There’s still plenty of sightseeing in store for the visiting Woodinville (Wash.) Falcons, but it was all business at game time.
Woodinville jumped on top early and led wire-to-wire in a 30-0 shutout of host Waialua on Thursday night at Toshiyuki Nakasone Field.
“It’s been great. We wanted to get away and have the team come together, work on team chemistry,” Woodinville coach Wayne Maxwell said. “We practiced at Saint Louis yesterday, had Rainbow Drive-in, we’re taking them to Pearl Harbor tomorrow, the UH game, a little beach time for these guys. Some things that a lot of these guys haven’t had a chance to do ever. It’s been a tremendous chemistry-building trip for us.”
Everett Ratliff gave the Falcons an early spark. His first-quarter interception to the 1-yard line set Woodinville up for its first score. That interception carried extra significance for the team. Ratliff donned number 44, a significant number for the Falcons. It was the number worn by Parker Archie Moore, a former Falcons player who was murdered in 2014. Ever since then, a select few Falcons are selected to wear the 44 jersey each season. Ratliff was one of the selections this year.
“It means everything to me. This program has helped me through some things, and this program means everything to me. I’m glad I can make an impact for the team,” Ratliff said. “Receiving the 44 jersey was a big honor, and I do my best to lead both verbally and with my actions on the field.”
Woodinville running back Chase Rudin led all rushers with 91 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns on the ground.
“Awesome leader. Tough, tough kid,” Maxwell said about Rudin. “You can tell by looking at him, he has worked hard in the weight room. He’s the type of guy that can get you some tough yards.”
Falcons quarterback Levi Grothen completed 13 of 23 passes for 159 yards in his first career start. Grothen saw the field well, completing passes to seven receivers.
“It’s his first start. He’s a junior, he only started playing football his freshman year,” Maxwell said about Grothen. “Quarterback is a hard position to learn. He had a tremendous offseason. We’re really excited about him. He’s going to have a great year for us.”
Waialua was led by Makoakai Fierro’s 65 yards on 21 carries. Quarterback Emery Abillo completed seven of 15 passes for 76 yards, with his top receiver Jayvie Arellano collecting 53 receiving yards.
After picking up a first down on the game’s first offensive play, Waialua’s offense stagnated against a stout Woodinville defense.
With the game still tied at 0-0 and half the quarter gone, the Falcons defense made a big play to set up the first touchdown of the game. Ratliff intercepted Waialua quarterback Emery Abilla’s pass and returned it 10 yards to the shadow of the goal line. Two plays later, Woodinville cashed in on the turnover with Ryan Bowles’ 1-yard touchdown run.
“We were a little flat coming out, we weren’t executing efficiently. That was the spark that we needed, getting that takeaway in scoring position like that,” Maxwell said about Ratliff’s interception.
The Bulldogs defense had a chance to return serve late in the first quarter, but Sky Hirota dropped a would-be pick-6 from Grothen with nothing but green grass in front of him.
Waialua put together its longest drive of the first half at the start of the second quarter. Abilla completed five of seven passes on the drive for 54 yards, but the 11-play drive fizzled out with a turnover on downs at the Woodinville 29-yard line.
Grothen answered with 55 yards on five completions on the next Woodinville drive. Casey Larson capped that 11-play drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to put the Falcons up 14-0.
It was more of the same to open the second half for Woodinville. On the opening drive after the intermission, the Falcons drove down the field on seven plays and scored on Rudin’s 6-yard touchdown run.
A block in the back penalty took away Casey Larson’s 60-yard punt return touchdown, but the ensuing drive still ended in points for Woodinville on Finley Bragg’s 39-yard field goal.
If the game wasn’t already out of reach at 23-0, Rudin made sure to finish Waialua off with his second touchdown of the day, a 1-yard score to open the fourth quarter.
“We’re trying to build momentum” Maxwell said about the win. “It’s a week one game for us, we absolutely wanted to come out and take care of business and compete for a win. It’s early, so there’s still a lot to work on, but it’s good momentum to start the year for sure.”
WOODINVILLE (WASH.) 30, WAIALUA 0
At Waialua
Woodinville (1-0) 7 7 16 0 — 30
Waialua (1-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Wood—Ryan Bowles 1 run (Finley Bragg kick)
Wood—Casey Larson 15 run (Bragg kick)
Wood—Chase Rudin 6 run (run failed)
Wood—FG Bragg 39
Wood—Rudin 1 run (Bragg kick)
RUSHING—Woodinville: Rudin 18-91, Cadan Van De Wege 4-30, Casey Larson 3-20, Mark Yang 1-4, Bowles 1-1, Adrian Calozza 1-0, TEAM 3-(minus 17). Waialua: Makoakai Fierro 21-65, Kingston Pascual 3-16, Jack Amancio 2-12, Jace Apau 1-1, TEAM 1-(minus 7), Emery Abilla 5-(minus 15).
PASSING—Woodinville: Grothen 13-23-0-159. Waialua: Abilla 7-15-1-76.
RECEIVING—Woodinville: Rayan Salameh 2-43, Everett Ratliff 2-31, Bowles 2-26, Bragg 2-26, Calozza 2-23, Larson 1-13, Rudin 2-(minus 3). Waialua: Jayvie Arellano 4-53, Amancio 2-16, Dayton Gaboya 1-7.