Ravens Dispatched 61-6; Saints Next

April 28, 2007 Lacey, WA 

South Sound held the visiting Renton Ravens to minus-8 yards of total offense on the day and scored a safety as the Shockers rolled to another big win to move to 7-0 on the season.

The Shocker offense sprinted out to a 40-0 halftime lead before turning the game over to the backups midway through the third quarter.  A running clock was utilized following the Shockers final touchdown at the request of the Ravens with 12:50 remaining in the fourth quarter.  The offense accounted for 393 yards on the day with QB John Stewart tossing 4 touchdowns to wide receivers Bobby Poeltl (2), Ryan Reis, and tight end David Combs.  The backfield tandem of Marquis Johnson and Terrell Smith continued to put up good numbers in the running department, while middle linebacker Nate Enciso scored two touchdowns up the middle in short yardage situations.  His second TD cut straight through the heart of the Raven defense as he broke the line and galloped 17-yards to pay dirt.

Defensively, Jackie Triplett had a huge day recording 5 sacks against the Ravens pushing his season total and Shocker team record to 16 sacks on the season.  David Minnis made a name for himself in a "Steve Tasker-esque" way recording 6 special teams stops on kickoff coverage which held the Ravens to 5 of 10 returns inside their own 20 yard line.  David missed a few games early to serve overseas duty with the US Army and has returned making an immediate impact with some huge tackles.  He also caught a pass from Stewart and rolled 42 yards before being dragged down at the Raven 4.

Pat Hutnik chipped in another field goal and was perfect on 8-8 PAT's to boost his season point total to 49.

Renton finally got on the board with :56 remaining in the game following a Trenton Mason fumble that was returned to the Shocker 2.  On the previous possession, Jerry McLemore was stripped by a Raven defender before being dragged down at the goal line.  The Shocker defense held strong and pushed the Ravens back to the 15 on 3 straight plays with a pass on fourth down being batted away in the endzone by reserve quarterback Chris Gore.

"Today was a good day to see what kind of depth we had giving our injured players more time to heal". (Coach Thomas Love).  The Shockers defense came into today's game without the services of both starting corners (Micah Tanaka -knee, Ryan Kalalau - hand), strongside linebacker Kelly Time (work), and defensive tackle Jeff Markoff (bicep).

The Shockers head to Bremerton next Saturday to take on the 2005 NAFL2 National Champion West Sound Saints.  The Saints were 27-14 winners over the Skagit Valley Lightning.

GAME TRACKER