The Wildcats ground-and-pound game paired nicely with accurate short passes to dominate the Beavers for a 24-8 victory on Friday, Sept. 8.
La Center running back Jalen Ward led the way with a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and an 18-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Woodland got its one score from a 49-yard pass from Brett Martynowicz to Chase Hall that would tie the game 8-8.
La Center running back Isaac Chromey sealed the deal towards the end of the third quarter with a 17-yard run to take the lead over Woodland, 16-8.
“I think doing your job was really the emphasis this week,” La Center head coach John Lambert said. “You know, [Elijah Andersen] is a really talented running back, and if you get out of your lanes and don’t do your job, he could break one off. And so I thought we did a pretty decent job at containing him.”
The Wildcats made two defensive stands that helped seal the win when they stuffed two drives by Woodland in the red zone.
Lambert felt like the Wildcats could have scored more touchdowns, but some penalties proved to be setbacks.
“It felt like we should have had a lot more points in the fourth quarter by that point,” Lambert said. “We will clean up some of our penalties, holding, killer holding penalties and a few technique things that we need to clean up.”
The Wildcats will continue to start with the dual running back-system of Chromey and Ward who Lambert said have been “dynamite” for La Center.
La Center is now 2-0 with first year quarterback Garrett Maunu who keeps plays alive with quick feet and his eyes downfield.
“Our quarterback [Maunu] is just running the show,” Lambert said. “Last year, he was a point guard on the basketball team. He’s a pitcher/shortstop on the baseball team. Those types of guys just know how to play and are just athletes.”
La Center has now won four straight over Woodland and has rolled to 2-0 on this season’s campaign.
The Wildcats’ next game will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15 at home against the Kalama Chinooks.
