The Vashon Pirates football team continued its long season last Friday night in Sumner with a 50-0 loss to the number-one ranked Cascade Christian team. This makes the Pirates 0-4 in league play (0-7 for the season).
The game was all too typical for Pirate fans, with a lackluster offense and a defense that struggled greatly against Cascade’s passing game. However, there were bright spots for the Pirates.
The Pirates came out strong in the first quarter with some solid offense, led by freshman quarterback Will Godwin. One of the best plays for the Pirates near the top of the game was a long pass to senior Sol Dehnert for 39 yards. However, the Cougars came right back with an amazing touchdown pass for a 67-yard gain. This set the pattern for much of the game with the Pirates defenseless against a strong and accurate Cascade Christian quarterback.
Cougar junior Parker Johnson was the co-offensive player of the league in the 1A Nisqually League last year as a sophomore, throwing for 2,276 yards and 26 touchdowns. He is 6 feet 4 inches tall, 220 pounds and amazingly accurate. There is a reason Cascade is number one in the league.
At the end of the first quarter, it was 0-15 after a series of turnovers and stopped offensive attempts, and at the end of the second quarter, it was 0-43 after more intense Cascade Christian offense.
The Pirates attempted to do their best against the amazing Cascade Christian passing game and an array of successful long passes. On the offensive side, Vashon tried to compete with a few passes that led to interceptions. However, Vashon did have some bright spots on offense, mostly the running games of junior Richard Rivas-Gutierrez and senior Zavier Delgago-Williams.
In the second half, the Pirates held the Cougars to just seven points. This was helped by the fact that the clock started running when Cascade hit 50 points.
In the third quarter, the Pirates made a great drive with a fantastic pass to Dehnert and several impressive runs. They were within distance of a touchdown, but then turned it over on a fumble. This felt a bit like a metaphor for the struggling team.
Dehnert had some nice moments with a long carry, returning a kick-off, and one fantastic interception near the endzone on another long pass. Delgado-Williams made a nice run in the fourth quarter, and the always-reliable Rivas-Gutierrez gained yardage on a few runs.
The Pirates have struggled all season long with lopsided games. The opposing teams have scored more than 250 points between them, and the Pirates have scored 38 points in their seven games.
The Pirates have not given up. They have a group of dedicated seniors who have held their heads high for the last four years of struggles with the Pirates: playing all four years along with Dehnert have been Will Hennessey, Payton Bonaventura, Jake Carman, Jonathan Quintans and Joe Ghighleri. It’s not easy to get beat up every weekend, as the Pirates have, but they have not given up. The team also has a lot of heart, symbolized in the hard-working Rivas-Gutierrez, who plays kicker, lineman and running back.
This coming Friday is Homecoming on Vashon, and the Pirates will be playing Chimacum, the only other team in the league that has not yet won a league game. This gives fans a lot of reason to turn out on Friday, both for the festivities around Homecoming and to support the Pirates. The game has been moved to 5 p.m. Friday so Chimacum has time to get back before the Hood Canal Bridge is closed down for the night.
