ONALASKA — Forks couldn’t slow down Onalaska running back Rodrigo Rodriguez on three big plays in a season-ending 20-7 loss in a Class 2B District IV winner-to-state contest.
“Our guys played extremely hard,” coach Trevor Highfield said. “Onalaska is a very well-coached team and they have 10 or 11 real good seniors. On defense I’m sure we held them to their statistical season low. Their coaching staff was complimentary of how hard we played and how tough we made it on them.
“It’s just tough to know there will be teams we can beat and have beaten like Friday Harbor that will make state, and we have to play a No. 4 as the No. 6 [ranking in the WIAA RPI] and one of those teams stays home instead.”
Played in a driving rainstorm, the Spartans stopped the Loggers in three plays on the opening drive and forced a fumble on Onalaska’s second possession, but couldn’t get the offense going.
Forks gave up three big-play runs by Rodriguez — 70 yards off to the left side for a touchdown in the first quarter, 40 more yards off to the left for a second-quarter score and 66 yards to paydirt up the left side in the third quarter to stake the Loggers to a 20-0 lead.
Those three runs accounted for 176 of Rodrigo’s 246 total rushing yards on 24 carries.
“Muddy field played a huge part, it was very muddy and hard to get traction,” Highfield said. “That’s no excuse, both teams play on the same field. Our game, on defense, we do a pretty good job of stopping the inside run, but we had some trouble on the outside on those plays.
“And offensively, our strength is our quickness and ability to move laterally and that was pretty much negated by the lack of footing.”
Highfield said his team also fielded a number of freshmen against Onalaska’s senior-laden squad.
“We had Bubba [Hernandez] starting on both sides of the ball, Kaden Ward played on both sides, Cade Highfield started on defense and Brodie Fletcher made some huge special teams plays for us.”
Forks did move the ball on the ground with Nate Dahlgren chewing up 126 yards on 23 carries in his final game for the Spartans.
But Forks struggled in the air in the wet weather, throwing for just 72 yards for the game.
The Spartans finished the season 7-3 overall.
“One of the things I do is have lunch with the incoming eighth graders before they move to the high school, so last night I was flashing back to those moments,” Highfield said. “Being able to have the opportunity to be around guys like Nate, Walker Wheeler, Sloan Tumaua and all the boys, taught me a lot about how to care for a group of young men. They’ve persevered through four pretty tumultuous years and they’ve worked hard all the way through. Gunner [Rogers] and Nate will finish with 4.0 GPAs and their commitment to classroom excellence is wonderful.
“I’m excited for their futures in other sports and after school, they are a special group.”
Onalaska 20, Forks 7
Forks 0 0 7 0 — 7
Onalaska 8 6 6 0 — 20
Scoring
First Quarter
Onalaska — Rodrigo Rodriguez 70 run (2-point good)
Second Quarter
Onalaska — Rodriguez 44 run (2-point failed)
Third Quarter
Onalaska — Rodriguez 66 run (2-point failed)
Forks — Davila 4 pass from Emmanuel Hernandez (Davila kick)
Individual Stats
Rushing
Forks: Dahlgren 23-126; Hernandez 9-25
Onalaska: Rodriguez 24-246; Mozingo 11-55; Underhill 3-23.
Passing
Forks: Hernandez 10-21-72.
Receiving
Forks: Olson 4-40; Rogers 4-23.
Naselle 48, Quilcene 20
NASELLE — The Rangers couldn’t keep pace offensively with the Comets in a Class 1B Quad-District winner-to-state contest Friday.
Senior quarterback Dominic Smith tallied two rushing touchdowns, one from 65 yards out, the other from 5 and also threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Oliver Hopkins.
Smith ended up rushing 10 times for 93 yards and the two scores.
“He had sort of a high-ankle injury, which has limited his running for much of the season,” coach Trey Beathard said. “He was a little closer to full speed last night and he was able to break some runs.”
Down 26-14 just before halftime, a Smith pass and catch connection nearly reached the endzone but Naselle’s Jack Strange made a touchdown-saving tackle to preserve the two-score advantage.
“Strange is like the fourth brother in line and they have all been outstanding players,” Beathard said. “He and their QB are both good runners and if you don’t make good tackles they are off to the races. And Strange is their No. 1 receiver, he’s tall and hard to take down.
The Comets came out of the break and scored quickly on a 55-yard run and Quilcene wouldn’t come closer than 34-20 the rest of the contest.
Smith completed 4-of-14 passes for 129 yards and the TD to Hopkins.
Andrew Perez-Lopez caught two passes for 53 yards and also ran nine times for 75 more yards. Defensively, he had seven tackles.
Eli Iverson ran five times for 31 yards and scored on a two-point try.
Nose tackle Taylor Boling led the Rangers with nine tackles defensively. Mason Iverson added seven tackles and a fumble recovery, and Tyler Beukes also had seven tackles.
Quilcene wrapped its season with a 2-7 record.
Smith, Eli Iverson and Walter Beck are the Rangers’ seniors.
“All those guys will be missed,” Beathard said.
Neah Bay 78, Sound Christian 14
NEAH BAY — Jodell Wimberly scored six touchdowns as the Red Devils breezed past the Lions to clinch a Class 1B state tournament berth.
Wimberly found paydirt on four touchdown runs of 40, 31, 28 and 31 yards offensively, brought back an 88-yard kick return for a score and capped the performance with a 35-yard interception return.
Tyler Swan added three rushing scores, rolling in from 43, 2 and 29 yards.
Forks’ Nate Dahlgren prepares to stiff arm Onalaska’s Samuel Pannuk during the Spartans’ 20-7 loss to the Loggers in the Class 2B District IV playoffs on Friday. (Josh Kirshenbaum/The Chronicle)
