Holy Toledo: Braves edged in epic playoff battle

Nobody hates losing more than La Conner High head football coach Peter Voorhees.

Not that the first-year Braves mentor and NW2B Coach of the Year has had much experience tasting defeat. His team, which scored 50 or more points seven times this fall, lost only twice in 2016.

Turns out, that pair of setbacks was to the two top small school grid programs in Washington state this year.

La Conner was edged by No. 1-ranked Napavine during the regular season.

The second Braves loss came on Saturday, to undefeated and No. 2 Toledo, during State 2B Elite Eight action in Mount Vernon.

Both were tight, tense contests.

Napavine prevailed 24-4 over a La Conner team that had traveled three hours to the game venue.

Toledo edged the Braves 14-10 in a clash that was all the more heartbreaking because it brought La Conner’s season to an end.

For the Braves, who had easily downed first round playoff foe Raymond a week earlier, it was thus a fine line between advancing to the Final Four and being sidelined until August.

La Conner, which finished 10-2, saw that fine line blurred with a rare rash of ill-timed penalties and turnovers.

So instead of the Braves moving on to a much anticipated rematch with Napavine, it will be Toledo that faces the Tigers in a battle of unbeatens this weekend.

The Braves can only wonder what might have been.

La Conner, after surrendering an early score via a methodical, time-consuming Toledo touchdown drive, came back on a cold, damp afternoon to take a 10-7 lead in the final stanza.

The Braves did so with a stop unit that held Toledo’s vaunted run game to less than three yards per rush.

La Conner answered a Marcus Ouellette one-yard TD plunge with Brady Nelson’s six-yard scoring jaunt and a 21-yard field goal by NW2B Player of the Year Budda Luna.

It was the versatile Luna — recently voted the league’s top performer on both offense and defense — who set up the go-ahead trey with an interception.

The margin, however, didn’t hold.

La Conner dodged one bullet when a fourth quarter Toledo touchdown was erased by penalty. A Braves fumble flipped field position for Toledo, though, and set up what proved to be the game-winning score, a two-yard blast by 6’-3”, 240-pound signal caller Dalton Yoder.

It was a cruel irony that the game turned on a La Conner fumble. Voorhees, mindful that Toledo is adept at stripping the ball, made ball security a point of emphasis during practices leading up to the State quarterfinal match.

Toledo head coach Jeremy Thibault confirmed afterward that his club works on knocking the ball loose when the opportunity arises.

It’s just one of several facets of the game Toledo has mastered en route to a 12-0 start.

A couple points now appear beyond debate. Napavine and Toledo, though one has to lose when they meet in a couple days, are legitimate powerhouses.

And both more than had their hands full with La Conner this year.

In related notes:

• In addition to Luna being voted the NW2B’s Player of the Year on both offense and defense, the Braves reeled in a slew of post-season honors. Kaden Murdock, Nick Reese, Cooper Zavala, and Nelson earned first team offense and defense All-League recognition. Jeffrey Johnson and Michael Page were voted to the All-NW2B first team offense, while La Conner teammates James Hulbert, Terrance Fornsby, and Kolbe Rasler were first unit All-League picks on defense. Hulbert, Rasler, and Elijah Adams were honorable mention choices on offense, and Page and Johnson garnered honorable mention selections to the All-NW2B defensive team.

• Luna was the clear choice as the NW2B’s best player on both sides of the ball. His offensive numbers were particularly impressive. Luna accounted for over 1,300 total yards — rushing, passing, and receiving — and had a hand in 23 touchdowns during a season in which La Conner was shorted two games by forfeit.