Alegria’s four touchdowns lead Huskies to 49-12 win

OTHELLO – Led by senior running back Julian Alegria’s four total touchdowns and a dominant defensive performance, the No. 5 seed Othello Huskies took down the No. 12 Washington Patriots 49-12 in the first round of the 2A State Playoffs on Saturday afternoon.

“For Othello, we haven’t won a state playoff game in nine years,” Othello defensive coordinator Kevin Hale said. “We know that we’ve got a good football team.”

The Huskies rushed for 259 yards and five touchdowns in the win, with Alegria scoring three on the ground and senior Sonny Asu and junior Alex Mendez both reaching the end zone once.

“That's Othello football, that’s what we want to do,” Hale said.

On the opposite side, Washington struggled to move the ball on the ground against a stout Othello defense, finishing the game with negative rushing yards.

“Not only could they not stop our run, but they couldn’t run the football at all,” Hale said. “They had negative 30 rushing yards for the game.”

The Patriots scored in the first quarter but did not find the end zone again until late in the fourth. Othello blocked both of Washington's extra-point attempts.

“Our defense is pretty good,” Hale said. “Their receivers made a couple plays on some long passes – credit to them, they have some really good receivers with some speed, that was a concern for us – but we knew that our guys would be able to get pressure, and we were going to make it difficult for them. You can’t be a one-dimensional team against us and have success.”

Up 28-6 just before halftime, Othello linebacker Terrill Freeman forced a fumble on a Washington kickoff return to give the Huskies the ball at the Patriot 29-yard line with under a second remaining in the second quarter. As the alarm on the scoreboard blared signifying time had run out in the first half, quarterback Maddox Martinez found senior receiver T.J. Murdock for a 29-yard touchdown pass to put Othello up 35-6 at the half.

“It was amazing,” Murdock said. “I just looked back, the ball was up, it was coming my way and I just turned around and caught it over the shoulder. It was just in my hands and all of a sudden a bunch of red guys just came after me.”

Murdock gave credit to Freeman for setting up the play.

“Terrill Freeman, he had an amazing play, got the ball,” Murdock said. “.9 seconds, just like my number, and then Maddox Martinez throws a hail mary. It was supposed to be going to Sonny Asu, but I just took it from him.”

Three of Alegria’s four scores came in the first half: a 28-yard run, a three-yard run and a seven-yard reception.

“I’d say I’m a pretty good runner, so I think having (the offensive line) give me two or three yards of space helps,” Alegria said.

Hale said that the physicality of Alegria’s running is something that the Patriot defense was unlikely used to.

“I don’t think that they see running backs like that on the west side of the state,” Hale said. “He’s pretty unique physically. His athleticism – a guy that big shouldn’t be able to run like that.”

Though Alegria was finding the end zone, he said he couldn’t have done it without the dominant performance of the Othello offensive line.

“The offensive line, when you have them helping you out the whole game, being able to get downfield and make those blocks for you, it’s really helpful,” Alegria said.

The Huskies will face off against No. 4 seed Enumclaw in the second round of the 2A State Playoffs next week. Time and date were not released in time for publication, but the game will be played on either Friday or Saturday.

“We have our energy there, then I think we’ll get this done for sure,” Alegria said. “That’s where it starts off.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score:

Washington - 6-0-0-6 12

Othello - 14-21-14-0 49