By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Nathan Hale ran away in this one, literally -- scoring on seven touchdown runs along with two passing TDs to register a 63-13 Red Raiders victory over the Evergreen Wolverines in both's non-league season opener at Highline Memorial Friday night.

"Nathan Hale is quick, and disciplined," said Wolverines head coach Jim Wright, in his first year after coming over from Franklin High School in Seattle.

But this game was not over quite as quick as one might think. The Wolverines were in this game still after the first quarter, only down one touchdown, 15-7.

Starting the game off, the Wolverines got the kickoff and went seven plays and punted with the clock at 10:00. Then the Red Raiders went seven plays and punted with 7:30 left in the first quarter. Repeating the same sequence, the Wolverines made it through seven plays, one first down conversion in the mix, and punted. The Raiders went three and out their next set of plays, so, this game was a defensive battle to this point with 2:35 left in the first quarter.

"At the beginning, we are fine," said Ryan Thol, the Wolverines' junior quarterback, who would show Speedy Gonzalez traits before this game was through.

And, so it was, a good defensive battle up to this point in the game, through three quarters of the first quarter. And then Evergreen was broken, and not by the Red Raiders, per se, but by themselves, making the proverbial cliche fit, "They were their own worst enemy."

So with 2:35 left in the first quarter Evergreen had the football.
Going from their own 35-yard line, first down and 10, having proven already in this game they could move the football with two first down conversions and a couple minutes more time possession of the football than the Red Raiders already, the wrong fire happened. The kind that burns.

Evergreen's momentum disappeared faster than one could say the word "fumble" because on that first and 10 first play they fumbled the football away. And the Red Raiders not only got the pigskin, they scored with it, one play later, going 31 yards on a lateral pass, making it 6-0. Making matters worse, they made a two point conversion to make it 8-0.

Then the Wolverines got caught napping the very next play -- the kickoff. The Red Raiders did an onside kick, as the kicker barely hit the ball, just enough so it went the required 10 yards before an Evergreen player dove for it as a Raider player had already dove for it. Raider ball.

"We broke down bad," said Thol, a 6-0 and 160-pound player, who is a team captain on the Wolverines, too. "We all broke down."
So, what happened next?

The Red Raiders scored on their very next possession, with 2:00 left in the first quarter, repeating the first down and 10 score of the last possession, this time going 50 yards on a Joe Witmer run around the right side, making it 15-0 after the extra point.

In this furious last two and a half minutes of scoring offense by both sides, the Wolverines returned serve, so to speak, making racket via a bomb pass from Thol that was incomplete on first and 10.

However, the Thol pass was ruled pass interference in favor of 5-5, 140 senior receiver Brandon Deap, so the Wolverines, who started the possession at its own 29, moved to their 44-yard marker for the next first and 10 play. A five-yard false start penalty backed the Wolverines to the 39 for first and 15 before Zach Ivey, a 5-8, 170 sophomore running back, scampered 41 yards through a hole in the line on the right side opened up by the likes of 5-10, 300 lineman and captain Max Adams.
So, then, Ivey's fast feet made it first and 10 from the 15-yard line with 1:39 to play. And, after a four-yard loss on a run and an incomplete pass, it was third and 14. With 1:09 on the scoreboard clock in the first quarter, the Wolverines scored on a twisting, jumping, acrobatic, Rattany 'Junior' Chor catch from Thol, making it 15-6. It was 15-7, after Mosese Vea booted the point-after-touchdown through the uprights.

Good ballgame so far, really, fun to watch and back-and-forth, defensively, at first, and, now, toward the end of the first quarter, offensively exciting.

The Red Raiders got the ball at their own 40-yard line with 40 seconds left in the first quarter and the Wolverines 5-11, 205 senior linebacker Theo Mowatt sacked the quarterback for a six-yard loss that made it second and 16 from the 34-yard line for the Red Raiders. That nice defensive play by Mowatt ended the first.

But, again, another breakdown and big play by the Red Raiders to start the second quarter broke the Wolverines as Miles Quick ran the ball 56 yards to the Evergreen 10-yard line. Then, with 11:42 on the clock, and only 18 seconds into the second frame, the Red Raiders scored on a 10-yard Nate English run and went up, 22-7.

"When you get behind, it's really hard to catch up," said Wright.
But the Wolverines were going to make a run at catching up, anyway.
Not out of the fight yet, the Wolverines battled through the breakdowns plaguing them thus far in the game, even after the Red Raiders forced a Wolverines punt after yet another seven-play drive ending in nothing.
The Red Raiders scored with a 19-yard Quick run and it was 28-7 with 7:46 left in the second quarter before Evergreen came back, spearheaded by Mowatt's 30-yard kickoff return. Evergreen scored on Thol's 60 yard fly-by around the right side of the field, to cut the lead to 28-13 after the PAT was no good.

Then, the Raiders got the kickoff and started at their own 26-yard line, and, then, they, fumbled the ball as it was recovered by Mowatt.

But, nothing doing, the Wolverines could not get anything going, even though they nearly started in the Red Raiders red zone, at the 23 yard line,with 7:-01 left in the second quarter. After going nowhere on five plays, including two incomplete passes and an intentional grounding call, the Red Raiders got the ball with 6:05 left in the second quarter and scored.

Starting at their own 43-yard line, they went 57 yards in 2:04 to up their lead to a now sizable 35-13.

That's how the score stayed through the rest of the second quarter and into halftime, but when the second half started the Red Raiders scored with 9:52 left on the clock, on a nine-play drive capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Cooprider to Witmer. Then, with the score ballooned to 42-13, more Red Raiders scores made it 56-13 after the third ended.

Game over.

Time to move on for the Wolverines, and, to move on in a decisive fashion of doing things right.

"We just have to come back Sunday and watch film and come on Monday we are going to hit it hard," said Thol. "We have to be more physical. The line has to fire out and get off the ball fast. We were cramping up out there. That's nutrition. There's a lot more to work on. Our work ethic needs to improve a lot. We have a bunch of talent. I don't know how to explain it. We are undisciplined. We need to work on a lot of things."
Wright also mentioned that only 19 guys suited up for the game and 47 are eligible.

"We have got to get some more kids eligible, academics and practices, doing study halls, got to get that in the right direction," said Wright. "We're looking for improvement in the next couple weeks, taking little steps, steps in the right direction. The main thing is getting everyone healthy. I think we had four freshman starting tonight. We have some work ahead of us. This program's had five coaches in the last seven years. I got here in late May. We will get it together."
Evergreen plays at Fife at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 in another non-league game.