Talk about a quick start.
After missing the better part of Bellevue’s last two games, senior Sean Coley took the first play from scrimmage 64 yards for a touchdown as the Wolverines never slowed down, dispatching Mount Si 49-17 in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs in Bellevue.
Coley, who’d been out with groin and stomach problems, broke one tackle on the play, and was untouched the rest of the way.
“I felt like I was going to get yelled at because I read the block wrong,” Coley said after the game. “I saw the flow go to the right, so I cut left and just kept running.”
Just like Bellevue did all night. After the Wolverines (9-2) forced Mount Si to punt on their first possesion, Kendrick Van Ackeron hit Joe Joe Conner for a 50-yard pass that set up Joey Mangialardi’s 1-yard touchdown run.
Just under three minutes into the game, and it was already 14-0 Bellevue.
“That was really big,” said senior lineman Hank Thayer. “We needed something to fire up the team because we hadn’t been playing that well lately.”
If that wasn’t enough, Coley intercepted Wildcat’s quarterback Ian Ilgenfritz on Mount Si’s next drive and returned it 43 yards for another score. To add insult to injury, the Wildcats fumbled the kickoff, Bellevue recovered and seven plays later, Mangialardi scored again on a short 2-yard run.
In a whirlwind first eight minutes, Bellevue ran just 10 offensive plays, and led 28-0.
“The crowd was talking,” Coley said of the Mount Si fans who traveled to Bellevue,” and we shut them up real quick.”
The Wildcats finally got on the board with 58 seconds left in the first quarter when Cameron VanWinkle hit a 28-yard field goal.
After Jon Kanongata’a recovered a Mount Si fumble to open the second quarter, Mangialardi scored once more on a 46-yard run, and the Wolverines again displayed an impressive passing attack, as Van Ackeron hit Conner in the end zone for a 11-yard touchdown pass to round up the first half scoring.
“We’re able to spread guys out,” said Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff on his team’s passing. “We’re just playing with what we see each week.”
“It helps us keep teams on their toes,” said Van Ackeron, who finished 5 of 7 for 99 yards and a touchdown on offense, and added an interception on defense.
With a 42-3 halftime lead, many of the Bellevue starters sat out the second half, which began with David Kanongata’a intercepting Ilgenfritz. Mount Si (6-5) scored second half touchdowns on runs by Chaz Blair and Alladin Schirmer. Bellevue’s lone second half touchdown came on a 55-yard run by junior Skyler Yu.
Bellevue had nine different players rush the ball for 265 yards. Senior David Nguyen played for the first time since fracturing his foot in Bellevue’s second game against Katy, Texas. He rushed for 19 yards on four carries.
The Wolverines will travel to play the winner of tomorrow’s Glacier Peak-Timberline game.
