Under the lights, and amidst the wildfire smoke, the Renton Redhawks blanked the Wolverines of Evergreen High School 55-0 on Thursday, Oct. 13.
Renton furthered their undefeated conference record this season moving to 4-0, and inching ever-closer to Highline High School, who is atop the KingCo 2A standings.
In the first quarter, the Redhawks got on the scoreboard with a 71-yard pick-six from junior D’Maughn Jackson putting Renton up early 7-0. On the next Evergreen play, Renton forced a fumble that was recovered by junior Jonathan Munoz deep in Wolverine territory. The Redhawks took advantage of the short field, scoring their first offensive touchdown of the game.
The touchdown was cashed in by one of six seniors on the roster, Noah Stewart. The only blemish of the Renton offense in the first half was a second quarter fumble. An 18-yard touchdown reception to Lake Guild capped the first half scoring putting Renton up 21-0.
Head Coach Mark Cross was really pleased with his offensive production in the ballgame.
“Coach Jones has done a great job putting the plays together ... It is starting to pay off on the scoreboard,” Cross said.
Photo by Ben Ray
The Redhawks continued to put pressure on Evergreen to start the second half, driving the length of the field and capping off the drive with a touchdown from sophomore LaBron Mustin-Ellison. His 38-yard touchdown run was the longest offensive scoring play of the night. Guild and Stewart reached the endzone once more in the second half.
Freshman Major Bloodsaw and Munoz, who recovered a fumble on defense, got into the endzone in the final quarter of the contest. The only negatives for the Redhawks was a bad snap on an extra point. Outside of that mistake, senior Claudio Herrera was 7-7 on extra point kicks.
Evergreen was kept off the scoreboard the entire game; it is the third time in four weeks the defense has pitched a shutout. The one week they didn’t, Renton gave up 51 points to 1A power-house Lynden Christian, but Coach Cross saw that loss as a message for his team.
“Taking that defeat to Lynden Christian a couple of weeks ago gave us a taste of what could come. So we gotta be able to prepare and get our minds and bodys ready for that level of competition,” Cross said.
It was an all-around beat down for Renton, and Coach Cross wants to make sure his team stay focused.
“We go one day at a time, and one week at a time,” he said.
The Redhawks have two games remaining in the regular season. Renton travels to Sammamish High School on Oct. 21 to take on the Redhawks. For the final game Renton faces Highline High School, which is for the KingCo 2A league title.