ACH scores school record 100 points, advances to state semifinals
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Almira/Coulee-Hartline Gage Burchill leaves the Crescent defense behind him on a 66-yard touchdown reception.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Almira/Coulee-Hartline quarterback Maguire Isaak finds room up the sideline and rushes 62 yards for a touchdown against Crescent.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Almira/Coulee-Hartline's Hayden Loomis scores from 1 yard out against Crescent.
MOSES LAKE — The Lions Field scoreboard read 00-16 when the final whistle blew.
No, reigning champion Almira/Coulee-Hartline (ACH) wasn’t shut out by upstart Crescent in the state quarterfinals; they just scored too many points to fit.
100.
Triple digits.
A school record.
Maguire Isaak and Hayden Loomis accounted for eight of ACH’s 13 touchdowns in the 100-16 rout.
“It was kind of a dream for my high school career,” senior offensive lineman Jacob Mitchell said. “We’ve always been pretty good, just through the effort we’ve given in practice. We’ve had pretty high-scoring games and we’ve just never hit 100 and finally we’ve got it.”
The final score seemed like a preposterous idea early in the first quarter. Crescent running back Noah Leonard scored from 11 yards out and the ensuing 2-point conversion evened the score, 8-8.
“We knew going in that they were going to try and cram it down the middle on us,” head coach Brandon Walsh said. “That kid’s a good, hard runner. We just had to be stiff and make tackles and I think just initially it was kind of adjusting to that and once we did we were fine.
“The kids did a nice job.”
Nice is an understatement.
An avalanche of 92 unanswered points left little doubt who would advance into the state semifinals.
Isaak polished off his hat trick of rushing touchdowns in the first quarter with runs of 62, 66 and 5 yards. Next, Loomis broke off touchdown runs of 42, 77 and 1 yards. Gage Burchill took a quick out from Isaak 66 yards up the right sideline and Loomis added a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“I’d say a lot of our success comes with our down-field blocking as well,” said Mitchell, who returned an interception 20 yards for one of ACH’s 13 touchdowns on the afternoon. “We practice that. During practice it’s encouraged so we try and get down and pick up blocks as well.”
Parker Roberts capped the historic day with a 25-yard rushing touchdown, in addition to the conversion that rounded the score to 100.
“I’ve been on the other end of — not 100 (points) — but getting blown out and it’s not the intent to embarrass the opponent ever and that kind of thing,” Walsh said. “Yeah, we got some help from some pick sixes, but our JV kids scored 32 points or something like that and so it just kind of is what it is.
“We played well.”
Next: vs. No. 3 Naselle, 11/24, 1 p.m., Apple Bowl (Wenatchee)
Score by quarters
C — 8 0 0 8 16
ACH — 38 22 24 16 100
Scoring
ACH - Isaak 62 run (Isaak run)
Cre - Leonard 11 run (Emery run)
ACH - Isaak 66 run (run failed)
ACH - Isaak 5 run (Isaak run)
ACH - Loomis 42 run (Murray pass from Isaak)
ACH - Loomis 77 run (Isaak run)
ACH - Loomis 1 run (run failed)
ACH - Burchill 66 pass from Isaak (Isaak run)
ACH - Loomis 65 INT return (Isaak run)
ACH - Schafer 61 run (Murray run)
ACH - Mitchell 20 INT return (Shafer run)
ACH - Schafer 37 run (Roberts run)
ACH - Murray 1 run (Roberts run)
ACH - Roberts 25 run (Murray run)
Cre - Emery 21 run (Dalton run)