by Paul Moseley

It was a sweet homecoming night for the Garfield Bulldogs, and a tough trip downtown for the West Seattle Wildcats in their first league game of the season as the Bulldogs took home a decisive 41-13 victory.

Garfield struck twice in the first half, chalking up 14 points. The Wildcats hung with them through the first two quarters and were close to cutting the lead in half, but an 80 yard TD run by #80 John Ursino was called back for an illegal forward pass, sending West Seattle to the locker room with no points on the board and two TD's down.

In the 2nd half, the Wildcats came out swinging with a 16 play drive that saw 5 first downs on strong running by #44 Gavin Garcia Penor. Wildcat QB Robert Harrleson capped it off by connecting with Receiver Jamie Maples for a 16 yard pass to narrow the gap at 14-6.

Garfield answered on their next two possessions with a 59 yard rush for TD, then a 98 yard drive with another long run of 55 yards and, just like that, it was 27-6.

Wildcat Joey Kane took some reps at QB in the 4th quarter, connecting with Ursino for a 29 yard pass, then handing off to #28 Rico Saeteurn who ran 25 yards for a score.

Garfield scored twice more in the 4th quarter on an interception and a rushing touchdown, making the final score 41-13.

Despite the score, Head Coach Burggraff saw some positives in tonight's game. "There was improvement. They (Garfield) have a dynamic running back and we couldn't contain him and that made big things happen. Our pass defense was good. We did OK inside run"

As for the prep for Rainier Beach next week "We're going to focus on executing better, defense, offense, just get everybody more reps and execute better. Take the things we did here and fix them."

West Seattle takes on Rainier Beach next friday, September 26th at 7:00 @ the SWAC.

West Seattle Highlights:
#44 Gavin Garcia-Penor had 16 carries for 81 yards
#7 Jamie Maples had a 16 yd reception for a Touchdown
#80 John Ursino had a 29 yard catch
#28 - Rico Saeteurn had 50 yards rushing including a 25 yard TD run

Garfield Highlights:
The Garfield offense had 410 yards on 42 plays and 5TDs
#23 Antoine Patton (RB) had 294 yards and 3TD's on 16 carries
#5 Winfred Roberson (LB) had a 60 yd interception return for TD