Eastlake 49, Kentwood 0: Wolves end Conquerors’ 7-game win streak, season
The Kentwood football team came into Friday’s 4A quad-district playoff game against Eastlake riding a seven-game winning streak.
But the visiting Wolves proved to be a buzz saw.
Eastlake dominated from the opening kickoff, handing the Conquerors a 49-0 defeat to end their winning streak and season.
“I feel good about our kids,” Kentwood head coach Michael Bush said. “Our kids worked hard all year. We just ran into a team that was better than us tonight.”
Senior running back Daniel Bradley helped establish the Wolves running game. Bradley rushed for 60 yards on the opening possession, including an 11-yard touchdown run, as Eastlake took a 7-0 lead.
Bradley started the season as the Wolves top running back, but was sidelined with an ankle injury, allowing junior Chris Nelson an opportunity to get most of the reps until Bradley returned. The two have split carries since, but Nelson missed Friday’s game with an injury.
“Daniel had to show up by himself,” Eastlake head coach Don Bartel said. “He didn’t have to worry about Chris and he didn’t have to look over his shoulder. He knew it was going to be his ball all night, and he did a great job. You saw vintage Daniel Bradley tonight. It was awesome.”
Bradley finished with 171 yards on 20 carries and scored twice.
Eastlake (7-3) added another touchdown late in the first quarter when quarterback Ben Howard connected with fellow senior Cole Brinkman for a 33-yard score to give the Wolves a 14-0 lead.
The score remained the same until the final two minutes of the second quarter, when Eastlake scored twice to take a 28-0 lead.
Kentwood (7-3) opened the season with losses to Woodinville and Bothell, both KingCo schools. The Conquerors won their next seven games to clinch a league championship, but fell to 0-3 against KingCo schools on Friday.
“Every week we’ve improved, but we just didn’t improve enough,” Bush said.
Howard threw two more touchdown passes in the second half as the Wolves pulled away. He finished 18 of 29 passing for 278 yards and three touchdowns.
“He did such a good job tonight of understanding what was there,” Bartel said of Howard. “He made very few mistakes, and we love to see that moving forward.”
Kentwood’s best chance to score came on its final possession, but junior quarterback Justin Seiber had a pass intercepted in the end zone to preserve Eastlake’s shutout.
Eastlake 14 14 14 7 - 49
Kentwood 0 0 0 0 - 0
E – Daniel Bradley 11 run (Taige Thornton kick)
E – Cole Brinkman 33 pass from Ben Howard (Thornton kick)
E – Bradley 1 run (Thornton kick)
E – Hank Pladson 64 pass from Cody Cox (Thornton kick)
E – Brinkman 27 pass from Howard (Thornton kick)
E – Pladson 20 pass from Howard (Thornton kick)
E – Garrett Carney 2 run (Thornton kick)
Rushing – E: D. Bradley 20-171. K: D. Johnson 9-38.
Passing – E: B. Howard 18-29-0-278. K: J. Seiber 6-14-1-79.
Receiving – E: H. Pladson 7-142. K: T. Steele 4-52.
Records – Eastlake 7-3. Kentwood 7-3.
This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 10:49 PM with the headline "Eastlake 49, Kentwood 0: Wolves end Conquerors’ 7-game win streak, season."