Two tough games, two difficult losses.
But Auburn coach Gordon Elliott sees progress in his young football team as it steps into South Puget Sound League 3A play on Friday.
Next test? Defending champion Peninsula. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Gig Harbor’s Roy Anderson Field.
“I’d much rather (play good teams) than play two cupcakes and not know where you are,” Elliott said after his Trojans gave up a late touchdown to rival Kent-Meridian in a 41-36 nonleague loss last Friday night.
Auburn opened with a 32-21 loss to Mountain View of Vancouver in the Emerald City Kickoff Classic on Sept. 5 at Husky Stadium. Thunder and lightning delayed the game for two hours and 20 minutes.
“We played two really good football teams and hung in there with them,” Elliott said. “I think that will help our inexperienced kids.
“We get one more week to get better. We obviously have to get better.”
Last Friday, in a back-and-forth, penalty-marred affair, the big-play Royals (1-1) overcame the Trojans to retain the Taylor Trophy.
“It’s a pretty big deal ever since we got competitive again the last couple of years,” Royals coach Brett Allen said as his jubilant players hoisted the storied trophy after their last-minute win at Auburn Memorial Stadium. “The games have been good, so the rivalry has been re-energized a little bit.”
Kent-Meridian had endured a 15-game losing streak to Auburn in the state’s second-oldest series before it snapped that skid with a 42-39 overtime win at French Field last year.
The Royals overcame another drama in the rivalry last week, evening the series, which began in 1908, at 50-50 with six ties.
Behind a quick-strike offense and Shamar Malik Woolery’s powerful running, the Royals were able to get it done.
“We beat an unbelievably good Auburn team,” said K-M junior quarterback Ben Woods, who passed for 290 yards and a pair of long touchdowns to Emmanual Daigbe.
Woolery, a jitterbug of a running back, did his part, rushing for 90 yards and a personal-best four TDs. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound senior blasted up the middle from 25 yards out to score the game-winning TD with 57.3 seconds left in the game.
Woolery overcame cramps, bumps and bruises to give the Royals’ spread offense some ground support. He also scored earlier from 6, 17 and 33 yards out.
“Pound for pound, he’s our strongest player,” Allen said of Woolery,
Auburn had taken a 36-35 lead on Caden Borden’s 23-yard field goal with 1:31 left on the clock before the Royals countered quickly, with Woods directing the show.
Woods found Woolery for one reception that covered 26 yards to Auburn’s 40-yard line. He then hit Daigbe for 15 yards to the 25. On the next play, Woolery vaulted up the middle to score the game-winning TD.
Auburn’s playmakers shone in the loss.
Malik Williams returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, ran for one score and caught another. Quarterback Justin Ioimo ran for 120 yards and two TDs and passed for 172 yards and another TD.
Kevin Clay had 108 yards rushing.
Auburn scrambled back from a 21-7 deficit behind Ioimo’s 1-yard scoring keeper just before halftime to pull within 21-14. William’s 2-yard run midway in the third quarter cut K-M’s lead to 21-20. The conversion failed.
After Woolery’s third TD run, Williams returned the ensuing kickoff for a score, keeping the Trojans close at 28-26.
However, the Woods-to-Daigbe scoring connection covered 69 yards, giving the Royals a 35-26 lead.
Ioimo’s 1-yard keeper brought the Trojans to within 35-33 with 7:35 left in the game, setting the stage for a wild and furious fourth quarter.
“We just ran out of time,” Elliott said. “(K-M’s) a very good team. It’s tough to outscore that kind of team because they have weapons. We got into that kind of match with them. Normally, that’s not our style of football. Our style is to keep the ball away from them and pound the ball and move the ball. We got into a situation where we had to outscore them. We almost got it done.”
Williams added: “This team can be really good. I like this team.”
PHOTO BELOW:
Auburn’s Malik Williams darts 95 yards for a touchdown on a kickoff return. Williams also ran for one TD and caught another. RACHEL CIAMPI, Reporter
