Medical Lake melts in final quarter at Deer Park

Suffice to say the Medical Lake football team ran out of gas and bodies last Friday in their 34-20 Northeast A League football loss at Deer Park.

After building a 20-7 lead going into the final quarter, the Cardinals (0-2 NEA, 1-3 overall) simply could not control the ball, or the clock and saw the Stags (2-0, 2-2) score 27 points in 11 minutes.

“We just broke down in the fourth quarter,” Medical Lake head coach Wes Hobbs said.

The score sheet and stats will tell you it was a total meltdown, but “That’s somewhat deceiving.”

The first score of the final quarter, a 5-yard touchdown pass from Nic Clough to Neil Lockwood came 43 seconds into the period. The final insurance points came on a 5-yard Tharon Taylor run with 18 seconds remaining. Those scores wrapped around other touchdowns from Taylor and Colton Munsen.

“The basic thing is we ran out of gas, we ran out of players,” Hobbs said. Medical Lake suited less than 25 kids and had a number of players hobbled with injuries on a team where most players have a job on both offense and defense.

Hobbs said they were playing against a better team on paper, but at the start that did not play into things because after surrendering Taylor’s first touchdown with 8 minutes and 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Cardinals scored the next 20 points.

Isiah Farmen collected a 24-yard Cory Wagner pass with 9:47 remaining in the first half and a Wagner run gave the Cards their first lead, 8-7. Six minutes later Wagner’s keeper pushed it to 14-7. On the night, the ML junior quarterback finished 8 of 18 for 122 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Jackson Tappero upped the lead to 20-7, 7:45 into the third quarter on his 1-yard run, part of a 125-yard, 23-carry night as the senior returned to his old form.

“We moved the ball well in the first half,” Hobbs said. “Then the well went dry.”

But then the Deer Park defense dug in, and their offense came alive.

“Their defense, they really brought it,” Hobbs said. “They were committing a lot of people to the line of scrimmage to try to stop us.”

Next up is Lakeside, Friday night at 7 p.m. in Suncrest. The Eagles (2-0, 4-0) are averaging over 50 points per game and over 63 in their first two NEA games, beating Chewelah 64-7 and Newport 63-14.

“They’re big, they spread the field and they like big plays,” Hobbs said. “We’ve got to choke the clock on them a little bit, keep their defense on the field.”

“They are really high-powered, but we always have a little something up our sleeve,” Hobbs said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.