One down, four to go.

It wasn’t pretty for Bellevue in the opening round of the playoffs, but the Wolverines managed to overcome 25 penalties for over 200 yards and beat Glacier Peak 28-17.

Things were out of sync for the Wolverines’ offense from the start on an opening drive where big plays helped overcome penalty flags and turnovers, a sign of things to come.

Ari Morales and John Nguyen carried Bellevue deep into Grizzlies’ territory on the opening drive, despite two penalties, before a fumble ended things on the Glacier Peak 20 yard line.

“We’ve just got to learn from our mistakes,” Nguyen said. “We’ve just got to move on.” The junior running back went over 100 yards on eight carries and a pair of touchdown runs. The first of those went for 42 yards after the Bellevue defense forced a turnover on downs on the Grizzlies’ first possession of the game.

Glacier Peak parlayed its next drive into a field goal and took the lead at 10-7 when Timmy Douglas intercepted quarterback Tyler Hasty and went 12 yards into the endzone on the ensuing possession.

But despite committing two penalties on the next five plays, Hasty found Joey Moore for a 20-yard scoring strike that gave Bellevue a lead it would not surrender. A Michael Carlson interception set up Nguyen’s second rushing touchdown to make it 21-10 on the next drive. The Wolverines converted third downs of 19, 22 and 25 yards in the game.

“We made some plays,” Bellevue head coach Butch Goncharoff said. “I don’t have too many second and 30 calls in my playbook.”

Myles Jack’s 38-yard touchdown run to push the margin to it’s widest of the night at 28-10 came on first and 22 after a block in the back wiped out a first down on the previous play. A Scott Whiting punt return inside the Grizzlies’ five yard line and a Morales run to the one were also negated by penalty flags.

“If you learn from it, it’s great,” Goncharoff said of the flags. “We got the win, so it was OK.”

After sputtering throughout the first three periods, the Grizzlies seemed on the brink of finding some offensive rhythm when quarterback David Linney connected with Dalton Pittis for an 18-yard touchdown with 9:30 remaining in the game to make it 28-17. That play capped a nine play drive and produced the only offensive touchdown of the night for Glacier Peak, which then recovered an onside kick to retain possession.

Two more penalties put the ball at the Wolverines’ 31 yard line to begin the drive, but four straight misses from Linney ended the threat and sent Bellevue to the next round, where Eastside Catholic awaits. The Crusaders scored 28 unanswered to overcome a second half deficit against Oak Harbor in a 50-33 win.

Other Games

Interlake overcame three first half fumbles to beat White River 20-13 in the opening round.

Running back Jordan Todd took a kickoff back for a score in the third quarter and pushed his team’s lead to the final margin with a rushing touchdown in the fourth before the defense sealed the win with an interception in its own territory.

The Saints will take on the winner of tomorrow’s game between Port Angeles and Franklin-Pierce in the next round of the 2A playoffs.

Bellevue Christian completed its inaugural season against Seattle Lutheran, losing 21-19.