Most teams would be thrilled with a 34-0 victory.
But for Bellevue, a team that is as used to state playoff victories as they are with the sun rising in the morning, this 34-0 win on Friday night just didn’t feel as sweet.
Whether it was the pouring rain, pre-game lightning or an inability to score after halftime, the Wolverines just weren’t thrilled after their victory over Rainier Beach in the round of 32.
“It doesn’t feel like a win,” said senior lineman Sam Kenney.
Try telling that to the Vikings.
Bellevue scored 27 points in the second quarter to build an insurmountable lead, and senior running back Joey Mangialardi had another big game with 120 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wolverines (8-2) to the round of 16.
Things started out quickly for Bellevue – Rainier Beach went backwards on its first drive, and John Kanongata’a blocked the Vikings punt from the end zone to give the Wolverines the ball on the one-yard line. After sophomore Andy Boulware’s one-yard run, Bellevue led 7-0 just 1:14 into the game.
The Wolverines would go three-and-out on their next drive, but followed up with a 10-play drive culminated when Mangialardi broke loose for a 46-yard score with 11:50 left in the second quarter.
“He’s stepped up and done a great job for us,” Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff said, noting the absence of starting running backs David Nguyen and Sean Coley to injury. “That’s what we’ve needed with the guys banged up back there.”
After Mangialardi’s first score, the floodgates opened.
Mangialardi scored twice more, and Freddie Levine added a third touchdown as Bellevue’s big quarter had them set up for another postseason win.
“We came out flat, but we picked it up going into the half,” Kenney said. “We really needed to step it up.”
While the Wolverines offense – which piled up 311 yards on the ground – couldn’t find the end zone in the second half, neither could a Rainier Beach (6-4) team that relied largely on the arm of 6-foot, 3-inch sophomore Marquis Patu-Jackson.
Bellevue’s defense held the sophomore to just 13 of 35 passing for 149 yards. Kanongata’a picked up Patu-Jackson in the second quarter (a 49-yard touchdown return was nullified by a penalty), and the Wolverines were aided by numerous dropped balls by Vikings receivers.
But Bellevue – the owners of six state titles in the past eight years – weren’t satisfied.
“We’ve got to get better,” Goncharoff said. “We’re in the playoffs, we’re starting to get better, but we’re not where we need to be.”
