Gulls edge Mules in the last minute

In a close football game, winning and losing can come down to a few big plays, and that was the case last Friday as the Raymond Seagulls defeated the Wahkiakum Mules 20-14 in the opening round of the state Class 2B playoffs.

The Gulls scored on two of their first four plays in the game. From there, the game belonged to the Mules until the very end when another big play gave the Gulls the momentum they needed to score the winning touchdown with 11 seconds left on the clock.

Raymond advances to play the Napavine Tigers; the Mules end their season with a 7-3 record.

On the second play from scrimmage, Raymond's Alex Sida scored on a 60-yard run to sting the Mules. The conversion kick made the score 7-0 at 11:34 of the first quarter. The Gull defense forced a Mule punt, and on the Gull's second play of the new drive, Sida broke away for a 72-yard touchdown run. The conversion left the Gulls ahead 14-0 at 3:35 of the first quarter.

At that point, the Mules took control.

"The kids realized they needed to buckle down, and they did," said Mule Coach Eric Hansen.

The wind and driving rain dampened the Mule passing attack, but the Mules punched out a scoring drive, with Mason Mackey getting the touchdown on a three-yard run at 2:34 of the second quarter. Mackey scored the conversion to cut the Gull lead to 14-8.

The Mules received the second half kick off and put together another long, clock-eating drive. Again, Mackey scored on a three-yard run with 5:04 left in the third quarter. The conversion try failed, leaving the score tied at 14-14.

The Gulls' game winning drive started with a little over three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Rayce Newman connected with Sida for a 22-yard pass play that put the Gulls in scoring position. The pass was Raymond's second of the night; the first was incomplete. Sida then broke free for a 10-yard touchdown run with 11 seconds left on the clock for the 20-14 lead. The Mules were able to stop the conversion but they weren't able to do anything with the Gulls' kick as time expired.

The final 10-yard touchdown run was the longest Gull run since the first quarter. The Gulls had piled up 161 yards rushing in the first quarter and only 48 in the last three as the Mule defense stiffened.

The Mules gained 170 yards rushing and 70 yards passing for 240 yards of offense. Raymond had 191 yards rushing and 22 yards passing for 213 yards.

Mackey gained 61 yards rushing on 18 carries; he scored twice. Austin Good picked up 61 yards rushing on 11 carries; Lars Blix gained 28 on 13 runs, and Nathan Cothren gained 26 yards on eight runs. Blix completed eight of 16 passes for 70 yards with two interceptions. Cothren caught two passes for 28 yards; Travis Wegdahl caught two for 23 yards; Brandon Budd caught two for eight yards; and Mackey and Good each caught one pass for six and five yards, respectively.

Defensive standouts were Wegdahl, Blix, Shane Souvenir, Trystan Mendez and Alex Johnson, Coach Hansen said. Wegdahl, Mendez and Dylan Hansen recovered Gull fumbles.

“I'm really proud of the team," Hansen commented. "I asked them to give everything they had, and they did. They played hard."

The game was the final game for 12 seniors: Seth Doumit, Travis Wegdahl, Mason Mackey, Jesús Crawford, Huang Hsuan-Wei, Austin Good, Nathan Cothren, Koby Cothren, Brandon Burdick, Zach Calvert, Shane Souvenir and Dylan Hansen.

SW 2B Football

Last week's results

Raymond 20, Wahkiakum 14

Adna 33, Waitsburg-Prescott 17

Napavine 44, Concrete 16

Morton/White Pass 64, Darrington 0

LaConner 54, Toutle Lake 0

Reardan 41, Oroville 20

Lind-Ritzville-Sprague 41, DeSales 14

Colfax 22, White Swan14

This Week's Games

 Reardan vs Adna, 2 p.m. Nov. 23 at Centralia.

 LRS vs. Colfax TBA

 Napavine vs. Raymond, 2 p.m. Nov. 23 at Aberdeen.

 MWP vs LaConner TBA