Grant Vercoe awaits the pass that he would turn into a 60-yard touchdown play in Medical Lake's loss to Deer Park last Friday night.
It was one of those contests where the final score certainly did not indicate how really close this final Northeast A League football game was, or could have been.
Deer Park's 41-13 win on Oct. 26 at Holliday Field that concluded the regular season for each team, got out of hand on three plays that yielded the Stags 20 points in all of about 30 seconds.
Sean Hill's 53-yard interception return broke a scoreless tie with 6 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the first quarter for Deer Park (3-3 NEA, 5-3 overall).
"If you're able to stop a team, get the ball back and it ultimately doesn't hurt you too bad," head coach Jeremy Bahr said. "Pick-sixes, that's a different deal."
Medical Lake answered on James Pivonka's 54-yard catch and run on a toss from twin brother Carter that gave Medical Lake its only lead of the night, 7-6 with 11:42 to play in the first half. But Deer Park's Matthew Jorgensen zipped 85 yards with the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown that put the Stags up 13-7, and ahead for good.
Deer Park used its signature running game to roll up 283 yards on the ground, scoring a pair of second half touchdowns. But of the miniscule 22 passing yards they collected, they used four to push its lead to 20-7 seconds before the end of the first half with Hill's second score on a pass from Lucas Keller.
Medical Lake (1-5, 2-7) actually outgained Deer Park, 392 – 305 in total offense with Pivonka going 11 of 27 for 274 yards of that total. But his three interceptions proved costly.
"It was one of our better games moving the ball, we got up and down (the field)," Bahr said. "We just didn't connect on a couple of passes."
But maybe the true nail in the coffin came with 8:21 to play in the third quarter when Andrew Blew batted away a Pivonka pass over the middle. The ball fell into Blew's arms and the 6-foot, 1-inch, 190-pound lineman bowled his way into the end zone for a touchdown and a 27-7 lead.
The rest was pretty much academic, despite Grant Vercoe's 60-yard catch and run for a score that cut it to 27-13, because Deer Park countered on their next possession for a Sam Reinbold plunge from a yard out with 33 seconds remaining in the third and a 34-13 Stags' lead.
Deer Park capped scoring with Ethan Shroyer's 9-yard run with 2:59 remaining in the game.
"It was a tough one, knowing how well we were moving the ball," Bahr said. Vercoe had four catches for 141 yards while James Pivonka earned 106 yards, also with four catches. Alex Stith had 10 carries for 81 yards, a healthy 8.1 yard-per-carry average.
The Cardinals have one more chance to end the season on a positive when the Chelan Mountain Goats of the Caribou Trail League visit Medical Lake Friday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. for a cross-over game.
"(We're) trying to get the kids amped up for one more and we are going to try to get some of our younger kids in there and see what they have," Bahr said.
The Mountain Goats were the No. 5 finisher in the Caribou Trail. Chelan was winless in four CT games and 3-6 overall.
In common opponents, Chelan lost to Okanogan 14-12, a team that beat Medical Lake 27-7 and 23-14 at home to Riverside who topped Medical Lake 14-7.
"It's going to be a good time to just get some younger kids, the guys who haven't got that playing time," Bahr said. "I hope we finish on a high note."
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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