The Woodland Beavers dammed up the Hockinson Hawks offense the majority of the night in their 27-7 victory on Friday, Oct. 3.
Woodland quarterback Michael Belvin hurled the ball for two touchdown passes and ran the ball in himself for two more scores, all in the second quarter. The story of Woodland’s offense can be condensed to just one quarter. However, the story of the Woodland defense lasted all four quarters.
Belvin threw the ball to Tanner Cusick to start off the scoring kick in the second quarter. Belvin followed it up with a touchdown run, a deep pass to Will Clemens and another run for scores.
“He makes passes that most people can’t throw,” Beavers head coach Glen Flanagan said. “He’s hard to bring down. He can get yards on his running. He’s 6-foot-3, 190. He’s got a little bit different body than most high schoolers, and so that helps. We have a good receiving core and the o-line was doing great on the pass-pro.”
Helping on the pass protection and on the run-stuffing defensive line is the kid called “Big Red.”
Senior center and defensive tackle Isaiah Mattison leads the way in the trenches and with his passion for the team, school and the town.
“He’s just the spirit of it, you know, the heart and soul of it,” Flanagan said of Mattison’s leadership. “He just celebrates with everybody. He’s a Woodland guy, you know. You need that because these kids are good athletes and sometimes the kids of today’s day and age, they just kind of like to be out there. You have to have those guys that it means a little more and so ‘Big Red,’ it means more to him and the young kids can see that. You need those spirited guys and so he brings that to us.”
The win put the Beavers at 2-1 in league play, tied for second with Ridgefield and Columbia River. The Beavers have the tiebreaker over River after having beat them the week prior, but the Spudders matchup isn’t until the final week of the regular season on Halloween night in enemy territory.
The Washougal Panthers find themselves atop the 2A Greater St. Helens League and in the driver’s seats at 3-0 after beating Ridgefield and Woodland already.
The Hawks find themselves at 1-2 in league play. On the outside looking in with regards to the postseason, the players have to be nothing short of absolutely fired up after the post-game speech by first year head coach Ben Nelson. Now on the home stretch of the schedule with just four weeks left, to find the postseason will be a big task, but Nelson wants to shock the area this week at Columbia River, he told his players.
“The great part about this league is that every single week is a battle,” Nelson said. “And so we have an opportunity to flush this and fix it for next week. And, you know, River’s a good team. They like to run the ball. We like to run the ball. It’s going to be a physical dogfight, and so we look forward to that challenge and rising up to it. And I think our guys are collectively aware that to get a playoff spot, you guys start clipping off wins and they’re excited to get after it and hopefully they respond to the call on Monday.”
Nelson got his start in coaching high school football under the Woodland staff that had Flanagan as defensive coordinator.
“Hats off to Woodland, they’re a great team,” Nelson said. “In my opinion, Glen is the best defensive coordinator, if not the best coach in the league.”
The Woodland Beavers next play at 0-5 R.A. Long High School at Longview Memorial Stadium on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m..
The Hawks next host Columbia River on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.
