Medical Lake travels to Leavenworth for Friday’s first-round game with Cascade
Medical Lake’s Kasey Kelly has plenty of football real estate around him during his 75-yard touchdown run in last Friday’s 18-7 loss to Freeman.
Medical Lake travels to Leavenworth for Friday’s first-round game with Cascade
By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
Medical Lake had lived by the run all season.
Last Friday night the Cardinals died by it in an 18-7 Northeast A League football loss to Freeman at Holliday Field.
The game, where the winner earned a first-round home playoff game this Friday and the loser hits the road, concluded the regular season for both teams. Medical Lake (4-2 NEA, 6-2) will travel to Leavenworth where they will face the Cascade Kodiaks in a 7 p.m. game.
Cascade (6-1, 6-2) was runner-up to Cashmere (6-0, 8-0) in the Caribou Trail, losing 15-14 in the game that decided the title.
“They were a big, physical team and we just weren’t quite in sync and weren’t really clicking very well,” Cardinals head coach Wes Hobbs said.
After averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground this season, Medical Lake was limited to just 35 net yards rushing. Micah Tappero, the team’s leading ground gainer finished with 35 yards on 10 carries.
“They took away what they wanted to take away,” Hobbs said of Freeman (5-1, 7-2). But he said his team hung in to the end. “It took us a while to get anything going in the first half,” Hobbs said.
Even after quarterback Wyatt Smith’s 9 yard touchdown pass to Christian Dresback made it 18-0 with 9 minutes, 14 seconds to play in the third, Hobbs said there was still no quit in his team. “We sure didn’t stop playing.“
The Cardinals ignited a spark with an Adam Paulson 75-yard scoring play to Kasey Kelly that trimmed it to 18-7 with 7 minutes, 42 seconds to play. Paulson finished the night 11 of 24 for 184 yards and one interception. Kelly caught seven of those passes for 154 yards.
Another Medical Lake drive in the fourth quarter was thwarted by an interception. “That could have been 18-14 with plenty of time left in the ballgame,” Hobbs said. “We played hard to the very end and quite frankly we needed a game like that.”
A couple of defensive breakdowns led to a pair of Freeman scores, Hobbs said. “Take those away and it’s 0-0,” Hobbs said. “As it was it was 12-0 and we were still in the game.”
Toss in when Medical Lake missed a touchdown just before the half expired. “They made a real good play on a pass in the end zone,” Hobbs said. “It just barely got out of Kasey Kelly’s hands.”
The Kodiaks rely on the ground game and have some size, Hobbs said. That’s what ML saw against Freeman. “They get off the ball really well, their backs run hard,” Hobbs said. “They’re just a rough and tumble team.”
While a home game would have been great, after 10 years out of the postseason just playing is a reward. “We’re happy and get another chance to play Friday night,” Hobbs said.
Other first-round games see NEA champion Chewelah hosting CTL No. 4 Okanogan and Freeman at home versus No. 3 Quincy. Lakeside, the NEA’s No. 4 team travels to Cashmere.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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