Toledo hands Mules a hard 24-6 loss (with correction)

The Toledo Indians overwhelmed the Wahkiakum Mules for a 24-6 Central League football victory last Friday.

"I'm proud of the way the boys played," Mule Coach Eric Hansen said of his team. "Injuries hampered us. We had eight sophomores and three seniors out there."

After a scoreless first quarter, Toledo took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter with an 18-yard touchdown run.

The Mules closed the gap in the third quarter with Evan Quigley scoring on an eight-yard pass from Lucas Brown. [Editor's note: An early version of this story credited the touchdown to James Anderson who normally wears the number 22 jersey; he had been injured earlier Friday and didn't play; Quigley came out of the interior line and wore number 22.]

Toledo led 17-6 going into the fourth quarter on the basis of a 22-yard touchdown run and a field goal. The visitors closed out the scoring with a one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Mules picked up 144 yards rushing and 98 yards passing. Toledo gained 237 yards on the ground and 40 in the air.

Brown led the Mule offense with 56 yards rushing; he completed eight of 22 passes for 98 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Quentin Nelson had 44 yards rushing.

On defense, Ashden Niemeyer was involved in 15 tackles, Brown 13, Tristan Collupy nine, and Nelson, Chance Cothren, Damion Curl and Braxton Johns all had six. Nelson and Johns interecepted Toledo passes. Nelson caught four passes for 59 yards, and Cothren, Quigley, Johns and Jake Leitz all caught one pass, with Anderson picking up a touchdown.

[Editor's note: An early version of this story credited the touchdown to James Anderson who normally wears the number 22 jersey; he had been injured earlier Friday and didn't play.]

It doesn't get any easier for the Mules, as they head to Kalama this Friday to take on the defending Class 2B state champions. They'll close out the regular season October 26 in Winlock.

However, Coach Hansen said the team said a third place finish in the Central League's River division would put them in a cross over playoff game November 1 against the second place team in the Coastal Division at that team's field.

Coaches and athletic directors met last week to work out a scheme for the cross over playoffs, and here is what they decided:

Division winners will host the fourth place team for other divisions.

Losers of the 2/3 match ups have a second chance to qualify in a Kansas City tie-breaker on November 3 at Centralia High School, 7 p.m. The winner of the tie-breaker will be the seventh team from District 4 to advance into the state bracket. If the tie-breaker is between three teams, it follows the standard operating procedure already set for a three-team scenario, which is double elimination.

The fourth place teams will not be offered this opportunity and must beat a first place team to qualify. In the case of a first place team being upset by a fourth, the first would be allowed to join the three 2/3 losers, and the tie-breaker would become a four-team tie-breaker. If this scenario takes place, then the format would change to a winner in, loser out scenario. The four teams will be drawn from a hat with team A vs. B, and then C vs. D. Both games would be loser out, with the winners playing for the final berth.