The Timberline football team turned the ball over four times and struggled on fourth downs, resulting in a 31-14 home loss to Peninsula Friday night at South Sound Stadium.
It’s the first loss of the season for the Blazers, who started 3-0.
“Right now, we’re just having a hard time getting over our penalties and turnovers. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot, and Peninsula wasn’t going to beat themselves,” Timberline head coach James Jones said.
Timberline’s defense, which was missing a few starters Friday night, got a big lift from CJ Duenas, who returned an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter. But Peninsula’s offense eventually found its groove, and the Seahawks took a 21-7 lead in the second quarter.
Blazers senior running back Cooper Jones made his season debut after a knee injury sidelined him for the first three games, and he plunged into the end zone for a 2-yard score in the second quarter. Peninsula hit a 44-yard field goal to make it a 24-14 score at halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Seahawks delivered the dagger in the fourth with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Talen McDonnell to Landon Schultz.
Timberline rode another exceptional game for junior running back King Pridgen, who exploded for 272 yards on 36 carries. But the Blazers struggled to finish drives, as quarterback Cam Vongdara threw two interceptions and Timberline lost two fumbles.
“You can have as many run plays as you want, but if all you’re doing is hitting straight at folks, at some point, that runs out,” Jones said. “You’ve got to be able to do something else, and we’ve struggled with the something else that isn’t handing the ball off to King Pridgen.”
Caleb Bacon, King Spearman and Maurice Williams were all sidelined for Timberline’s defense, while Wonderful Glenn was banged up during the game.
Aside from getting healthy, Jones wants to see his team take better care of the football and clean up the mental errors that they’ve dealt with throughout the first four games.
“Some of these things that we need to fix were problems against Stadium, against Bonney Lake and against Prairie. Unless you’re gonna be 14-0 or 15-0, you’re gonna have to deal with loss,” Jones said. “Our kids show up, and they work hard. They believe in each other, and we’ll be back on the saddle on Monday getting better.”
Timberline (3-1, 0-1 Puget Sound League) will take on heated rival North Thurston (1-3, 0-1 Puget Sound League) at South Sound Stadium Friday, Oct. 2.
