Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Tri-Cities Prep wins Southeast B title

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

PASCO — It's easy to get caught up in Tri-Cities Prep's offense, what with the 463 yards and all those points the Jaguars piled up in Friday's 52-14 win over Touchet.

But in 8-man football, those same guys scoring touchdown after touchdown have to turn around and keep the other guys out of the end zone.

Jay Orth and Jarrod Ver Steeg sprearheaded a stellar Jaguars defense, then plowed the road for TC Prep's ground game, which was called on for extra duty on a cold, blustery day.

Kevin Ratuiste reached the end zone four times and Will Hoppes threw for four scores and ran for another as the Jaguars (6-0, 7-2) clinched their first-ever outright Southeast 1B crown.

"It feels really good, especially for coach," Orth said, tipping his helmet to coach Dan Whitsett. "He's been here six years or so, and he works his tail off.

"It's nice for us seniors, too."

TC Prep will be back home next Friday, playing Wilbur-Creston in a regional game at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Touchet (3-3, 4-5) plays at Almira/Coulee-Hartline.

On a day when the wind dictated much of the offense by making it tough even to pitch the ball, the Jaguars found their running game just in time. Ratuiste ran for 182 yards and Hoppes 106 more.

When the Jaguars did pass, it was often of the shovel variety -- Ratuiste scored on 74-, 10- and 20-yard gains on that particular play and finished with 327 total yards.

"We want to rely on our running game when we have to," said Whitsett, who knows that the deeper his team goes in the state playoffs, the more it will need more than just Hoppes' arm and improvised scrambles. "Finally, for the first time since 2006, we found a good running game."

Found a good running game, and shut one down, too.

Touchet runs a triple-option attack (that's a lot of options for 8-man ball), with quarterbacks Jacob Hodenfield and Matt Kates and running back Kyle O'Brien giving the defense plenty to think about.

But Prep's defenders showed excellent patience, staying put on the corner and forcing the runs into the teeth of the defense.

"Today we showed our discipline on defense," Hoppes said. "You have to sit there as they fake to this guy, fake to this guy."

When the Indians went to the air, Troy Redmann shut that down with a pair of picks.

Hoppes added yet another state record to his resum. His first TD pass of the day was the 121st of his career, setting the career mark for Class B QBs.

But, he said, the league title "means so much more than any record because on a team, the way a quarterback should be judged is how many games the team wins."

Touchet 0 0 0 14 — 14

Tri-Cities Prep 8 16 20 8 — 52

SCORING PLAYS

TC—Kevin Ratuiste 14 run (Troy Redmann pass from Will Hoppes)

TC—Redmann 1 pass from Hoppes (Jameson Pedersen pass from Hoppes)

TC—Ratuiste 74 pass from Hoppes (Ratuiste run)

TC—Ratuiste 10 pass from Hoppes (Ratuiste run)

TC—Hoppes 48 run (run fail)

TC—Jacob Schmidt 8 run (pass fail)

T—Matt Kates 7 run (Jose Contreras run)

TC—Ratuiste 20 pass from Hoppes (Ratuiste run)

T—Kates 10 run (run fail)

STATISTICS

RUSHING—T, Kyle O’Brien 12-100, Jacob Hodenfield 14-39, Gus Rodriguez 4-18, Contreras 4-11, Kates 6-18. TC, Ratuiste 19-182, Hoppes 9-106, Schmidt 3-5, Evan Whitsett 2-(minus 3), Redmann 1-(minus 10).

PASSING—T, Hodenfield 3-12-2-31, Kates 1-3-0 19. TC, Hoppes 10-14-0 183.

RECEIVING—T, O’Brien 3-31, Octavio Preciado 1-19. TC, Ratuiste 6-145, Redmann 3-23, Pedersen 1-15.

FIRST DOWNS—T 13, TC 17. FUMBLES-LOST—T 0-0, TC 2-1. PENALTIES-YARDS—T 0-0, TC 3-35.