The offense couldn’t get going and the defense couldn’t get off the field.
Making its first playoff appearance on Saturday night since 2003, the Kentlake High football team found itself as the deer caught in the headlights.
Quarterback Isaac Dotson rushed for 106 yards and four touchdowns as unranked Newport ripped the Falcons 52-6 in a Class 4A state preliminary game at French Field.
“I think we were caught a little off guard,” admitted first-year Kentlake coach Chris Paulson. “Things didn’t go well for us early on, we had some turnovers, some dropped balls and it just kind of snowballed. I think (the game) was a little faster than we expected.”
Speed certainly proved to be the name of the game for the Knights (6-4). Newport rolled to a 21-0 first-quarter lead in the blink of an eye and never looked back in handing the Falcons their worst loss of the season. Kentlake fumbled eight times in the loss, losing two of those, both of which led to Newport touchdowns.
“We were shocked. We couldn’t get anything going,” said Kentlake running back Stephon Vaifale, who rushed seven times for 35 yards.
Newport ultimately didn’t give the Falcons a chance to get anything going offensively in the opening quarter. The Knights, thanks to a pair of masterful squibbed kicks that helped them retain possession, held the ball for more than 10 minutes of the first quarter. The special-teams performance helped Newport open a 21-0 lead through the first 12 minutes, an advantage that grew to 28-0 six seconds into the second quarter on a 26-yard touchdown run by James Dupar.
“We play in the toughest division there is in the state in the KingCo,” Dotson said. “People looked at our record and think we’re just an average team, but we are far more than that.”
As much was evident Saturday night, particularly in the decisive first quarter, when the Knights rolled up 143 yards on 21 plays compared to 14 yards on five plays for the Falcons.
Newport didn’t give Kentlake a chance to get back in the game, using its squib kicks to keep the normally high-powered Falcon offense off the field.
“We weren’t really ready for the squib kicks,” Vaifale admitted. “Coach told us to adjust, and we failed on that. That was just another thing that killed us.”
Turnovers also proved costly.
Newport pushed its lead to 35-0 with 10:00 remaining in the half on a 20-yard fumble returned for a touchdown by Kevin Martin. Dotson added a 64-yard touchdown run minutes later, giving Newport a 42-0 lead with 6:18 left in the half.
Kentlake finally answered, going 58 yards on 9 plays as quarterback Caleb Saulo found the end zone on a 5-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 42-6 with 3:07 left in the half. Newport tacked on a 27-yard field goal to close the half, then Dotson added a 3-yard touchdown run on the Knights’ first possession of the third quarter that pushed the score to 52-6 and kicked in the running clock for the remainder of the game.
“They did what we expected them to do … they just did it at a little bit higher level than we thought they would,” Paulson said.
Despite the loss, the Falcons made some big strides over the course of the season, cracking the state rankings after a 5-0 start and advancing to the postseason for the first time since 2003.
“Our kids had a great year. I hate to see them like this,” Paulson said. “(But) I think it’s definitely something we can build off of.”
Newport finished with 369 yards of total offense, 327 on the ground on 43 carries. Kentlake finished with 186 yards of offense, 75 on the ground on 31 carries and 111 through the air.
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