In consecutive weeks, The Dalles football team stayed close with its opponent in the second half, but miscues swayed momentum, as Fort Vancouver, Wash. broke open a 14-14 tie with three straight fourth-quarter scoring drives on their way to a 34-20 win Friday night at Kiggins Bowl in Vancouver.
Riverhawk head coach Steve Sugg chalked it up as his team beating itself with penalties and turnovers in road losses against Molalla and Fort Vancouver.
“The effort is there and our kids are playing hard. I think they are doing everything they can,” Sugg said. “We just need to limit those mistakes and not beat ourselves. I think the kids believe that if we hadn’t beaten ourselves that we would be 2-0 right now, but we are 0-2, so we just got to get ready for our next game, pick some kids up and keep working hard. We know we have the capability to win a few games for sure.”
The Dalles fell behind 14-6 at halftime, but the defense started the second half strong with a three and out.
TD got the ball back and embarked on a nine-play, 60-yard drive, spanning four minutes and two seconds.
Senior running back Damion Morris capped the drive with a seven-yard touchdown run. Dominique Seufalemua converted the extra point run to tie the score at 14-apiece.
From that point in the third quarter on, the Riverhawks ran 14 plays for 58 yards on three drives, having them end in a fumble, a punt and a loss of downs until a late scoring drive with less than a minute remaining.
That scoring drive went for 78 yards and chewed up 3:25 on the clock, with Seufalemua connecting with wide receiver Glenn Breckterfield on a 23-yard pass to make it 34-20 with 46 seconds on the clock.
Seufalemua completed 9 of 18 passes for 90 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.
Morris had 10 rushes for 49 yards and a score, Breckterfield added two catches for 39 yards, and senior running back Devin Wilson rushed 18 times for 138 yards and tacked on a team-high five catches for 27 yards.
Wilson scored on a 30-yard run with 3:20 left in the second quarter to tie the score at 6-all.
After Wilson’s touchdown, Fort Vancouver answered on its next possession with a 49-yard drive, as quarterback Erik Coppinger completed a 20-yard pass to Skyler Jensen to make it a 14-6 halftime lead.
Fort Vancouver, known as a Wing-T running team, rushed the ball 28 times for 141 yards, two of those runs went for 47 and 43 yards in the fourth quarter.
Coppinger went 11 for 23 throwing the ball with 152 yards and two scores.
Kyron Lowe-Ash had five grabs for 77 yards and a touchdown, and Jensen added four catches for 49 yards and a score.
Cameron Spears led the ground game with eight rushes for 98 yards, with a long of 43.
The Dalles had sacks from Jacob Wetmore, Francisco Villegas, Matt Strizich and Henry Lee, and Wilson led with 7.5 tackles.
Chance Brace had six tackles, Colton Walker finished third on the team with five tackles, Strizich posted four, two for a loss, and Breckterfield had three tackles and five breakups.
Defensively, Sugg said his squad endured the same fate as the offense. TD’s defense would hold Fort Vancouver at bay for long third downs, but penalties, TD had eight for 99 yards, would give the Trappers a fresh set of downs.
“Their quarterback was just throwing dimes all day. He threw the ball right on the money,” Sugg said. “We had great coverage, for the most part, on their guys too. Our secondary played really well and we were in good position, he just made perfect throws. We shut their run game down, just like we did last week. They are not really a passing team and I got to give their quarterback credit. He made some great throws and the receivers made some great catches. They all came at inopportune times for us.”
Even without starting offensive tackles Justis Fa’amausili and Storm Douthit, the Hawk running game averaged more than four yards a carry, rushing 45 times for 161 yards Friday.
In two games, the Hawks have rushed 77 times for 330 yards (4.29 YPC), with Wilson leading the team (31-236).
Still, The Dalles has not had its full roster available in two games due to injuries, but Sugg holds out hope that roster picture will be clearer as time moves on.
“We are close. If we could get all of our people, all of our bullets in the chamber, I think we will be O.K.,” the Riverhawk coach said.
“I was missing four kids this week. Last week, we were down a couple of kids. Once we get everybody healthy and able to play, and establish some consistency, we can do some good things.”
TD (0-2) travels to Milton-Freewater for a non-league game at 7 p.m. Friday versus Mac-Hi (0-2).
Final stats courtesy of John Frederick at www.sportsstatservice.com.
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