Montesano sends shockwaves through the state with upset of No. 1 Eatonville

Oct. 8—As far as the rankings are concerned, the Montesano Bulldogs have been overlooked this season.

After a surprising loss against Black Hills in its opener, Montesano had been unranked until just a few weeks ago and has not rose above No. 9 in either the AP or scorebooklive.com polls despite some impressive wins.

After Friday, the Bulldogs will be overlooked no more.

Montesano sent shock waves throughout the state with a convincing 42-21 victory on the road over No. 1 Eatonville Friday evening.

It didn't come easy for Montesano (5-1 overall, 1-0 1A Evergreen), which lost starting quarterback Jayden McElravy in the second quarter due to injury and had 130 yards in penalties for the game.

"Our kids showed a lot of grit tonight and just hung in there," Montesano head coach Terry Jensen said. "Our kids just played tough tonight. They played physical through a lot of adversity ... We're just all so proud of our kids right now."

Monte mustered up a big play on Eatonville's opening drive of the game. With the Cruisers (5-1, 1-1) charging into Monte territory, Bulldogs defensive back Tucker Eaton intercepted Eatonville quarterback Job Kralik and returned the ball to the Eatonville red zone.

Shortly thereafter, Monte running back Ethan Blundred ran it in from 8-yards out for a 7-0 lead.

Monte held the lead until late in the first quarter, when 6-foot-6, 270-pound Kyle Cox got the Cruisers on the board with a short rushing touchdown just before the end of the frame, tying the game at 7-7.

Cox, who normally plays on the offensive line, was one of two Cruisers linemen moved to running back to counteract the Bulldogs stout run defense.

In the second quarter, the two teams went blow-for-blow as Jensen said the game turned into a "track meet."

McElravy scored to put Monte back on top but Eatonville responded with a 30-yard TD run of his own.

McElravy then broke free for a 54-yard touchdown which was countered by a 15-yard touchdown run by Eatonville's Ky Nation.

Monte was then dealt a blow as McElravy had to leave the game after a run to the sideline ended in helmet-to-helmet contact. The senior quarterback did not return to the game and is doubtful for next week after suffering what appeared to be a concussion. He will be re-evaluated Monday.

Tied at 21-all without their starting quarterback late in the first half, Montesano's grit once again showed through. Bulldogs backup quarterback Jaxson Wilson stepped in under center and hit wide receiver Kaleb Ames for a 5-yard touchdown with just one second left in the half, giving Monte a 28-21 lead at the break.

In the Montesano locker room, coaches had some choice words for the Bulldogs, especially Montesano defenders.

"Coach (Eric) Stanfield got pretty animated at halftime. (Stanfield's speech to the team) was basically that we have a standard that we play to and we have high expectations for those standards and they weren't meeting them," Jensen said. "We struggled stopping their offense in the first half, but I thought the staff did a really good job of coaching our kids up at halftime and getting our kids ready for the second half. ... I think (Coach Stanfield) got the point across."

Montesano's defense shored up its tackling, holding the state's top-ranked team scoreless in the second half on just 30 yards rushing over the final two quarters.

The Bulldogs offense did the rest, going up 35-21 on a Blundred 10-yard touchdown run — his second of the game — and icing the game when Ames hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Wilson with just under four minutes left.

"I just thought our defense really responded in the second half," Jensen said. "A lot of people stood out tonight."

Monte amassed 471 yards of offense on Friday, 349 of those coming on the ground.

The Cruisers had 302 total yards of offense, 217 on the ground with the bulk of those coming in the first half.

Eatonville was also dealt a blow when Kralik left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return.

Blundred led the way for Monte with 14 carries for 99 yards followed closely by running back Gabe Bodwell, who carried the ball 13 times for 83 yards.

"Bodwell and Blundred ran really hard tonight," Jensen said. "The O-line gave us some big holes. We were able to run the ball pretty effectively."

Wilson went 2-for-4 passing for 51 yards while Ames had a stellar all-around game, catching four passes for 79 yards, two touchdowns and recording an interception on defense.

Montesano, which is likely to make a huge jump in the rankings this week, will play Hoquiam at 7 p.m. Friday at Olympic Stadium.

Montesano 7 21 7 7 — 42

Eatonville 7 14 0 0 — 21

Scoring

First quarter

M — Blundred 6 run (Romero kick), 8:27

E — Cox 2 run (Kralik kick), 0:16

Second quarter

M — McElravy 1 run (Romero kick), 9:42

E — Kralik 30 run (kick fail), 8:47

M — McElravy 54 (Romero kick), 7:43

E — Nation 15 run (Cox run), 4:27

M — Ames 5 pass from Wilson (Romero kick), 0:01

Third quarter

M — Blundred 10 run (Romero kick), 9:10

Fourth quarter

M — Ames 25 pass from Wilson (Romero kick), 3:49

Rushing: M — Blundred 14-99, Bodwell 13-83, McElravy 9-69, Wilson 6-33. E — Kralik 8-61, 8 7-51, 76 4-12, 31 1-8, 7 4-3, 4 3-6, 5 1-(-5).

Passing: M — Wilson 4-5-0-71. McElravy 2-4-0-51. E — 4 7-10-0-47, Kralik 2-4-2-38.

Receiving: M — Ames 4-79, Blundred 1-1.