Carreto has big night in Yelm’s 3A SSC win over Timberline
It only took a little over two minutes for the Yelm Tornados offense to find the end zone in their home game against the Timberline Blazers on Thursday night.
Receiving the opening kickoff, Yelm had good starting field position at their own 31-yard. They moved the ball well, leaning on the play of junior quarterback Damian Aalona and senior running back William Carreto.
On the fourth play of that drive, Damian hooked up with his brother junior receiver Marius Aalona for the 32-yard touchdown. Despite missing the two-point conversion, the Tornados didn’t have to wait long for their next chance at scoring again.
Recovering a fumble by the Blazers and taking it to the six-yard line, Yelm scored on a Carreto five-yard touchdown. They then converted the two-point conversion to take a 14-0 lead and thus began the dominance of the Tornado running game.
“Our execution was the biggest key for our offense tonight. The running game was working really well,” said coach Jason Ronquillo. “Our offensive line was really good at opening up lanes for Carreto. He has great feet and good top end speed. The Blazers are a team that will try to out-personnel you, but we made sure to read their keys.”
With about three and a half minutes left in the first quarter, Yelm scored their third touchdown of the game. Again, Damian Aalona was able to find a receiver in the endzone. This time it was senior receiver Tre Smith hauling in the 14-yard throw. And they again went for the two-point conversion, this time it was Carreto running it in.
Junior Brayden Platt would score for Yelm and get the two-pointer for the Tornados in the second quarter, but the Blazers tried getting back into the game as well.
Both of the Timberline scores in the second quarter came on touchdown passes from junior quarterback Cedric Ragland to senior receiver Jerrell Larkins. One good for 20 yards and the other for 27. Unfortunately, those would be the only scores the Blazers would have.
The third quarter was another big scoring period for Yelm. Senior running back Ray Wright scored rushing from six yards out, Damien Aalona with a 10-yard pass to senior receiver Kyler Ronquillo, and Carreto with a 81-yard touchdown run as well.
“Carreto and our defense were disciplined enough to make the plays they needed to,” Ronquillo said. “He’s really good at making changes on the fly, and taking coaching between the ears. Also, one of Damian’s best offensive attributes is extending plays with his feet. He escaped pockets and extended plays for us on those drives.”
The last Yelm score was a two-yard run by sophomore Anthony Kiamco, with the two-point conversion failing.
Carreto quite literally carried the Tornados on his back in this game. The senior only carried the ball eight times, but amassed 204 yards and two touchdowns on the night. He even was a monster on defense with 10 tackles, two sacks and a tackle for loss.
That kind of play helped Yelm make the case that they are ready to take the 3A South Sound Conference crown. Although Peninsula currently has an undefeated league record at 4-0 (5-1 overall), the Tornados are now 5-0 in league and 7-0 overall.
Those two teams will settle for the 3A SSC crown next week when Yelm takes on the Seahawks at 7 p.m. Friday, October 21 at Roy Anderson Field.
Y: 22-8-20-6--56
T: 0-14-0-0--14
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 12:12 AM with the headline "Carreto has big night in Yelm’s 3A SSC win over Timberline."
