MONTESANO — It wasn’t exactly the start Elma had hoped for in Evergreen 2A/1A League play.
Rochester’s Wyatt Singer ran for 220 yards in the second half as the Warriors defeated Elma 18-14 at Jack Rottle Field in Montesano on Friday.
“We were soft,” Elma coach Jim Hill said. “We didn’t want to hit anybody and we didn’t want to play tonight.”
Despite five fumbles from the Warriors in the first half, three of which were recovered by Elma, the Eagles were able to capitalize on just one of the turnovers.
Elma got on the board first with a nine-play drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown run by Steven Persell. The Eagles struck with 38 seconds left in the first half, but the seven points would be the only scoring of the first half as neither team was able to gain momentum.
After a relatively quiet first half, both teams were able to score on their first possession of the second half. Rochester quarterback Juan Jimenez connected to Jordan McLemore on a 58-yard pass to put the Warriors into scoring position for the first time in the game and Singer was able to sprint in from 13 yards on the next play to score with 9:48 left in the third quarter.
Rio Ortega turned in one of the biggest plays for the Eagles on the extra point as the senior busted his way through the right side of the Rochester line to block the PAT to keep Elma up. 7-6.
The Eagles responded in less than two minutes as Elma quarterback Tristan Robinette found Persell for a 45-yard pass play to put the Eagles at the Rochester 15-yard line. Justin Spencer would score three plays later on an 11-yard run on an end-around play giving Elma a 14-6 lead, but that would be the last time the Eagles would be able to find the end zone.
With less than three minutes left in the third quarter, Rochester began to lean on Singer for offense, giving the senior the ball on four straight carries. Singer did not disappoint as he bounced outside for 27 yards to take Rochester to the 4-yard line where Matt Shields would punch it in on the next play. The Warriors were unable to add the 2-point conversion and Elma stayed up 18-14.
On the next drive Elma pushed its way down to the Rochester 10-yard line in 13-plays, but the drive would stall with a sack of Robinette and a loss on a rushing play, putting the Eagles back at the 19 where they would turn it over on downs.
It would take Rochester just four plays to answer with the game winning touchdown as Singer busted outside and sprinted his way 68 yards to the 5-yard line where he would cap off the drive on the next play.
Elma would get the ball back at its own 15-yard line with 1:32 left to go in the game for one final drive, but the drive would stall at the 50-yard line.
“They wanted to hand us the game in the first half with turnovers,” Hill said. “You can’t play this game with three or four guys. They all have to play and some didn’t come mentally prepared to play a football game. We were waiting for other people to make a play instead of us doing our job.”
Ortega led the Eagle offense with 79 yards rushing and 45 yards receiving. Persell rushed for 74 yards and had 45 receiving and Spencer added 47 yards on the ground and 16 through the air.
Hill touted the play of Persell, Ortega and Joe Wilson.
The Eagles (0-1, 1-2) will look for their first league victory when they travel to Tenino next Friday.
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