Mules trample Ducks 40-12

Mule wingback Joel Nicolazzi found a big hole behind the blocking of Ty Bain, 66, Phillip Doumit, 50, and Luke Thomason, 65, for a big gain in the Mules’ 40-12 win over Toutle Lake last Friday. Photo by Rick Nelson.

It didn't take long for the Wahkiakum Mule football team to put its stamp on the visiting Toutle Lake Ducks last Friday.

After kicking off, the Mule defense stifled the Duck offense and forced a punt. The ball rolled out of bounds at the Mule 10-yard line, very good field position for Toutle Lake.

However, no problem for the Mule offense. Senior halfback Bryce McClain took the handoff, read the blocks of his teammates, found an open seam and burst through the Duck defense for a 90-yard touchdown. Lars Blix kicked the conversion, and the Mules led 7-0.

The Mule defense forced another Toutle punt, and receiver Joel Nicolazzi caught the ball at the Mule 30-yard line, found some good blocking, and zipped downfield for a 70-yard Mule touchdown. With the Blix kick, the Mules led 14-0 with 7:28 left in the first quarter.

The Ducks got on the scoreboard at 4:17 of the first quarter. The Mule offense had taken a punt but fumbled away the ball at the Mule 20-yard line. Duck quarterback Cody O'Connor rolled to this right, saw the Mule defense was covering receivers, and kept the ball for a 21-yard touchdown run. The Mules blocked the conversion kick, leaving the score 14-6.

From there, the Mules used their team speed to control the game. Nicolazzi scored on a 20-yard run in the second quarter for a 20-6 Mule lead at halftime. Wyatt Parker scored on a 16-yard run at 2:40 of the third quarter, and Joel Fudge punched in a five-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak at 1:02 of the third quarter. Zack Schneider closed out the Mule scoring on a 13 yard run at 9:34 of the fourth quarter.

Both teams used their reserves to end the game, and Toutle's Sam Carlson scored on a seven-yard run with 3:01 left in the game.

The Mules gained 469 yards rushing in the game, 200 in the first quarter. Toutle had 104 yards rushing and 40 yards passing. Toutle had two fumbles and lost both; the Mules fumbled three times and lost one. The Ducks had five penalties for 40 yards; the Mules had eight penalties for 70 yards.

McClain led the Mule rushing attack with 177 yards on 13 runs. Nicolazzi gained 119 yards on seven runs; Schneider ran for 85 yards on 14 runs; Parker had 43 on five runs, and Fudge gained 17 yards on two runs.

Leading tacklers were Luke Thomason with 10 tackles; Cameron Elliott and Jeff Vik eight each, Brett Chaputt seven, Nicolazzi and Ty Bain six each, Kyle Bergquist five and Lars Blix with four.

Overall, Mule coaches were pleased with the team's effort.

"The offense executed very well, and the defense flew at them," said Coach Eric Hansen.

This Friday, the Mules travel to Camas to play the Vancouver Christian Lights.

The Lights opened their season with a 23-20 win over Portland's Riverside Portland and lost their league opener 42-18 to Mossyrock.

Here are directions to the Camas stadium as forwarded from Coach Hansen from Lee Tischer:

1. Take I-5 South.

2. Take Exit 7, I-205 S, go about 10 miles.

3. Take Exit 27, onto WA 14E, toward Camas, go about 6½ miles.

4. Take the Camas exit; this will put you on 6th Ave. Stay on 6th for three stop signs. At the third stop sign, you will be looking at Garfield St. Go left up the hill one block. You will see the old CHS building in front of you. A sharp right on 14th at the top of the hill will take you around the school to Doc Harris Stadium.

Estimated driving time from Cathlamet is 1 hour, 30 minutes.

On line: Photos and video at http://www.flickr.com/photos/waheagle--rick and also http://www.waheagle.com.