Bothell prevails, 16-13

by By CHRISTOPHER A. SMITH
Viks hold on tight in loss. The Bothell High players’ screams of joy to the heavens through the rain as time winded down said it all.

It said that the Cougars didn’t have lofty stats, but that everyone persevered through a rain storm and a fierce rivalry.

It showed that the Cougars, played downright ugly at times, but came through when it counted.

But most of all, it signified a Bothell victory and a second straight 4A Kingco title after defeating arch rival Inglemoor, 16-13, in the famed Spaghetti Bowl Oct. 19 at Pop Keeney Field.

“It’s great. Back-to-back now and four of the last six years and we are really proud of that,” Bothell head coach Tom Bainter said. “Our kids made it an offseason goal to do, and we talked about trying to accomplish that goal tonight, so we are very happy.”

Running back Jon Kirchner led the Cougars’ ground attack with 26 carries for 139 yards in the rain, and the defense forced four straight three-and-outs in the second half as Bothell, ranked No. 1 in the state by the Associated Press, improved to 6-0 on the season and clinched its second straight Kingco title.

“There was a time in that game where you just saw (Kirchner say), ‘I’m going to put us on our back and take us in,’” Bainter said. “And he ran hard and he broke tackles and he got gains of 4 when it should have been a gain of 1, and those are big plays. He was magnificent tonight and he carried us to the victory.”

It was the second straight week that Bothell found itself down at halftime after a late field goal. Last week, it was then-No. 3 Eastlake up 6-3, and this week it was 13-0 after the Vikings kicked a field goal with four seconds remaining in the half to take a 13-10 lead.

Kirchner, the only returning offensive starter off last year’s state runner-up team, stood up and spoke to the team at halftime to get it fired up.

“I was fired up. I was motivated,” Kirchner said. “I said they were bringing it and we’re not. Before the season, we talked about every team is going to target us and this is just another example.

“We thought because we got over Woodinville and Eastlake, it was kind of easy now and we had the worst attitude ever in the first half — and so I was determined to do something.”

It must have worked, as Bothell came out with one of the most impressive drives of the year to open the half by going 15 plays and 70 yards -- including Kirchner with nine carries for 38 yards -- ending in a Johnny Hekker 27-yard field goal to tie the game.

“It was huge,” Bainter said of the third quarter. “We needed to get some confidence. We needed to play with some fire. We needed to get some points on the board and we needed to control the ball and get the clock moving against the wind.”

The Bothell offense did all of that, and that’s when the Cougar defense took over, limiting Inglemoor to negative-7 yards combined on its two third-quarter drives. The Vikings managed just 21 total yards in the second half and their only two first downs were on Bothell penalties.

But the score would remain tied until Bothell got the ball at the Inglemoor 44 with 8:03 left in the game, following a 16-yard punt. The Cougars carried the ball six straight times down to the Inglemoor 3-yard line, but couldn’t cross the goal line, eventually settling for Hekker’s third field goal of the contest, this one for the winning score.

“I think you need to play in games when you face adversity,” Bainter said. “You have to find your character., and you have to find out who your leaders are. And these last two games we’ve done that and we played well when our backs were against the wall.”

“It’s awesome,” Hekker, the Cougar quarterback and field-goal kicker, said of winning the Kingco title. “It feels like we are a gravy train rolling along on biscuit wheels.”