By Bill Reynolds
La Conner Community News
Keaton Bailey and Yandel Rosales-Rojas each ran for three touchdowns, Maxwell Page scored twice on long runs, and freshman Caiden Shadrick added his first career TD as the La Conner High football team remained unbeaten with a 59-44 win over Entiat at Whittaker Field Friday night.
With the double-digit win, the Braves improved to 3-0 on the campaign and kicked off a busy weekend for La Conner teams.
The Braves boys soccer squad edged Crosspoint Christian 3-2 at home Saturday afternoon while at the same time the La Conner girls dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision on the Crosspoint pitch in Bremerton.
La Conner head football coach Kirk Melton and his staff were elated for several reasons afterward with the impressive triumph against Entiat.
They noted that the Braves win came against a quality foe (the Tigers were ranked 15th among the state’s eight-man teams), all La Conner players saw playing time in the game, and the host Braves — bolstered by their offensive line — moved the ball consistently throughout the contest.
“I thought we played very well against a really good opponent,” said Melton. “They have a very good coach and players, and their quarterback is a dude.”
Best of all, Melton added, contributions came from the entire Braves roster.
“It was great how Caiden went in and scored that touchdown.”
Shadrick’s score, a three-yard blast with 2:24 to play, capped a wild night of offensive fireworks.
La Conner took less than 90 seconds to open the night’s scoring. Bailey found paydirt from two yards out after Rosales-Rojas set up a first and goal for the Braves with a 41-yard pickup.
Rosales-Rojas reeled off the first of his three touchdowns midway through the first period on a stirring 88-yard dash. He then added a two-point conversion to give La Conner a quick 14-0 lead.
Entiat briefly made it a one-score game when Mario Padilla returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD. Elusive Tiger signal caller Ethan Fogelstrom trimmed the Braves margin to 14-8 with a two-point run.
Bailey seized momentum back for La Conner with perhaps the Braves’ most punishing run of the season. The 5-7, 185-pound junior scrambled out of the pocket, eluded three Entiat defenders, and cruised 52 yards for a 20-8 Braves lead.
La Conner stretched the margin to 34-14 at intermission thanks to touchdown runs of 30 and 78 yards, respectively, by Bailey and Rosales-Rojas.
The onslaught continued after halftime.
Following a 54-yard scoring strike from Fogelstrom to Samuel Gonzalez, the Braves went ahead 52-22 early in the final quarter on TD runs of 50 yards by Rosales-Rojas and 27 and 62 yards from Page.
Fogelstrom answered with a 36-yard touchdown jaunt with 8:54 to play. Shadrick’s score six minutes later pushed La Conner ahead 59-28.
Entiat narrowed the final score to 59-44 on two late touchdowns, one coming on the last play of the game and the other an 85-yard hookup between Fogelstrom and Padilla at the 1:59 mark.
The Braves resume their home schedule this Friday when they face Concrete in a 6 p.m. pairing. Concrete (0-3) is coming off a 70-13 loss to Neah Bay last weekend. La Conner won 50-36 at Neah Bay on Sept. 12.
The boys soccer Braves also secured a key home victory over the weekend, downing Crosspoint on the strength of two goals and an assist by Kale Navarette-Higgins and a score by Norberto Agustin-Lopez.
Navarette-Higgins, who displayed deft passing and footwork all afternoon, broke a scoreless tie late in the first half by drilling a shot into the left corner of the goal. After Crosspoint knotted the score 1-1 via a second half corner kick, the Braves reclaimed the lead at 2-1 when Navarette-Higgins fed Agustin-Lopez for a goal.
But back came Crosspoint. The visitors forged another tie, at 2-2, on an out-of-reach shot that soared into the net just below the crossbar.
Again, Navarette-Higgins stepped up. He delivered what was the game-winning score in the waning moments, finding the net to finish a well-executed La Conner attack.
“What I liked most was how well we responded every time they scored,” Braves head coach Galen McKnight said.
He praised his club’s play at midfield and on defense, citing the work of Abdiel Jimenez, Emmitt Alvord, Nolan Elde, Yasio Borsinski, Andrew Pena, and Arne Gonzalez-Lopez, among others.
Gonzalez-Lopez covered ground repeatedly, sprinting from midfield to the defensive end to help goalkeeper Wyatt Stevens thwart Crosspoint scoring threats.
La Conner (2-1-1) returns home this Friday (4 p.m.) to face Grace Academy following a Sept. 23 (3:15 p.m.) road test at Cedar Park Christian in Lynnwood.
In girls soccer action, La Conner battled perennial state Class 2B title contender Crosspoint on near equal terms on the Wildcats’ home turf. The Braves’ Angie Pena continued her strong early season play by scoring La Conner’s lone goal in the Saturday afternoon matchup.
La Conner coach Leslie Swanson’s charges, who have played a tough slate thus far, continue their travels this week with dates at Providence Classical Christian (Sept. 22, 3:30 p.m.) and Coupeville (Sept. 24, 5 p.m.).
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
