By Rick Anderson
The Daily World
WISHKAH — In more ways than one, Twin Valley’s home debut as a football combine turned into a meltdown.
Rande Gruenwald passed for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth as Lopez Island thumped the Wishkah/Lake Quianult combine, 54-14, in broiling heat Saturday at Wishkah’s Addison Memorial Field.
Temperatures that reached the high 80s took a toll on the black-clad Wolfpack. Three of their players required hospital treatment for heat-related ailments.
Even in ideal conditions, however, they would have experienced difficulty containing Lopez Island’s quickness — always a significant factor in 8-man football.
The Kramer brothers, Edwin and Vinny, each had runs of more than 50 yards. Senior quarterback Gruenwald frequently used his agility to avoid apparent sacks, transforming several of those plays into long runs or passes.
“They had a lot of speed and we didn’t. They were in better shape and we weren’t and they played dirty and we don’t,” Twin Valley coach Mike Mitchell said.
The Lobos were penalized 16 times for 89 yards and had three touchdowns called back. But, as one Lopez Island booster who overhead Mitchell’s comments noted, the Lobos received last year’s John Trotto Sportsmanship Award that encompassed teams of all classifications in Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties.
“That’s his opinion,” a visibly agitated Lopez Island coach Larry Berg said of Mitchell’s accusation. “I don’t teach my kids that way.”
There was no controversy, however, about Lopez Island’s superiority on the field for the game’s final 45 minutes.
The contest actually began very promisingly for Twin Valley. After forcing a three-and-out on Lopez’s opening possession, the Wolfpack needed only two plays to open the scoring.
Julio Silva got a step on his defender and hauled in Jace Anderson’s perfectly-thrown pass for a 39-yard scoring strike. The same duo hooked up for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead with the contest barely three minutes old.
The Lobos, however, answered with touchdowns on their next four possessions. Edwin Kramer followed his 51-yard run to the Wolfpack 7-yard line with a 2-yard scoring run and Gruenwald connected with T.J. Hobi on a 18-yard TD pass to give the visitors a permanent lead. Toni Ahonen took a short crossing pass from Gruenwald and motored 34 yards to the end zone with one second left in the opening quarter.
A safety caused by a bad snap on a punt and Hobi’s 32-yard touchdown reception from Gruenwald made it 30-8.
Twin Valley’s frustration was epitomized by the final play of the first half. After losing the ball on downs in Lopez territory with four seconds remaining, the Wolfpack had difficulty getting their full defensive unit on the field. Vinny Kramer capitalized by turning a counter play into a 70-yard touchdown run to end the half at 38-8.
Unable to get untracked offensively in the first half, the Wolfpack put together some decent drives in the final two quarters. Their only score, however, came on Anderson’s 1-yard quarterback sneak early in the fourth quarter. Anderson’s 40-yard pass to Robert Rodriguez, who reversed his field several times after making the catch, set up the score.
Harrison Goodrich’s 10-yard fumble return with 6:14 remaining, however, triggered the 40-point running-clock mercy rule.
Edwin Kramer led all rushers with 168 yards on 14 carries.
Rodriguez had five receptions for 53 yards. Chayton Johnson, Enrique Arreguin and Jacob Gardiner had some good defensive stops for Twin Valley.
Wishkah, which Mitchell coached last year prior to the merger, had avenged a regular-season loss to Lopez Island in last year’s district 1B playoffs.
“Just like last year, we’ll see them again in the playoffs,” the Twin Valley coach signed off.
The Wolfpack make the long trip to Lyle/Klickitat/Wishram on Friday.
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