Auburn football coach Gordon Elliott is no stranger to the Kiggins Bowl.
For 11 years, Elliott made frequent trips to the Vancouver venue – home to the Skyview Storm – as coach of the Camas Papermakers and Columbia River Chieftains of the Greater St. Helens League.
Now, for the second straight year, Elliott and the Trojans (8-2) will make a playoff appearance at the Kiggins Bowl with a 7:30 p.m. contest Friday against Skyview (8-2) in the state 4A football playoffs. Auburn’s season ended with a 34-21 loss to the Storm at the Kiggins Bowl last year.
“For me, it’s like going home,” Elliott said. “That’s where I started my head coaching career.”
Auburn punched its sixth straight ticket to the state playoffs last Friday with a 24-10 win over Edmonds Woodway at Auburn Memorial Stadium. The win was the Trojans’ 47th consecutive on their home turf.
Auburn was led by senior Alphonse Wade, who ran the ball 17 times for 138 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Max Pratt found success punching the ball up the middle 15 times for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
Tonight the Trojans will again look to Pratt and Wade, as well as running back Austin Embody – who missed the Edmonds Woodway game with a shoulder injury – to punish Skyview with their run-first, motion offense.
Defensively, Auburn will be challenged by Skyview’s balanced attack led by 6-foot-2 junior quarterback Kieran McDonagh, who has passed for 1,291 yards and 20 touchdowns and just four interceptions this season.
The Trojan secondary will have to contend with McDonagh’s favorite target, 6-0, 180-pound senior receiver Ellis Henderson, who has 33 catches for 545 yards and six touchdowns.
The Storm rushing attack is led by 5-10, 190-pound junior running back Parker Henry, who has 182 carries for 1,108 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Offensivley, the Storm come into tonight’s contest averaging more than 37 points per game, while holding opponents to 21.3 points per game. Auburn has averaged 30.3 points per game while opponents managed to score just 16.8 points per game against the Trojans.
To win on hostile ground, however, Auburn will have to reduce its penalties, Elliott said. Against Edmonds Woodway, the Trojans had several crucial penalties called against them.
“Some of them I think were unearned, but we’ve been a little undisciplined at times this year. Sometimes we get sloppy and tired,” Elliott said. “And we had some holding calls that bogged us down a little bit. And as you get further in the season, you can’t do those things.”
Still, Elliott remained optimistic that the team could beat Skyview and return to Auburn for the next round of the state playoffs.
“We’ve been there before,” Elliott said. “We have a little experience being down there (at the Kiggins Bowl). Our kids know what it’s all about, so hopefully we can go down there and play well.”
