Eastside Catholic starts 3A football playoff march with win over Lincoln of Tacoma, 3 takeaways
SAMMAMISH, Wash. – The Eastside Catholic High School football team cruised into the program’s 11th consecutive season of reaching the state quarterfinals or beyond.
They did it in typical bruising Crusaders' fashion.
Riding a stout defensive performance and ball-control offense, Eastside Catholic dominated from start to finish in a 40-0 victory over Lincoln of Tacoma on Saturday afternoon in a first-round Class 3A state playoff game at Acosta Field.
Linebacker-turned-goal-line-threat David Lene provided two rushing touchdowns out of the Wildcat formation and the Crusaders’ defense did the rest. Lene also had an interception and a recovery on a blocked punt.
“Our defense, we like to be aggressive,” said Lene, a senior who's been in the Eastside Catholic program for four years. “Everybody on our defense is skillful. They’re athletic and we’re smart. With all that combined, I feel like we have the best defense in the state.
"As long as we can continue to keep this train going, then I feel like nobody can score on us.”
Eastside Catholic (8-2) earns a date in the state quarterfinals next weekend against Kennewick (10-1), a 27-12 winner over Mountain View. Lincoln finished the season 7-4, falling to the Crusaders for a third time in the past nine years of the state playoffs.
Next weekend, the Crusaders hope to avenge a 14-7 loss in the 3A state semifinals in 2021 to Kennewick.
Connor Brandt made a 37-yard field goal as the Crusaders extended their lead to 33-0 with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter.
When Nicholas Jones scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with 4:51 to go in the third quarter, the running clock was on for the rest of the game because of the margin of Eastside Catholic’s lead.
The Crusaders had already beat Lincoln 34-21 in the 3A state semifinals in 2019 and 28-21 in the 3A state quarterfinals in 2014 in two state meetings. Eastside Catholic won 3A state titles in both the 2014 and 2019 seasons and have four state crowns total.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
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DAVID LENE BEATS FORMER JUNIOR-FOOTBALL PALS
Lene could’ve easily been on the wrong end of Saturday’s lopsided contest. His parents both went to Lincoln and many of his friends and some of his cousins play for the Abes.
“I was supposed to go to Lincoln, so I know all those guys over there,” said Lene, who grew up in the Tacoma school’s service area before attending EC. “[With] my brothers over there, it’s always good competition. It’s always good to go against my own brothers, because I know they are going to bring the 100 percent every time and I have to bring that back.
“Every time I play a familiar face, I go harder than I always do.”
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Lene certainly brought it on both sides of the ball for Round 1 of the state playoffs.
In addition to his interception and recovery of a blocked punt on defense, he was productive lining up under center at quarterback in the Wildcat formation on offense.
Lene, who last lined up at QB in the Wildcat as a sophomore, took in a 1-yard touchdown run for a 16-0 lead with 54.3 seconds to go in the first quarter.
Lene added another 2-yard TD run, this time a walk-in score, to hike Eastside Catholic’s advantage to 30-0 with 27.2 seconds to go before halftime.
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AMBROSE MARSH TURNING IT UP IN PLAYOFFS
Two postseason games, two punt returns for a touchdown.
That’s the line on Eastside Catholic return man Ambrose Marsh, who also plays wide receiver and defensive back, after Saturday’s electric punt return for a touchdown early in the second quarter.
“I always give it up to my blocking, all my returners and they do it every time every week with no penalties, no nothing,” Marsh said. “They let me run outside clean, not even getting touched.
“Originally, I was going to take (Saturday’s return) out of the air, but it bounced. I knew the people behind, they weren’t as fast as me. All my blockers, they just convoyed on the side and I just hit the sideline and they did the rest for me.”
Marsh took a Lincoln punt on the fly after one hope on the artificial turf and reversed field to complete an 80-yard punt return for touchdown and 23-0 lead with 11:36 to go before halftime.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior supplied a 36-yard touchdown on a punt return in last week’s 49-6 state-qualifying win over Hermiston, Ore.
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ANOTHER DEFENSIVE GEM FOR CRUSADERS
Saturday’s shutout was the fifth this season for the Eastside Catholic defense and the eighth goose egg for foes in the last two seasons. The Crusaders were stout against the run and never gave Lincoln freshman quarterback Sione Kaho any time to throw, constantly pressuring him in the passing game.
“I feel like it started from the jump,” Lene said of Eastside Catholic’s defensive dominance.
Lincoln’s largest offensive gain of the game was on the game’s first play from scrimmage with a 17-yard run by Maurice Gosby. The Abes finished with just five yards rushing and 52 yards overall after putting up minus-13 yards on the ground in the first half.
Lincoln passed midfield just once in the game and got to the Crusaders’ 37-yard line once, but no deeper penetration. Kaho was sacked five times and threw for just 47 yards on seven of 22 passing with two interceptions.
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