QUILCENE — The wave of “Oh, no’s” that traveled up and down the Quilcene sideline foreshadowed a tough second half in a 28-8 loss to defending SeaTac League champion Evergreen Lutheran.
Eli Harrison, the Rangers’ senior quarterback and an All-State defensive back last season, lay face-down on the field after taking a knee to the head while making a tackle in the second quarter of Saturday’s game.
Harrison walked off on his own power and cleared mandatory concussion protocols administered by EMTs on the sideline, but his play was off for the remainder of the first half, and he left in an ambulance at the beginning of the second half.
Quilcene coach Byron Wilson said Harrison, who came into the game already battling a fever, “didn’t look right” in the locker room at halftime, so the decision to send him for further evaluation was a no-brainer.
“I’ll lose a game before I unnecessarily risk one of my kids,” Wilson said.
“His health matters more to me and this team than putting him out there to try and win. That’s way down the list of priorities.”
Harrison had helped the Rangers to an 8-6 halftime lead, guiding the offense down and scoring a touchdown on a naked bootleg from 5 yards out on their opening drive, and then bullying across on the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 lead
“I don’t think Evergreen was ready for us to start the game,” Wilson said.
“We came out and showed them something on that first drive.”
The Rangers defense bent in the first half against repeated runs from Eagles running back Jacob Lawrence, but held when needed, stuffing Evergreen Lutheran on a goal-line stand and picking up another turnover on downs inside the Quilcene red zone.
Lawrence ran for 109 yards on 21 carries in the first half, finally breaking through and scoring on a 24-yard run with 57 seconds to go before halftime.
The Rangers had one golden opportunity for a score slip through a receivers’ hands on a wheel route in the final seconds of the half, and went to the locker room up 8-6.
It was a different game altogether in the second half, one completely dominated by the Eagles.
Evergreen Lutheran relied on a heavy diet of Lawrence, with the big back taking direct snaps and gashing the Rangers defense for 188 yards on 15 carries and two TDs in the second half.
“There’s a reason that kid ran for 1,600 yards last year,” Wilson said.
“He runs with good pad level and is a load to take down.”
The Eagles scored on their first three drives after halftime, while Quilcene was forced to punt on each series in the second half.
“Losing Eli obviously was hard on our kids. Emotionally, we just let down and played with no passion and no fire in the second half,” Wilson said.
“We started to play like one person was going to make the tackle on him [Lawrence], and the other guys running to the play would let up and he’d break the tackle and go for big yards.
“We did a good job of gang-tackling him and limiting the yards after the initial hit in the first half, but that was all out the window after halftime.”
The Rangers were down to their third-string quarterback Andy Johnston after the injury to Harrison and an injury earlier this season to backup Juan Rogers.
Quilcene also was missing lineman Robert Comstock and back Olin Reynolds.
“We were pretty limited in who we could move around on the line and what type of plays we could run in the second half,” Wilson said.
Quilcene totaled just 6 yards of total offense after halftime.
“You know, it’s all right,” Wilson said.
“Eli is going to be fine, and what’s our record [5-1]? We will be 6-1 after next week.”
The Rangers (1-1 in league) host Muckleshoot (0-2, 0-4) on Saturday.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
