KingCo Nonleague | Wolverines beat Cougars
38-19 in first meeting since 1990
Bothell coaches screamed "Two! Two! Two! " as Bellevue senior Jamal Atofau, with a big, gold No. 2 on his back, lined up in punt protection...
By Tom Wyrwich
Seattle Times staff reporter
BELLEVUE -- Bothell coaches screamed "Two! Two! Two!" as Bellevue senior Jamal Atofau, with a big, gold No. 2 on his back, lined up in punt protection. But the screams went unheard.
So when Bellevue's Tommy Castle took the snap on a fake punt, Atofau sneaked up the middle, right past the Bothell front. And when Castle threw to Atofau -- wide open -- Bothell defenders were left to look behind them and watch Atofau scamper 43 yards.
And on the first drive, Bothell's best chance to stop the Wolverines in the first half had come and gone. The Wolverines ended up with a field goal that put them ahead 3-0, and they didn't trail again.
"That definitely set the tone," Castle said.
On Friday night, Bothell became the latest team this decade to find itself turned around, searching for the ball as the Wolverines ran right past them. Bellevue jumped on the Cougars in the first half and held on for a 38-19 win.
"That was fun," Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff said.
Bothell, the Class 4A state runner-up the past two seasons, and 3A Bellevue, five-time state champion in the past seven years, had not met since 1990. But they had scrimmaged each other two of the past three seasons, enough for Bothell coach Tom Bainter to know his Cougars could not make mistakes.
But Bothell turned the ball over on its first two drives and went three-and-out on its third, and by the time it got the ball the fourth time, Bellevue led 24-0. The Wolverines piled up 228 of their 392 rushing yards in the first half, and even when Bothell made the right read against Bellevue's wing-T offense, the Cougars had trouble bringing the Wolverines down.
Senior Peter Nguyen, who had 111 rushing yards, scored three touchdowns for Bellevue, and his brother, David, ran for 166 yards and a touchdown.
Bothell scored on two of its first three drives in the third quarter, but both times, Bellevue answered with scores.
"We knew we had to get up on them and hold on for dear life," Goncharoff said. "And we did."