Despite having two long touchdown runs called back and a potential touchdown pass dropped, the high-powered Bonney Lake Panthers found a way to dominate a feisty Enumclaw High bunch 48-14 Friday evening in a packed Sunset Chev Stadium, which in the past couple of years has been a virtual house of horrors for the Hornets.
Indeed, it was spooky how swiftly Bonney Lake bolted out to a 27-7 halftime advantage.
Enumclaw, coming off of an emotional loss to Lakes, had its hands full trying to contain what is quickly becoming known as Bonney Lake’s greatest show on turf, an offense that averages 400 yards per game. Enumclaw relinquished 388 yards of total yards to the Panthers.
The South Puget Sound League 3A campaign now finds the Panthers hosting Lakes High at 7 p.m. Friday for the division championship.
Both teams are 4-0 in league action and also share identical overall marks at 7-1, as Lakes High lost a nail-biter to Capital High in overtime and Bonney Lake lost to Sumner High 27-21 in double overtime.
Friday, Bonney Lake started with a pair of long touchdown rainbows tossed by Chris Brown to Austin Marshall.
The aerial tandem recorded its 17th and 18th touchdown hook-ups of the season, which leads the SPSL 3A by a considerable margin.
“This duo is special,” Bonney Lake coach Chad Barrett said. “They spent a lot of time this past summer working out together on their timing and, despite Enumclaw putting more pressure on Brown than he usually gets, they managed to connect on a couple of touchdowns again.”
After the Panthers broke out to a 21-0 upper hand there was jubilation aplenty on the Bonney Lake sidelines, but Barrett wasn’t about to let his squad forget last year.
One could not blame Barrett for being cautious, as last season the Panthers jumped out to the same 21-0 lead but EHS battled back to overcome a crestfallen BLHS squad.
“I’ve got a long memory,” Barrett said. “All I kept harping on in the locker room at intermission was do not let Enumclaw back into this game.”
Bonney Lake unveiled yet another facet of its sophisticated offense in the second half, when Marcus Kaelin rolled up four short-range touchdowns, rumbling in from the 1-yard line times three and once from 16 yards.
EHS also lost its best lineman and senior captain, Kevin Knapp, for the season, with a broken arm.
Scoring for the maroon and gold in the one-sided tilt were senior wideout Jason Greer, who was on the receiving end of a one-yard Dylan Podolak TD strike as halftime approached, and David Brazier, who broke loose for a 34-yard gallop in the late going.
Enumclaw can still slip into the playoffs with a 3-2 league mark if it can stave off Peninsula High, which it hosts Friday in Orting.
