It wasn’t an ordinary Friday night for the Rainier Mountaineers or the Winlock Cardinals, as the Central 2B League matchup was rescheduled as an eight-man football game on Monday, Sept. 30, leaving four practices before the Mountaineers defeated the Cardinals on Friday, Oct. 4, 54-34.
Rainier head football coach Andy Bartell said Winlock approached Rainier earlier in the week about canceling the contest, but Bartell proposed an eight-man contest instead.
“I’d rather play an eight-man game than not play at all. It was cool. It wasn’t a last-minute decision. We played an eight-man game last year against Ocosta, so we’ve had to do it in the past. It wasn’t completely foreign to us,” Bartell said. “It felt good because having to go play eight man, which is something you don’t do much, our starting quarterback Jake Meldrum had a 104-degree fever. Our other running back, Jayden Alegarbes, was out with a knee injury from the Ony game.”
He added that the change from 11-man football to an eight-man contest provided a quick learning curve, but the coach was proud of his team’s ability to escape the road game with a victory. Bartell noted that under eight-man rules, only four players can be lined up in the backfield before the snap, meaning the other four athletes must be on the line of scrimmage.
“As long as there’s a player on the end of the line of scrimmage and he isn’t covered, they’re eligible [to catch a pass]. At one point, they went doubles on both sides, but on one side both receivers were off the ball, which left their tackle eligible,” Bartell said. “When the tackle ran a route, he was wide open because everyone was looking at the doubles formation look. As long as you’re uncovered by the end player on the line of scrimmage, you can run a route.”
Running back Dorien Cano rushed the ball 15 times in the contest for 140 yards, nearly averaging 10 yards per carry. Bartell highlighted Cano as being a crucial part of the Mountaineers offense, stating “we go as he goes.”
“When you watch him, he doesn’t seem like your typical tailback. He grinds out yards. You could probably give him 30 carries because he loves running the football,” Bartell said. “He’s a tough, powerful runner and doesn’t go down easy. When he finds space, he keeps his legs moving and churning. We go as he goes.”
With Alegarbes out of the contest due to an injury he received against Onalaska, Bartell said that Kaden Goodman has emerged as another ball carrier for the Mountaineers during Alegarbes’ absence. He was also proud of Hunter Howell, who typically lines up as a wide receiver, for stepping up at quarterback.
“To go on the road in a situation we haven’t seen a whole lot before, especially without some of our key guys, it was a big win for us, especially to improve in league play to 2-1,” Bartell said. “It’s not about the losses you take, but it’s about how you respond. That’s what I told the team after the game against Ony, and this was a great response from us.”
Up next, the Rainier will host Toledo in a contest with potential playoff implications in the C2BL. Bartell highlighted Toledo’s modernized wing-T offense, which sees more frequent pass plays than a typical wing-T offense would feature.
“I expect it to be a fight. They’re right up there with Ony and Napavine and Adna as some of the top teams in 2B football. We always seem to have some really good games against them, 21-14, 30-20, games like that,” Bartell said. “It’s been a really cool tweak for them and the Wing-T offense. I expect us to be able to compete in that game quite a bit. For us, this would be a huge win at home. Our guys are fired up.”
The contest against Toledo will kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, in Rainier.
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