Inglemoor Survives Close Call, 13-7

-- BOTHELL

As the third quarter drifted into the fourth, fog seemed to drift in and out of the heads of several Inglemoor High football players.

Senior Ryan Odegaard and junior Wayne Maxwell lay side-by-side, their injured legs worked on by trainers, on the turf behind a wall of Inglemoor players on the sidelines.

A few feet away, junior Tony Carr sat on a bench with a sack of ice strapped to his left shoulder. Leon Dotter limped the sideline with a brace on his leg. Rob Durfee moved along on crutches. B.J. Quimba suffered a gash in his forehead, but wore a bandage and played on.

That was just the Inglemoor side. Issaquah's sideline was a MASH unit of its own during the KingCo Conference football opener last night at Pop Keeney Stadium.

"It's a pretty rough game," Issaquah Coach Cary Kodama said. "I think both teams are pretty physical teams. That's to be expected."

Expected, too, because it was the first game of the season. And maybe the warm weather made for a few extra cramps.

"Some nights you get a little beat up," Inglemoor Coach Frank Naish said.

But make no mistake. Something looked decidedly different to Inglemoor fans used to the Vikings' success of recent years.

Shut out in the second half, the defending KingCo champions held on for a 13-7 victory over an Issaquah team that finished 3-6 last season. A team Inglemoor beat 19-0 last season.

The Vikings, who averaged 31 points a game last year, hadn't scored so few points as last night since 1990. They led the league in scoring last season and rolled to an 8-1 regular-season record.

"I don't think anybody's going to roll over anybody this year," Naish said. "I know we're not."

Indeed, after a touchdown in each of the first two quarters - on runs of 1 yard by Quimba and 9 yards by Odegaard - and 178 first-half yards of offense, Issaquah held the Vikings to just 53 total yards in the second half. All but 13 of the second-half total came during one possession early in the fourth quarter.

"We just have to play defense and keep it close (this year)," Naish said.

"The league's more balanced. An example tonight: Issaquah's improved a lot since last year."

Issaquah outgained the Vikings 239 yards to 231 and drove the ball into Inglemoor territory four out of five possessions in the second half only to turn it over on downs three times and once by a fumble - at the Viking 11.

Inglemoor committed four turnovers in the game, three in the first half.

Issaquah scored on the final play of the first half, junior quarterback Shawen Dean passing 28 yards to senior Jeff Conlon for a touchdown. Key plays in the drive included a 19-yard run by Conlon off a fake punt for a first down, and a 7-yard run by Rob Coy, who got out of bounds with one second remaining in the half.

Quimba's short touchdown run with 2:25 left in the first quarter finished an eight-play drive that started on the Inglemoor 45.

Odegaard's scoring run with 2:37 left in the second quarter was set up by a 31-yard pass-and-pitch play. Quarterback Paul Breckenridge passed 10 yards to Scott Moody, who pitched the ball back to Maxwell, who took it to the Issaquah 9.