Mules bag Ducks; await playoff start

The Wahkiakum Mules overcame a slow start to beat the Toutle Lake Ducks 38-7 in their final game of the regular season last Friday night.

The Mules finish the regular season with a 6-2 record, good for third place in the Central League.

On Friday, the visiting Ducks gave the Mules field position in the first quarter but played good enough defense to keep the Mules out of the endzone.

That lasted till the first play of the second quarter when quarterback Gunnar Blix followed a wall of blockers into the endzone for a one-yard touchdown at 11:54. Nate Cothren ran the conversion to give the Mules an 8-0 lead; he took a helmet to his head on the play and had to leave the game. Cothren had recovered a Duck fumble to set up the drive.

The Mules closed out the second quarter with Blix scoring on another short run at 2:18. He passed to Mason Mackey for the conversion and a 16-0 halftime lead.

After halftime, the Mules came out of the lockeroom ready to play. They piled up 62 yards on the ground and 84 in the air in the third quarter to score two more touchdowns and put the game out of reach.

Blix passed to Mackey for a seven-yard touchdown play at 4:47; Blix passed to Brandon Budd for the conversion for a 24-0 lead. At 2:50, Blix passed to Budd for a 10-yard touchdown play; another pass to Mackey made the conversion and a 32-0 lead.

Austin Good scored on a one-yard run at 8:34 of the fourth quarter. The conversion try failed, leaving the score 38-0.

Toutle scored on a 56-yard run against the Mule junior varsity with 7:20 to go, and both teams' JV's finished the game.

The Mules piled up 198 yards on the ground and 106 in the air for 304 yards of total offense. Toutle Lake had no yards passing and165 yards on the ground, with most of that coming on two runs of 47 and 56 yards.

For the Mule varsity, Mackey gained 41 yards, Good 40, Travis Wegdahl 27, Blix 24 and Cothren nine. Alex Johson picked up 43 late in the fourth quarter.

Blix completed 11 of 19 passes, with two interceptions, for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Budd caught three passes for 42 yards and one touchdown; Seth Doumit caught three passes for 41 yards; Mackey caught two passes for 12 yards and one touchdown; Good caught two passes for 13 yards, and Wegdahl caught one pass for no gain.

On defense, Blix led in tackles with 14; Trystan Mendez had eight, Wegdahl seven, and Mackey six. Cothren, Jesús Crawford and Mendez recovered Duck fumbles.

The Mules have a bye this week. They'll entertain the fourth place team from the Pacific League the following week to play for a berth in the post-season playoffs.

The Naselle Comets will likely be that team. The Comets shut out the Ocosta Wildcats 36-0 last Friday to pick up their first Pacific League win. The Comets close out the regular season at winless South Bend this Friday.

Central League

League Season

W L W L

Morton/Wh. Pass 7 0 8 0

Napavine 6 1 7 1

Wahkiakum 6 2 6 2

Onalaska 4 3 5 3

Adna 4 3 5 4

Pe Ell 2 5 3 5

Toutle Lake 2 5 2 6

Mossyrock 1 6 1 7

Winlock 0 7 0 8

Last week

Wahkiakum 34, Toutle Lake 7

Napavine 40, Mossyrock 3

MWP 55, North Beach 14NL

Onalaska 49, Winlock 0

Adna 20, Pe Ell 18

This Week

Wahkiakum bye

Adna at Onalaska

Mossyrock at MWP

Winlock at Napavine

Toutle Lake at Pe Ell

Pacific League

League Season

W L W L

Raymond 4 0 6 1

North Beach 3 1 6 2

Willapa Valley 3 1 4 3

Naselle 1 3 2 5

Ocosta 1 3 3 5

South Bend 0 4 0 7

Last week

Naselle 36, Ocosta 0

Willapa Valley 43, South Bend 0

MWP 55, North Beach 14NL

Raymond bye

This Week

Naselle at South Bend

North Beach at Ocosta

Raymond at Willapa Valley