by Ed Shepherd
Sports Correspondent

Two teams vying for one playoff spot, and, Foster just flat-out outplayed Evergreen for the post-season berth, beating a courageous but beaten Wolverines team, 26-0, in Seamount League action on the Bulldogs turf Friday night.

Foster goes to Olympic High School for its playoff game, in Bremerton, likely, Friday night, but, could be Saturday, as date and time are yet to be determined.

""It was what I thought it would be," said Foster head coach, Matt Leonard, leading his team to the playoffs in only his second season at the helm of the Bulldogs. "I thought we would have to grind it out. I would have liked to be scoring touchdowns more but scoring field goals was what we did."

Leonard's Bulldogs team slowly but surely put this game in the books, with a touchdown in the first quarter, a field goal in the second, a touchdown, and, a field goal in the third, and, a touchdown in the fourth.

But, despite the final lopsided score, hey, the Wolverines gave it a good go, fighting hard running the ball in the fourth quarter until the bitter end.

Evergreen coach, Jim Wright, in his first year, spoke to his kids afterward, all kneeling near midfield, listening, intently, to ever word their coach related, often, emphatically, to them, putting some sweet into the after-game taste of bitter.
"You left it all on the field, you guys never gave up," said Wright. "That shows character, that shows heart. They know they have a team to contend with in the next couple of years. Every single play during the game you were on the sidelines cheering for your teammates. Now, we have to deal with adversity. We have to deal with life, and, move on. I love you, guys."

Heartfelt message there, and, the Wolverines senior, running back, Theo Mowatt, left it all on the field this game against a Bulldogs defense that let him run the ball for 85 yards on 14 carries but never let Mowatt get into the end zone.

The Wolverines started with the ball in the first quarter and the first play of downs for the White Center area school proved characteristic of the hard-nosed, bend-but-don't-break defense of the Bulldogs. Mowatt carried the ball four of the first five downs for his team, including getting a first down on a 8-yard run from a 3rd-and-7 ball on the 41-yard line. But, the Bulldogs defense held when 4th-and-1 came around from the Bulldogs 46-yard line, thanks to Alvin Noa, in on the tackle, and, a couple of the Bulldogs defensive line guys getting in there, too.

And, the D-line was tough all game through, as they played under Bulldogs defensive coordinator, Fritz Martin.
"Definitely happy about them pitching a shut-out," said Martin. "Alvin is our defensive leader back there, rockstar. And, Patrick Saau leads, too. He's one of our captains, a quiet leader, he gets it done on the field. Hats off to him for moving to inside linebacker because Anthony Noa, who usualy plays that position, is out with an injury (meniscus strain) right now."

So, Noa, Saau, and, the rest of the defense, including Ronnie Roberson, a 6-4 210-pound defensive end, who hounded Wolverines' speedy quarterback, Ryan Thol, all game long, got it done, from the starting series statement defensive stop on fourth down to the end of the game.

So, after stopping the Wolverines on 4th-and-1, on the foe's first possession of the game, the Bulldogs got the ball, and, after two plays, getting five yards, fumbled, as the Wolverines Johnny Le recovered the ball. But, Coach Leonard was OK with that early woe on offense for his Bulldogs.

"I am comfortable with our defense, they got our backs," said Leonard.

The Bulldogs defense found itself in a tough predicament, as, the fumble wound up at their own 27-yard line, where the Wolverines started on 1st-and-10. But, defensive end, lineman, Roberson, pursued Thol on a roll-out right and ran him down in the backfield for a huge, 12-yard loss. That set the Wolerines way out of field goal range at 2nd-and-22 from the Bulldogs 39-yard line. And, on second down, Saau crushed Mowatt in the backfield for a one-yard loss, setting up, third and 23. On it, Mowatt, watched a nice Thol throw go threw his hands.

So, after the Wolverines Mosese Vea punted a nice 37-yard punt, going out of bounds with no return, the Bulldogs took over on offense, with sophomore quarterback, Zane Jacobson, a captain, leading them. And, first play of this 2nd series for the Bulldogs was a 9-yard pass, over the middle, from Jacobson to senior, wide receiver, , Patrick Straight. Then, Noa, who is not only rocking it for the defense, is a load on offense, being the Bulldogs main running back. He carried the ball on 2nd-and-1, and, lost a yard. But, that didn't stop Leonard from going right back at Noa, who got the first down on 3rd-and-1, on a 9-yard gain, to their 41-yard line. So, 1st-and-10, and, Noa got the call again, going nine yards to get to midfield, and, then, senior, Laveasele Eneliko ran the ball for a couple yards, as, did Jacobson go a couple more forward to the Wolveines 43-yard line. That's where Jacobson threw a pass to Straight and he took it straight into the end zone, for the 43-yard score, which gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead, after placekicker, senior, Haji, made the PAT (point-after-touchdown), with 2:01 left in the first quarter.

"They severely underrated Patrick's speed," said Jacobson. 'My arm, actually, got hit on the play, but, I, still, got the throw off."

It was a big play, touchdown play, provided big momentum for the Bulldogs, in this crucial game of the loser getting no post-season, and, Straight's words, following his TD grab, straightened the magnitude of its impression on his football career ending after this season.

"Greatest feeling in my life, my senior moment, glad the quarterback put it in the right spot," said Straight. "He's struggled throughout the year. He got a hyper-extended elbow in a game earlier in the season and played through it. He's getting better and better now. He's always positive, the most confident person on the team, no matter what, win or lose."

And, so, the Bulldogs, striking for first blood, offensively, against the Wolverines, were back playing defense again. And, after three downs of going backward, not forward, thanks, in part, to senior, captain, Keith Hill's 5-yard sack that made 3rd-and-6 become 4th-and-11, leading to another Vea punt, from his own end zone.
Foster, with the ball back in its mitts, as Vea's punt sailed out at the 25-yard-line, used running and passing before Haji's first field goal of the game, a 7-play drive that included a Jacobson pass to receiver, Timmy Nguyen, for eight yards, and, a determined Noa run for eight yards, putting the ball at the 14-yard line, on 1st-and-10 that, three plays later, Haji turned into a 26 yard field goal booted through the uprights, increasing the Bulldog's lead to 10-0 with 9:13 left in the second quarter.

"Haji is a huge weapon for us," said Coach Leonard. "He was a little off the beginning of the season, but I had a buddy of mine come in and help him and he's doing a lot better now."
Evergreen got the ball back and the Wolverines' senior, kick returner, Henrok Gebreyohannes, took the ball 15 yards, and, to note, he, also, gave his team good field position on the opening kickoff of the game to him in the first quarter, going for 20 yards then.

So, the Wolverines, 9:06 left, second quarter, received a couple good runs from Mowatt, who helped his team hold on to the football this game and run the clock down enough that Leonard said things about him after the game.

"They are a physical team," said Leonard. "And, that running back (Mowatt) was a load, hard to bring down."
But, Mowatt went down on this series on 3rd-and-11 from the 29-yard line, getting five yards, but needing six more. Vea punted again and Foster got the ball and the Wolverines defense held on three straight downs. The Bulldogs' Straight punted on 4th down and his kick went 44 yards, backing the Wolverines to their own 22-yard line with 3:48 left in the first half. Mowatt ran the ball three times, with one run for 10 yards, on 3rd-and-4 that gave his team a 1st down conversion. But, then, the Bulldogs defense tightened and only allowed four yards to Junior Chor, a senior, on 3rd-and-7. And, then, a blitz, by strong linebacker, Noa, on 4th-and-3, got Chor in the backfield. Halftime came after one more possession for each team that produced no points.
After a halftime show that included Elijah Hawkins and Alejandra Silva being crowned king and queen, the Bulldogs came out and scored another field goal, that did come with some work to get as the Wolverines defense was tough. The drive took nine plays, covered 60 yards in 2:40 seconds, as, Haji's kick, from the 28-yard line, was good, upping the Bulldogs lead to 13-0, with 9:13 left in the third quarter.

The Wolverines got the ball, then, and, with 9:05 left in the third frame of play, there was still time to come back, down by less than two touchdowns. And, from 1st-and-10 from its own 11-yard line, the Wolverines, Mowatt, ran the ball 11 yards to the 22-yard line. Then, a 19-yard run on 1st-and-10 from the 22 made it 1st-and-10 from the 41-yard line, and, the Wolverines were pressing, with, definitely, the game not over. Then, continuing its charge of this drive, a 7-yard pass from Wolverines quarterback, Thol, to senior, Brandon Valencia, made it 1st-and-10 from the 48-yard line. But, that was it, the Bulldogs defense bended but did not break, as the Bulldogs' Saau came in for a big tackle on Mowatt on 3rd down of the drive. And, on 4th-and-2 for the Wolverines, Mowatt got only one yard, turning the ball back over to the Bulldogs on down.

Martin, Foster's defensive coordinator, who spoke above, mentioned the D-line guys, being Kumar Teve, whom Noa ran behind that 5-9 300-pound blocker, a few times this game along with following behind, 5-11 220-pound, Justin Satele, noseguard, and, also, center, on offense, for the Bulldogs. And, more D-line guys are Joey Chambers, a 5-9, 210-pounder, and, Eneliko, who doubles as a good rusher for the Bulldogs, too, in this game, and, this season.

It was a remarkable job by the D-line, bending but not breaking but also doing so without captain, senior, Zane Galoia, out with a meniscus tear.

"Satele's been filling in nicely for Zane," said Martin.

So, back to the game and the Bulldogs got the ball back but three plays later, a fumble, and, for the Wolverines, freshman, Romeo Latu, recovered the ball, with 4:05 left in the third quarter. With the football, the Wolverines, on this drive, at 2nd-and-7, from the 40-yard line, QB, Thol passed nicely for 24 yards to Chor. He leaped high for the ball, in this game, keep in mind, that was still a less than two touchdown lead. Mowatt then ran 20 yard with the ball but a holding call penalty negated that effort. Then, on 1st-and-20, from the 40-yard line,the back-breaker play happened as Noa intercepted a Thol lateral pass and went from the 39-yard line into the Wolverines red zone, at the 19-yard line. But, a penalty put the ball back at the 35-yard line. So, still, now the Bulldogs ball, Jacobson went for a bomb pass to Anthony May on 1st-and-10 with 1:30 left in the third quarter. Then, a sack by Mowatt, put the ball at the 40-yard-line for 3rd-and-15, and, Jacobson went back to May ,streaking down the field, catching the ball at the 5 yard line and coasting into the end zone for six. And, since the PAT was no good, the score was 19-0, Bulldogs, with seven seconds left in the third quarter.

"Zane played well," said Coach Leonard. "Since he was hurt this season, he has been out of rhythm, trying to get his timing back."

Jacobson hurt the elbow on his throwing arm back in a game in the first part of October.

So, one more score in this one came for the Bulldogs with 8:20 left in the fourth quarter as they went on a five play drive that started at the Wolverines 46-yad line, at the 10:20 mark, and ended with Eneliko taking a Jacobson hand-off and bouncing outside for 40 yards, in for the touchdown, making it 26-0.
The Wolverines really were tough in this game, despite not scoring in this one as Straight came over to them after the game, encouragingly speeaking to them, as Wolverines coach, Wright was just finishing up talking with his team.
Why did Straight feel compelled to do that class act?

"They played a really good game," said Straight. After I scored the first touchdown, I was covered up by them the whole time."

And, what was said to the Wolverines?

"I told them, 'Don't let this get in your head. Work hard in the off-season. Team that works hard usually comes out on top,'" said Straight.

And, Bulldogs coach, Leaonard, also sang praises of the Wolverines' efforts in this one.

"They had a good scheme in this game, but our kids up front were a little too much," said Leonard. "They are a young team. They have a first-year coach who is getting them ready to play."
And, then, there's Leonard, who just led the Bulldogs to the playoffs in his second season, and, Straight spoke about his coach.

"Since he came to the program two years ago, the whole program has turned around," said Straight. "We have done better this year by harder work. Our practices are three, three-and-a-half hours long now instead of two."

So, it's playoff time for the Bulldogs very soon, it's to put mind over matter, and, beating Olympic is the matter.

It won't be easy for the 4-3 Bulldogs, who will play a team who took second place in it's Olympic League, with a 5-1 record, and, just lost a close one to the league's undefeated, 6-0, team, North Kitsap, 13-10.

But, if the Bulldogs work hard under Leonard, and, assistants, like Martin, in long practices this next week, leading up to the game Friday or Saturday night, they just might travel back from Bremerton in winning form, making it to the round of 16, making it to state.