Coming into this past Friday’s football game against Franklin Pierce, Auburn Mountainview junior quarterback Cody McNeil was expecting a high-scoring affair.
“I expected a tough match and a good fight for the win,” McNeil, who carried the ball 31 times for 149 yards and scored both of Auburn Mountainview’s touchdowns, said. “But I was expecting it to be a rat race and a high-scoring game.”
But the blustery weather and stingy Lion defense had other plans, conspiring for a low-scoring slugfest that Auburn Mountainview was able to pull out, 15-7, for a South Puget Sound League 3A road win.
It was the Lions (3-2 in league, 3-2 overall) second straight win since a two-game slide.
Weather was just one of the things on the minds of the Lions coming in, noted Auburn Mountainview coach Mike Clancy.
“I think (Franklin Pierce is) still one of the best teams in the SPSL,” Clancy said. “They’ve got some really good athletes and a lot of speed. Their quarterback is good.”
The Lions will try and keep the momentum going at 7 p.m. on Friday, when they play host to Enumclaw (2-2, 2-3) at Auburn Memorial Stadium.
Keeping that momentum rolling into Friday night’s showdown against Franklin Pierce (1-3, 1-4) wasn’t easy, especially in light of the soggy October weather.
It was something the Lions planned for, Clancy said.
“We just came in and planned specific to the weather,” Clancy said. “It was so crummy, that our offensive coordinator planned for it. We ran the ball a lot. The O-line really stepped up and Matt Gaiman and our quarterback, Cody McNeil, had great games running.”
Having two plans of attack from which to choose helped, McNeil said.
“We had two scripts coming in: one for if it was raining and one for if it wasn’t,” McNeil said. “We went with the one for rain. (Clancy) told us we were just going to go in and pound the ball.”
The Lions responded on the defensive side of the ball as well.
“Our defense really stepped up when we needed them to also,” Clancy added. “Nobody is going to completely stop them, especially when they’ve got the athletes they do. We thought we did a good job though, our kids rallied and I thought they did a great job. The defense held them scoreless in the second half.”
The win gives Auburn Mountainview, a fourth-year school, its best start in the program’s history.
According to Clancy, who guided the team to 1-8, 3-7 and 5-5 finishes in its previous three seasons, the Lions are reaping the benefits of a strong core of players who have been together since the beginning of the program.
“I had high expectation from this group,” Clancy said. “As freshmen, they went 8-2. They’ve carried a lot of that throughout. They’re working really hard.
“They’re really excited,” Clancy continued. “Right now, they’re playing with a lot more aggressiveness and having more fun. Two wins back-to-back on the road has made them more confident. But each week, it’s a challenge. We’re just striving to improve each week.”
McNeil agreed.
“This is the fourth year we’ve been playing together and a lot of us are seniors now,” McNeil said. “This is the year we’ve decided we’re going to do something. Next year, a lot of us will be gone. Our goals are to always improve and do better than we did last week. We know we’re a playoff team so our goal is obviously to make the playoffs.”
Elsewhere:
Auburn 34, Kentridge 3: The Trojans (5-0, 5-0) continued to have their way on the ground, racking up five rushing touchdowns en route to throttling the Chargers (1-3, 2-3) at Auburn Memorial Stadium.
After a 0-0 first quarter, Jeff Gouveia got the Trojans on the board with a 5-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Chris Young, who scored twice in the game, added an 8-yard score in the quarter, giving Auburn a 14-0 halftime lead.
Kentridge’s Wes Concepcion delivered a 21-yard field goal in the third quarter, helping the Chargers cut the deficit to 14-3. But that’s all Kentridge could muster.
Auburn will travel to Kentlake (3-1, 3-2) on Friday while Kentridge will play host to Tahoma (4-1, 4-1) on Saturday.
Auburn Riverside 44, Jefferson 22: The Ravens (2-2, 3-2) bounced back from a throttling to Kentwood by locking down on the Raiders (0-5, 0-5).
The 44 points is a season-high for Auburn Riverside, which received two touchdown runs apiece by running backs Jake Pele and Corey Carson to go along with two passing touchdowns from quarterback John Hakala.
Hakala completed 7 of 11 passes for 128 yards and the two touchdowns; Pele added 80 yards and the two scores on 12 carries while Corey Carson chipped in 103 yards on 13 carries.
