BURLINGTON — The Northwest 2A district play-in game to the state tournament hasn’t been much of a worry for the Burlington-Edison football team in recent years.
So, while it is hard to classify Friday night’s 28-7 victory over Cedarcrest as a close game, it was by far the most evenly matched of the Tigers’ three victories over the Red Wolves in the past four years.
“We weren’t looking past them. We’re playing game by game,” Tigers linebacker Jacob Bates said. “We knew they were going to be tough this year.”
Burlington-Edison (9-1) won the prior two district playoff meetings with Cedarcrest, in 2005 and 2006, by a combined score of 84-3 in games that were decided by the end of the first quarter.
This time, the Red Wolves (6-4) stayed close and actually outgained the Tigers for much of the first half.
“We’re definitely a young team that’s improving,” Cedarcrest coach Jason Frederick said. “We’ve come a long ways in two or three years when we were here. Our defense played the best they’ve played all year. And offensively, the last two or three weeks we’ve really been peaking, but tonight we took a step backwards. We had a few physical breakdowns, but we had a lot of mental execution mistakes.”
Still, the Tigers return to the state playoffs, the first step they hope in returning to the state championship game. Burlington-Edison’s opponent was not officially available, but it is likely to be a road game at 10-0 Steilacoom, with time and date still to be determined.
“We got better tonight. Guys are coming together a little bit better,” Tigers coach Bruce Shearer said. “We’re still injury plagued, but we played through it. We piecemealed it, and got it done.”
The win also allows another week for injuries to heal. Star kicker Andrew Furney sprained an ankle in a soccer game earlier in the week and was limited to kicking extra points. Defensive back Luke Thomas missed the game, but could be back for the first round.
The Tigers didn’t miss either too badly. The Tiger secondary picked off Tommy Edwards four times, the same number of completions they allowed.
Thomas’ replacement on punt returns, sophomore Cody Larson, followed a nice wall up the left side and went untouched 67 yards for Burlington-Edison’s first touchdown late in the first quarter.
The Cedarcrest defense did a credible job containing Burlington-Edison for much of the first half, holding the Tigers to one first down until late in the second quarter. Starting on their own 15 with 2:18 left in the first half, the Tigers caught fire for a seven-play, 85-yard drive that culminated in a misdirection shovel pass from Dylan Boe to Cole Sager for a 10-yard score and a 14-0 halftime lead.
Jeff Adams scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter and Burlington-Edison responded to Cedarcrest’s only touchdown with a 25-yard strike from Boe to Troy O’Neill in the fourth to cap the scoring.
Stetson Shearer finished with 99 yards on 14 carries, while Sager added 63 on just six carries and Adams had 44 on seven tries.
Boe completed just 4-of-10 on a rainy night, but two went for scores.
“We’re still shooting ourselves in the foot,” Bruce Shearer said. “But, on a night like tonight, we won the turnover situation.”
Cedarcrest’s Jacob Kriegman battered his way for 68 yards on 23 carries up the middle, while Darren Collinwood added 56 yards on nine carries, including a touchdown.
“The D-Line — Dillon Johnson, Anthony Ibarra, (Daniel) Zimmerman, all of them went off and stayed low,” defensive back John Lynch said. “They got the pressure with four guys, and they didn’t get a lot of time. We watched film all week and we were really prepared.”
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at
