Bulldogs race past Jacks

QUINCY - It was a hard-fought physical battle when Cashmere and Quincy played smash mouth football Friday night, as only 26 points were hung on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately, the visiting Bulldogs scored all of them as they handed the Jacks their first loss in the last six games.

"The game was won between the tackles," coach Stephen Wallace said. "Solid defensive play prevented either team from getting the ball around the corner's."

The low scoring contest saw Cashmere capitalize on a Quincy mistake as a fumbled punt was recovered in the Jacks end zone (kick failed) to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead and the only score of the first quarter.

A Casey Ruether 1-yard run (kick failed) pushed the score to 12-0 as the first half came to an end. Ruether hit pay dirt on a 53-yard run (PAT) to increase the lead to 19-0 as time expired in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs widened the gap to 26-0 on a Devin Knight 6-yard run (PAT) to round out the scoring for the game.

"Cashmere was able to control the line of scrimmage defensively, and prevent us from breaking into the open field for most of the game, and when we did their defensive backs won the one-on-one match ups versus our running backs," Wallace said. "Offensively we were unable to put together sustained drives, but failed on multiple fourth and short opportunities."

The loss to the Bulldogs dropped Quincy to 5-1 in the Caribou Trail League.

Quincy finished the regular season in third place in the Jacks first year in the conference, and qualified for postseason play.

Quincy will travel to Rockford Friday to take on the Scotties from Freeman High School in the first round of the district playoffs. The game is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m.

"Freeman has a big offensive and defensive line and have good athletes at the skill positions," Wallace said. "They will be the most balanced team offensively we've faced this years, so it's going to be a big challenge for us."

The winner of the crossover game between the Jacks and the Scotties will be the No. 3 state seed out of District 5/6/7, and will face the winner of the Zillah Goldendale game in the first round of the state playoffs.