Mule stampede flattens Cardinals

The Wahkiakum Mules ran over the Winlock Cardinals in a 46-6 Central League football game last Friday in Winlock.

The Mules led 14-6 after one quarter and piled on 20 more points in the second quarter for a 34-6 halftime lead. The teams' junior varsities played the second half.

The Mules opened the scoring on a one-yard plunge by quarterback Lars Blix at 7:47 of the first quarter. Blix kicked the conversion for a 7-0 Mule lead.

Winlock responded with a touchdown to cut the margin to 7-6.

"At that point, their coach told me they felt like they were starting to come together as a team," Mule Coach Eric Hansen said.

Instead, the Mules came together as a team. Kohl Bergseng scored on a six yard run at 5:07, and the Mules went up 14-6. They started the second quarter with Wyatt Parker scoring on a five-yard pass from Blix for a 21-6 lead; Nathan Cothren scored on a 26-yard run at 2:36, and Bergseng got his second touchdown of the night on a five-yard run just before halftime.

"At halftime, their coach told me they had seven players out with injuries, and they were going to play their JV's in the second half," Hansen said. "So, we played our JV's, and they did a great job."

The Mule varsity had piled up 185 yards rushing in the first half and 82 yards passing. In the second half, the JV's amassed 231 rushing yards and held Winlock to just 39.

Steven Doumit scored for the Mules at 3:02 of the third quarter on a 43-yard run, and Ethan Cothren scored early in the fourth quarter on a 24 yard run.

Parker led the varsity runners with 89 yards on seven carries; Bergeng was 11/56, and Nathan Cothren 5/39. For the JV runners, Doumit had 5/94, Ethan Cothren 9/79, Austin Good 3/45, Seth Doumit 1/13, and Mason Mackey 3/9.

Winlock finished with a total of 78 rushing yards as the Mule defense kept them bottled up.

"They didn't have an answer for (defensive linemen) Tylor Russel and Brett Chaput," Hansen said. "Nobody could handle them."

Leading tacklers were Trystan Mendez with 10, Mackey nine, Chaput eight, Bergseng seven, and Doumit and Nathan Cothren six each. Russell made three tackles for losses.

The Mules host the 1-2 Pe Ell Trojans this Friday. The Trojans opened the season with a 12-10 win over Winlock and lost their next two to Toutle Lake and Mossyrock.

"They've got some good athletes," Hansen said. "I've heard they're switching to a wishbone offense and have moved one of their guards to fullback. They'll come right at us. We can't take anybody for granted."