Down Goes the #1 Seed - By Max Schuster
For the second time in one week, the Bomber football team stepped foot on the field, ready to play. This time, they were matched up against the number one RPI-ranked team in the state of Washington, the Eastmont Wildcats. These teams aren’t unfamiliar with each other as exactly a year ago, they faced off on the same exact day. That time, the Bombers won 31-22. The Bombers, this time, came off a win on Tuesday and used that momentum coming into this game. After an exciting duel between these two teams, the Bombers stunned the top team in the state, winning the game 51- 44.
With the highly sought-after running offense that Eastmont has established this year, the Bombers had arguably their biggest test yet on the defensive side. Gunnar Peterson, the 3rd leading rusher in the state of Washington, has been an unstoppable force this season, and the Eastmont offense was coming into the game knowing they would feed him the ball. On the first drive, they gave Peterson the ball for a 45-yard rush up the left side, setting Eastmont up for their first touchdown, punched in by QB Luke Gale from two yards out. However, the Bombers passing offense, which is ranked #1 in the state, led by Josh Woodard, was ready to roll when they had their first chance. After a long drive down the field, Woodard connected with Colson Mackey for 15 yards, but the game was 7-6 Eastmont due to a missed extra point.
At the end of the first quarter, Gunnar Peterson showed why he’s as high-quality of a running back as people claim he is. He broke through the line, rushing for 20 yards on the first play. After a couple more plays, he took off up the middle, making a couple of guys miss, and scored a 39-yard touchdown, putting the Wildcats up by eight. Woodard claimed, “It felt like it was time for us to start having fun” when I asked him about his thoughts after Eastmont's second drive. They did exactly that. After a couple of passes that moved the ball down the field, along with John Simons getting his first carry in three weeks, Woodard connected with Chris Daniels for six, and after a two-point conversion, it was all tied halfway through the second quarter.
After the scoring barrage that these two teams opened the game with, the Bomber's defense showed up massively with a 4th down stop and gave the ball back to their offense. Three plays is all it took for the Bombers to be in the red zone, although after a couple of questionable penalty flags, the Bombers were pushed back 30 yards and were forced to punt. Followed by a long drive, the Wildcats were held to a field goal going into halftime, giving them a three-point lead.
Going into halftime, the Bombers and Wildcats were both in need of adjustments on the defensive side of the ball. It was starting to feel as if it might come down to what offense would mess up first. To start the second half, the Bombers received the ball and had a commanding first drive, running four and a half minutes off the clock and ending with a John Simons touchdown, putting the Bombers into the driver's seat for the first time in the game. The momentum for the offense carried right over to the defense, where they were able to force Eastmont to punt the ball. The Bomber's offense then had another methodical drive down the field with a perfect mixture of run and pass plays. This time it ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Brody Bocek and gave the Bombers the biggest lead this game would hold, making the score 28-17 with about four minutes left in the third quarter. That wasn’t enough to stop Eastmont's offense, though. Finally, finding a connection in the air would move the Wildcats inside the five-yard line. Guess who scored the touchdown? Gunnar Peterson. That touchdown swung the momentum right back over to the Eastmont sideline.
The Wildcats looked like they might have a shot back in the game, but Rayce Reeves didn’t like that and returned a 99-yard kickoff, and boom the Bombers were back in the lead. “He’s one of the most fun players to watch. Whether it's on offense, defense, or special teams, he really can do it all,” stated Bomber fan and family member Cam Smith. It didn’t take long for Eastmont to step back into the lead after scoring back-to-back unanswered touchdowns due to a Josh Woodard interception.
Now, after Eastmont’s first score in the fourth quarter, there was definitely a sense of urgency from the Bombers that probably shouldn’t have been there. There were eight minutes on the clock, meaning if they did score in a short amount of time, they had a shot at getting the ball back. That's exactly what happened, only taking four minutes off the clock. The Bombers took the lead back into their control, but there were definitely concerns with how much time they had left on the clock. Luckily, the Wildcats scored in 1:28, and with three minutes left, they gave the Bombers the ball, with the score being 44-43. With the ball in Woodard’s hands, all Bomber fans knew he would drive them down the field, but it all depended on whether he could do it while running off the clock. They didn’t waste much time scoring with the clock reading 1:18. This gave Eastmont plenty of time to march right down the field and look as if they were going to score. However, Brody Bocek and the Bomber's defense had different plans, and on fourth down, he intercepted it and punched the Bomber's ticket to the state tournament.
After facing a #1 seed this weekend, the Bombers will head to the west side facing off against the new #1 seed Graham-Kapowsin. The Bombers are seeded #16 going into the game, but with as powerful of an offense as they have, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bombers give the Eagles everything they can handle.
