PREP FOOTBALL: Neah Bay passes final test, wins Class 1B state championship

TACOMA — Battered, but wearing a smile as long as the Tacoma Dome corridor he slowly limped down, Neah Bay’ senior Cameron Buzzell accepted one final compliment from Red Devils head coach Tony McCaulley.

“You look like you played a football game,” McCaulley said. “How do you feel?”

Buzzell, who had just shined the brightest of Neah Bay’s many stars in its 64-34 Class 1B State Football Championship victory against Odessa-Harrington at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday evening, answered truthfully. He was tired.

But it was a well-earned exhaustion — one caused by running up and down the Tacoma Dome turf and all over the Titans to the tune of four total touchdowns, 168 rushing yards, 59 receiving yards, a state-record setting 92-yard interception return and a 32-yard pass completion.

“He did it all for us,” McCaulley said. “He made plays all over the field and just had a hell of a game.”

The win is the program’s third title in four seasons and fourth in six years.

“It might be, it just might be,” Buzzell smiled when asked if this was the most satisfying championship of his high school career. And with five state crowns to his credit — three in football, one in basketball and one as a relay team member in track and field — Buzzell knows a thing or two about winning on the biggest stage.

“This one is pretty special, especially with how we played last year [in a loss to Lummi in the state semifinals]. We wanted to get back here, to have this opportunity. And we made it.”

Tough schedule

The Red Devils, eager to steel themselves for another run at the golden ball state trophy, were tested all season with a schedule that included two wins over Class 1A Chimacum and Forks, two more against Class 2B Morton-White Pass and Seattle Lutheran and a split of two games with rival Lummi, were prepared for this championship game — and it showed.

“There’s no 1B team that played a more difficult schedule this year,” Neah Bay senior Kenrick Doherty Jr. said. “We were able to gain confidence from those games each week and it paid off for us.”

Buzzell agreed.

“I thank Mr. B [Athletic Director Michael Brunstad] for setting up all those games with the bigger schools. They helped us get here.”

Defense set the tone

Neah Bay’s defense picked up two early stops in the first quarter, and after a bobbled punt snap by Odessa-Harrington set the Red Devils up inside the Titans’ red zone, Neah Bay took advantage when Cole Svec rushed right for a 5-yard TD an.d a 6-0 lead.

Svec then capped an 11-play, 82-yard drive by hauling in a 16-yard TD pass from Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. on 4th-and-11 to put Neah Bay up 12-0 17 seconds into the second quarter.

Odessa-Harrington, which totaled just eight yards of offense in the first quarter, got on the board when Colton Hunt found Brad Johnston all alone for a 38-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

Buzzell got going on the next drive, racing through double coverage on fourth down to catch a deep bomb from Munyagi over the middle for a 59-yard TD.

With Neah Bay up 18-14 and Munyagi sidelined with an injury to his throwing shoulder, Buzzell took a direct snap 53 yards to the end zone on the first play of the Red Devils’ next possession for a 26-14 lead.

Buzzell then recovered a botched handoff at midfield on the next Titans’ drive and later scored on a 30-yard cutback across the right side of the field to put Neah Bay up 34-14.

Buzzell set a 1B Gridiron Classic record on the final play of the first half with a 92-yard interception return. He stepped in front of a Colton Hunt pass at the Neah Bay 3-yard line and raced up the left sideline to the 50, cutting all the way across the field and getting down to the Odessa-Harrington 5-yard line before being tripped up just shy of a back-breaking pick-6.

“He’s been making plays like that since he was a freshman,” Doherty said. “He’s always worked so hard for our team.”

With Munyagi’s shoulder still smarting, Neah Bay turned to backup QB Ben Greene on the opening drive of the second half and Greene responded with a perfectly placed 22-yard touchdown pass to Svec on 3rd-and-16 and another strike, this time to Munyagi, on the 2-point attempt for a 42-14 lead.

“That was huge,” McCaulley said. “It was important for us to come out and get that score and show them we were going to keep coming.

“There was a reason we played Ben at QB for three quarters against Forks [in a 26-20 overtime win]. It was all about being prepared for that type of moment.”

Buzzell added a 63-yard TD run to put Neah Bay up 50-20 after three quarters. He took the snap, rolled right in what looked like a pass play, picked up a big block from Munyagi, tossed aside a Titan along the sideline and powered through to paydirt to effectively clinch the contest.

The Red Devils scored on a 22-yard TD pass from Greene to Nate Tyler in the fourth quarter.

“I picked a good time to make some good throws,” Greene said.

And Neah Bay capped the scoring with a nod to the next generation of Red Devils — a 38-yard TD run by freshman Logan Halttunen.

McCaulley, who has coached all four state title teams, said this title journey was special.

“I wondered if we had what it took early in the season,” McCaulley said. “We were down on numbers and we needed to improve. “But that’s just what they did. Besides that Taholah game [in the district playoffs], we got better and better each week and we finished strong.”

Neah Bay 64, Odessa-Harrington 34

Neah Bay 6 28 16 14— 64

O-H 0 14 6 14— 34

First Quarter

NB — Cole Svec 5 run (R. Munyagi rush failed)

Second Quarter

NB — Cole Svec 16 pass from Munyagi (pass failed)

OH — Johnston 38 pass from Hunt (Hunt rush)

NB — Buzzell 59 pass from Munyagi (run failed)

OH — S. Elder 35 pass from Hunt (pass failed)

NB — Buzzell 53 run (Buzzell run)

NB — Buzzell 30 run (Doherty Jr. pass from Svec)

Third Quarter

NB — Cole Svec 22 pass from B. Greene (Munyagi pass from B. Greene)

OH — Sage Elder 1 run (pass failed)

NB — Buzzell 63 run (Buzzell pass from Munyagi)

Fourth Quarter

OH — Hunt 15 run (pass failed)

NB — Nate Tyler 22 pass from Ben Greene (B. Greene run)

OH — King 42 run (Hunt run)

NB — Halttunen 38 run (run failed)

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Neah Bay: Cameron Buzzell 8-168, Cole Svec 20-79, Logan Halttunen 1-38, Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. 12-25, Nate Tyler 4-(-7). Odessa-Harrington: Colton Hunt 16-110, Marcus King 4-67, Sage Elder 6-27, Brad Johnston 2-12, Gaven Elder 3-2.

Passing — Neah Bay: R. Munyagi 4-8-0-119, Ben Greene 2-2-0-44, Cameron Buzzell 1-2-0-32. Odessa-Harrington—Colton Hunt 12-19-1-154, Camden Weber 1-2-0-6.

Receiving — Neah Bay: Cole Svec 4-82, Cameron Buzzell 1-59, R. Munyagi 1-32, Nate Tyler 1-22. Odessa-Harrington: Sage Elder 4-63, Marcus King 4-38, Brad Johnston 2-52, Josh Clark 2-14, Chance Messer 1-(-7).

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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.