Lightning struck twice early on Friday night at Neudorf Memorial Stadium.
Before homecoming fans barely got comfortable in their seats, the Foster Bulldogs had them standing after scoring touchdowns on two big plays early in the first quarter.
Fleet-footed and elusive Cedric Cooper scored on an electrifying 82-yard punt return on one play and linebacker Chris Collins alertly picked the ball up after a blocked punt and ran 14 yards for a touchdown on the other, setting the tone for a 49-14 Foster win over Evergreen in a Seamount League game.
"Our team was hustling and blocking well for each other," said Cooper, who also scored on a another punt return, this one for 69 yards in the second quarter. "We held our blocks well before I caught the ball and I just did what I could do when my team blocked for me. Everyone can block on this team."
"Cooper was something else tonight and the line blocked hard for him," said Evergreen coach Mark Becker. "We were kind of shocked. We knew Foster was good coming in, but they were better than we thought."
Foster (2-4 overall, 1-2 in league) jumped to an insurmountable 37-0 lead after two quarters. Senior quarterback Marquis Jackson ran for 13 yards and threw a 15-yard pass to Gabe Gutierrez to account for other two scores in that lethal first half.
On his running touchdown, Jackson first dropped back in the pocket and then took off running on a draw, cutting back twice to get to the right edge and score. On his TD pass, Jackson rolled right and jumped in the air, firing an old-style, alley-oop pass into the waiting arms of Gutierrez in the right corner of the end zone.
Cooper, a shifty, particularly effective cutback runner, also scored on a 9-yard run in the first half. He rushed for 161 yards on 13 carries. He had 341 all-purpose yards in the game.
"Score-wise, it was our best game of the season of course," Cooper said. "We cut down on all the extra coverages and just went back to the basics and played better. Our O-line did a great job, our coaches did a good job scouting and we pulled through and became a team tonight."
For Becker, Evergreen's second-year coach, it's back to the drawing board for his team. Becker has taken on the daunting task of rebuilding the once-proud tradition of the Wolverine program. He started out with 12 players this season and had to forfeit his team's first game. The roster has since risen to 30 players.
"We're getting more and more numbers and we were getting better and better each week," he said. "We see this game as a setback (however). We thought we could hang with these guys better. We'll just have to make it happen next week."
When things are going well for the Evergreen offense, it is eating up clock with its running game, relying on halfback Larry Peneueta's quickness and toughness. Peneueta gained 110 yards in 18 carries in the Wolverine's three sustained drives in the game, two of them leading to second-half scores, one on Manu Tuitoelau's 10-yard run, and the other, a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Isiah Thomas.
Linebackers Tuitoelau and Tino Hola spearheaded Evergreen's defense. Tuitoelau blitzed often, sacking the quarterback once and forcing a fumble and a loss on a third-down play. On that fumble, he timed his rush so perfectly that he was in the backfield right as the ball was snapped.
Hola was in on several tackles for losses.
"They are our captains," Becker said. "They make things go on defense."
Evergreen (0-6, 0-3) faces Renton (3-3, 2-1) Friday in a homecoming game at Highline Stadium at 7 p.m.
Foster takes on Hazen (4-2, 2-2) in important road match-up Thursday at Renton Stadium at 7 p.m.
