STATE 3A FOOTBALL QUARTERFINALS: Gooding just too good for Timberlake

SPIRIT LAKE — For three quarters in the state 3A football quarterfinals, Timberlake played well enough and right with Gooding, trailing by nine points at halftime and by 16 after three on Saturday at Van Tuinstra Memorial Field.

Then a flood of scoring happened, as the Senators outscored the Tigers 26-6 in the fourth quarter to run away with a 54-18 road victory.

It was the first loss for Timberlake (3-7) after three wins to capture the Intermountain League, while Gooding (7-4) won its fifth in a row, and will travel to Fruitland (7-2) for a semifinal game on Saturday.

Gooding went ahead for good on a botched punt attempt in the first quarter. A snap by the Tigers’ long snapper hit an upback in the shoulder pad, and bounced onto the ground. That’s where the Senators’ Jack Darcy scooped the ball up on the 13 and rumbled in for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Timberlake quarterback Brandon Hausladen passed for 107 yards and rushed for 52 yards, including a 32-yard jaunt with 6:21 left in the first quarter that cut the lead to 14-6.

But in the second half, Hausladen was also intercepted twice and fumbled on an option pitch attempt to Ryan Stevens on the outside. All three turnovers led to touchdowns.

“The turnovers killed us in the second half,” Timberlake coach Roy Albertson said. “We played heads-up football, but our kids never gave up. They (Gooding) made some good picks. But later on, we fell apart. They had three guys play both ways and we had a lot of players who played both ways. We moved the ball on them, but we made careless errors.”

Caleb Munson of Timberlake ran for 115 yards on 22 carries, including a touchdown with 1:31 left in the first half to whittle Gooding’s lead to 14-12. Timberlake’s David Barnes had an interception that set up Munson’s TD run.

But the Senators proceeded to roll off 34 straight points, starting with Bryson Comstock’s 5-yard reception with 37 seconds left in the first half that gave Gooding its 21-12 halftime lead. The Senators led 48-12 before Griffin Zagelow caught a 29-yard TD pass from Hausladen on a slant pattern late in the fourth quarter.

“It’s hard to lose,” Munson said. “We thought we’d be prepared. We played hard. They have numbers, we had more guys play both ways than they did. But we have no excuses, it was a good game in that first half.”

The Tigers lost all six of their nonleague games, including one to Lakeland and another to St. Maries, who on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome beat North Fremont of Ashton, 33-14, in the state 2A quarterfinals. Plus Timberlake earned a first-round bye and got to play in front of its hometown fans.

“We played really good nonleague teams,” Timberlake coach Roy Albertson said. “Lakeland, St. Maries, Freeman and Lethbridge (Collegiate Institute) all made it into the playoffs. We struggled until we played Lakeland, when we got some of our big linemen back.”

Hausladen mentioned the two-way players versus Gooding’s one-way players and its depth.

“The difference was all of our seniors play both ways and they had one-way players,” Hausladen said. “We still played our hearts out. The turnovers hurt us.”

Gooding’s style the past four seasons has featured a no-huddle spread approach from the shotgun, with at least three receivers on the field pretty often. But the Senators still rushed for 196 yards on 38 carries. That was in stark contrast to the Tigers’ slightly slower but effective Wing-T attack, grind teams into the ground approach, which produced 206 total rushing yards on 50 carries.

“When you put seniors in a big situation, they’re going to make big plays,” Gooding coach Cameron Anderson said. “We’ve implemented our (offensive) system, so buy-in is key. We felt like in the first half, we left some opportunities on the field.”

The second half belonged to Comstock, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior wide receiver. He scored four touchdowns, three in the second half as he put on a one-man show. Comstock also had an interception, plus he booted five extra-point attempts. He had six receptions for 74 yards, plus he tacked on a 14-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Senators senior quarterback Tyler Visser passed for three touchdowns and ran for another one early in the first quarter.

“I just tried to make quick moves and give my quarterback some separation,” said Comstock, who has verbally committed to NAIA Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. “We worked on our system.”

Gooding 14 7 7 26 — 54

Timberlake 6 6 0 6 — 18

First quarter

Good — Tyler Visser 2 run (run failed), 10:36

Good — Jack Darcy 13 fumble return (Darcy pass from Visser), 8:08

TL — Brandon Hausladen 32 run (kick failed), 6:21

Second quarter

TL — Caleb Munson 11 run (pass failed), 1:31

Good — Bryson Comstock 5 pass from Visser (Comstock kick), :37

Third quarter

Good — Comstock 15 pass from Visser (Comstock kick), 5:13

Fourth quarter

Good — Comstock 12 pass from Visser (Comstock kick), 8:46

Good — Comstock 14 run (Comstock kick), 8:00

Good — Mike Needham 3 run (Comstock kick), 6:02

TL — Griffin Zagelow 29 pass from Hausladen (pass failed), 4:01

Good — Shane Jennings 34 run (run failed), :48

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Good, Needham 15-79, Jennings 4-59, Visser 15-28, Comstock 1-14, Morris 2-13, Bunn 1-1. TL, Munson 22-115, Hausladen 10-52, Houston 7-25, Smith 2-8, McLemore 5-3, Stevens 4-3.

PASSING — Good, Visser 14-23-1-260. TL, Hausladen, 8-17-2-107. Zagelow 1-1-0-28.

RECEIVING — Good, Comstock 6-74, Darcy 3-59, Loveland 1-52, Needham 1-44, Pamplon 3-31. TL, Zagelow 3-48, Hausladen 1-27, Houston 1-21, Stevens 1-16, Foote 1-12, McLemore 1-9.