rams answered with a touchdown of their own, which would be a trend all day, creating a back-and-forth offensive fireworks show. Linebacker Kione Gill stripped the ball from a Rams running back and took it to the house for a 30-yard go-ahead touchdown for the Hornets. The Rams responded again with multiple long runs for touchdowns. Linebacker Grayson McKoon kept the Hornets in the game with two key interceptions in the second half. Funkhouser hooked up with slot-receiver Bear Kuro multiple times on long passing plays and a couple touchdowns. Running backs Tanner Chase and Ross Olson carried the rock for plenty of yardage to dominate the Ram defense, but the Junior Hornets could not convert any of their extra-point kicks and struggled all day defensively, ultimately falling 39-30.
Because the eighth-grade team had the day off due to the lack of an eighth-grade Rams team, it opened up an opportunity for some of the younger second- and third-grade players from the fourth-grade team to scrimmage a team from Rogers called Big Blue. Although the Hornets lost 13-12, there were many game highlights. Keanu LaFaele had an interception return for a touchdown and Shaun Phillips and Cole Pilato led a hard-hitting defense. Running back Coley Riley also scored on a touchdown run.
