POULSBO — The Quilcene Rangers got 50 out of their 52 points from the Budnek brothers en route to a 52-26 Class 1B Quad-District Football Playoff victory over Evergreen Lutheran on Friday at North Kitsap High School.
The win sends Quilcene back to the 1B State Football Tournament. The Rangers will find out their tournament seeding and first-round opponent today.
Evergreen Lutheran came in the game with a stellar won-loss record — 8-1 — but Quilcene showed that it remains the class of the 1B Sea-Tac League by building up a 52-12 lead after the third quarter.
The Rangers got five touchdowns from Bishop Budnek and two more from Zach Budnek in the win. Bishop Budnek also converted on four of four two-point conversions for 38 total points. Ashton Smead scored the other PAT for the Rangers.
Quilcene got off to a fast start with Bishop Budnek scoring on a 52-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.
However, the game bogged down after that, as the score remained 6-0 into the second quarter. The Rangers erupted for 24 points in the second quarter as Bishop Budnek scored three more touchdowns.
Quilcene scored on the first play of the game and scored again on the first play of the second half as quarterback Holdem Elkins got into the scoring act.
Elkins threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Zach Budnek to open up the third quarter. He threw a second touchdown pass to Bishop Budnek and a third TD on an 18-yard pass to Zach Budnek as the Rangers opened up a 40-point lead.
The Eagles scored a couple of late touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the final margin.
Bishop Budnek finished the game with 14 carries for 155 yards and two catches for 16 yards. Chase Newman gained 43 yards on seven carries, while Zach Budnek caught two passes for 46 yards.
The Rangers ended up with 278 yards rushing and 79 yards passing.
Coach Trey Beathard said that Elkins deserves a lot of credit. He completed 5 of 11 passes with the three TDs, but Beathard said other than one throw at the end of the first half and another that was overthrown, all of Elkins’ passes were on-target as the Rangers dropped a few passes.
“He had a fantastic game. His completion percentage doesn’t look super impressive,” Beathard said. “He did an excellent job of managing the game.”
Beathard said Elkins’ one interception, which was a throw into the end zone at the end of the first half, “that’s a pass I want him to make.”
In addition, Beathard thought that Newman had a great game at the fullback position, leading the way for Bishop Budnek’s big runs all night.
Beathard also said the Rangers’ front line of Max Redmon, Cash Thacker and Deakon Budnek also played great.
“[Evergreen Lutheran] was putting eight kids in the box and we were still able to run the ball,” he said.
Beathard thinks that because of the Rangers’ one loss this year (Quilcene is 8-1 on the season), they could end up seeded against one of the top three teams in the state — Odessa, Naselle or Almira/Coulee-Hartline — in the opening round of the state 1B playoffs. Naselle played Crescent on Saturday.
Only eight teams at the 1B level make it to state.
Quilcene 52, Evergreen Lutheran 26
Evergreen Luth. 0 12 0 14 — 26
Quilcene 6 24 22 0 — 52
First Quarter
Quilcene — B. Budnek 52 run (PAT failed)
Second Quarter
Quilcene — B. Budnek 3 run ((B. Budnek run)
Quilcene — B. Budnek 10 run (B. Budnek run)
Quilcene — B. Budnek 9 run (B Budnek run)
Third Quarter
Quilcene — Z. Budnek 28 pass from Elkins (PAT failed)
Quilcene — B. Budnek 7 pass from Elkins (Smead run)
Quilcene — Z. Budnek 18 pass from Elkins (B. Budnek run)
Individual stats
Rushing — B. Budnek 14-155, Newman 7-43, Dugdale 3-34, Richardson 1(-1), Smead 3-13, Kieffer 1-(-4).
Passing — Elkins 5-11-79 3 TDs, INT.
Receptions — B. Budnek 2-16, Z. Budnek 2-46, Mack 1-17.
