Mount Si defeats Bothell on record-setting night
September 11, 2011
By Sebastian Moraga
The Mount Si Wildcats turned in a promising performance Sept. 10, defeating 4A school Bothell 26-14 on the road.
The Wildcats (1-1) avenged a home loss to Bothell last year and erased much of the sour taste from last week’s home loss to Woodinville.
“It was a total team effort,” head coach Charlie Kinnune said.
Bothell struck first, with a 13-yard strike from quarterback Austen Dahl to wide receiver Trent Sewell in the end zone. Mount Si punted on its next drive and left Bothell starting at the 50 yard line.
Just when it looked like Dahl might engineer another Cougar score on a short field, Mount Si’s Josh Mitchell collided with the Bothell center with 12 seconds left in the first quarter.
The game was stopped for about 20 minutes while the trainers tended to the Cougar player, who left the field on a gurney.
Instead of galvanizing the team, the injury left the Cougar offense in flux, with Dahl dealing with errant snaps for the rest of the night.
On the first post-injury drive, early in the second quarter, Bothell had the ball on first-and-15 at the Mount Si 35. A bad snap cost the Cougars 18 yards. The Cougars would eventually punt on fourth and 41.
Wildcat QB Ryan Atkinson, took over at his own 24 yard-line, and began moving the chains . On second-and-eight, he connected with Tyler Button twice to find the end zone.
On the next Bothell drive, a holding penalty erased Dahl’s 80-yard touchdown run.
Forced to punt, the Bothell snap rolled between Dahl’s legs and Mount Si got the ball at the Cougars’ 20.
The drive stalled, and kicker Cameron Van Winkle was asked to nail a 47-yard- field goal. The ball sailed easily through the uprights.
The Wildcats had the lead and VanWinkle had himself a share of the 30-year-old school record for distance.
Ahead 13-7 at halftime, Wildcat fans fretted over a repeat of last week, when the Mount Si team emerged lifeless after the break. For a while, their fears looked well-founded, too.
After forcing Bothell to punt on the first drive, Button touched the punt as it slipped behind him. Bothell recovered and on the next play Sewell had his second touchdown of the night.
Unlike last week, Mount Si shoved back. With four minutes left in the third, Van Winkle kicked his team back into the lead, with the third of his school-record four field goals.
With a minute left in the third, Mount Si’s defense came up large and shut the door on the Cougars for good.
Ond second-and-goal at the 7, Dahl connected with Nick Anthony for six yards. On third-and-goal at the 1, the defense stuffed the Cougars and on fourth-and-one Dahl overthrew to Anthony.
On the next Cougar drive, Mount Si picked off Dahl at the 50-yard line, and the Wildcats were in business again. With 3:43 left in the game, Mount Si had a 23-14 lead.
With 50 seconds left in the contest, Mount Si’s Nick Mitchell picked off Dahl, to seal the victory.
“It felt great,” Josh Mitchell said. “We came out, played all four quarters and stuck together as a team.”
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