The Rainier Mountaineers offense is rolling — scoring a combined 102 points in its last two outings, including a 60-56 win against Toutle Lake on Friday, Oct. 18, and its most recent 42-14 victory over Mossyrock on Friday, Oct. 25.
Rainier’s head coach Andy Bartell said the Mountaineers decided to open the pass game up “a little bit more” than the team has in previous outings in the 2024 season. This was due to Mossyrock playing heavy defense inside the box, thus slowing down the team’s rushing attack of Dorien Cano and Jayden Alegarbes.
“Jake Meldrum rose to the occasion, and Hunter Howell and Jordan Pringle had some huge catches for us tonight. It was really awesome,” Bartell said on Friday, Oct. 25. “Part of the talk at halftime was, ‘Hey, how we put away football games is to play sound defense and to be able to run the football.’ We came out and we proved that. We stayed in our wide set and kept them spread out, but then we just handed it off to Dorien Cano and Hunter, and those guys came through for us in a big way.”
Bartell added that Rainier’s offensive line was “huge” in the contest against Mossyrock — noting that senior quarterback Meldrum had a clean pocket to pass from throughout the C2BL contest.
“To be able to come out and switch up and run the ball like that and dominate the line of scrimmage was outstanding,” Bartell said.
The head coach was also pleased with his team’s improved tackling — which he said spans from new calls and installs over the last several weeks. He noted that Rainier defenders were making plays in Mossyrock’s backfield and making aggressive tackles instead of “sitting back, waiting and trying to make stops.”
“It didn’t really pan out in the first half of the Toutle Lake game [on Oct. 18], but then we kind of started putting it together. It kind of started clicking for our guys, and they started playing faster. We were playing on our heels a little bit in the first half of the season. Toutle scored 14 points in the second half, and this whole game [we allowed] 14 points. I feel like it’s coming together for us. We’ve been working on our tackling daily, really trying hard to shore that up because it has been a weakness for us. It was nice to see that come through in this game.”
With the win over Mossyrock, Rainier has locked up the three seed behind Onalaska and Toledo — securing a spot in the postseason. Bartell said however the Mountaineers’ postseason matchup shakes out, the team is “up for the challenge.”
The Mountaineers’ final regular season game of the 2024 season is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31, at home against Rainier [Oregon]. The battle of the Rainiers will also mark the Mountaineers’ senior night celebration.
“The thing about these [seniors] is their competitive edge. Hunter, Jake, Kieler Jackson, all of them have made that senior year jump,” Bartell said. “They’ve battled through a couple injuries. Their competitiveness to want to win football games is above the rest of the guys that I’ve been around. They want to win in the worst way, and they show it in the way they play. They play 100% for you, regardless if they’re banged up or not. Those guys are the heartbeat of our team.
“It’s gonna be a Rainier versus Rainier. It’ll be cool. We’ve never played them before, so we don’t know much about them,” Bartell said. “They’re kind of similar to us. They try to run the football. I also think it’s a game that matches up well for us with our athletes. It’s gonna be exciting.”
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Dylan Reubenking, dylan@yelmonline.com, contributed to the article.