In the first ever “Rainier Cup” between Rainier High School and the visiting Rainier (Oregon) Columbians, on Thursday, Oct. 31, the Mountaineers prevailed, 44-22.
The Mountaineers also celebrated four seniors prior to the non-league matchup: Jake Meldrum, Hunter Howell, Kieler Jackson and Brayden Walker, and during the contest, each senior was responsible for at least one touchdown.
The Mountaineers jumped out to a quick 22-0 lead before the opposing Columbians even took an offensive snap. In the spirit of Halloween, the Mountaineers dished out a first drive trick for the Columbians and a treat for RHS’s left tackle Jackson, who threw a touchdown pass to Howell.
“This week, we knew it was a non-league [game] coming in. Obviously, we wanted to try to do our best to win the football game,” Mountaineers head coach Andy Bartell said. “We wanted to give those four seniors a lot of fun in their last game here at Rainier. We had messed around with that tackle play because Kieler can throw the ball a little bit for being a big guy. You don’t see too many left tackles do that. We saw an opportunity where we thought we could do it, and we set it up. They executed it all week. We practiced it. It was a lot of fun to let those guys have some fun. Football is about having fun, too, not just playing the game, and I think we did that to the fullest tonight.”
The Mountaineers added to the opening drive trick-play touchdown when Howell booted two successful onside kicks with ensuing touchdown drives. The Columbians offense finally trotted onto the field for the first time with just 3:16 remaining in the first quarter, but trailed 22-0.
Howell, aside from kicking three successful onside kicks throughout the “Rainier Cup,” totaled three touchdowns on the evening behind a passing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and a rushing touchdown — completing the trifecta.
“He’s really been putting a lot of work in on special teams. [Special teams coach] Sean Mahaffey has got them dialed in. Hunter and those guys have bought into him,” Bartell said. “Hunter has done a great job with his leadership and being the leader of those guys out there. You don’t see a guy who starts both ways wanting to go lead special teams like that.”
Bartell was pleased to see his young defense become better at tackling. He said the team has made “huge improvements” from where it started, but because of players’ youth, they are still making mental mistakes.
“We only start the one senior in Hunter on the defensive side of the football, and sometimes Jake [Meldrum] is mixing in at safety, but we’re young there, and so we can have some mental letdowns. But we are miles ahead of where we started the year,” Bartell said. “The thing we’ve got to hammer home this week is that we’re going to go against playoff-caliber running backs, and guys don’t go down on first contact. We’ve got to really rally tackle and be in our run fits and our gap assignments and not get washed two or three gaps down.”
He added that the team has to continue working on assignments to “take it to the next level.” Bartell said the Mountaineers defense has to fight back against pressure and set up for tackles properly to help out as a team.
The Mountaineers will have one more shot in the 2B playoffs as they qualified for the district crossover game and will play the Adna Pirates at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, on the road at Adna High School. 121 Adna School Road, Chehalis. The contest is a district playoff matchup, where the winner will qualify for the WIAA’s 2B State Tournament.
