EHS Football: Hornets battle but fall to Lincoln 50-21

Playing on the road was not kind to Enumclaw (1-2), which

started strong taking an early 7-0 lead over Lincoln (1-2) but Emnanuel Thompkins ran wild with 17 carries for 194 yards and a game high four touchdowns as the Abes pulled away and wore down the Hornets 50-21 on Friday night in a nonleague contest at the Lincoln Bowl in Tacoma. 

"Lincoln is a big strong physical team," Enumclaw Head Coach Don Bartel said. "When that wing-T offense gets confidence, and momentum going it just rolls up on you."

 The Hornets got on the board first thanks to a Cameron Strecker three yard touchdown run after an interception by Lincoln was wiped out and Enumclaw had regained possession. The play of the drive was an 18 yard completion from Peter Nordby down the right sideline to Tyler Osborn.

The Abes would then score 22 unanswered points thanks to their precision execution of their wing-T offense and the speed of senior running back Emmanuel Thompkins but the Hornets would not go away as they cashed in on a fumbled punt by Julius Colwash and four plays later Enumclaw cut the lead back to eight, when Nordby threw a pinpoint pass to Bryson Grant from 11 yards out with 2:14 left in the second quarter.

Lincoln would strike back just before the half completing their only pass of the contest as Richard Johnson hit Colwash down the right sideline in between a couple Hornet defenders and he scampered into the endzone to make it 29-14 going into halftime.

The Abes took control again in the third quarter taking the opening drive marching right down the field as Keenan Grayson punched in a 9-yard touchdown run to stretch the lead for Lincoln to 36-14.

Enumclaw would get it back to a two score contest at the 6:02 mark of the third quarter when Nordby threw a beautiful strike to Perry Rockwood down the left sideline and Rockwood outran the Abe defense to make it a 36-21 contest.

Nordby, playing in place of senior quarterback Tyler Carlson, was 8 for 17 on the evening for 103 yards and two touchdowns, and no interceptions.

The Abes finished the scoring a pair of Thompkins touchdowns and topping off a running game that accumulated 513 yards on the ground wearing down the Hornet defense in the second half.

"Our defense spent way too much time on the field." Bartel said.

With one more nonleague contest at Capital next friday night, Bartel is looking forward to seeing how his team responds.

"We are about building, and finding the best competitors to put out on the field." he said. " Capital is another big strong team that is going to challenge us."

The Hornets will face Capital down at Ingersoll Stadium in Olympia next Friday Night. Game time is 7 p.m.