They didn’t post their customary gaudy numbers when they traveled across the Narrows Bridge Thursday, but Bonney Lake’s football squad did manage to beat Peninsula 24-12 in Purdy.
The scene was the unfriendly confines of chilly Roy Anderson Field, but the Panthers swiftly warmed up to the idea of pulverizing Peninsula in this pivotal South Puget Sound League 3A confrontation.
Bonney Lake notched touchdowns in each of the first three quarters to steal the critical road triumph like a thief in the night.
Most of their success came on the ground as the Panthers rolled up 300 rushing yards and 177 passing yards.
Usually it is just the opposite for Bonney Lake, which has bludgeoned the majority of its opponents thus far this season through the air.
During the course of the affair, Bonney Lake featured the clock-burning, ball-control facet of its multiple offensive personalities.
Tyler Babukas ripped off 55-yard and 47-yard chunks of prime Purdy real estate on 17 carries, for an eye-popping average of 11 yards per carry. He finished with 187 yards on the ground.
While none of Babukas’ 17 totes yielded a touchdown, Davion Williams dashed 57 yards to paydirt in the first quarter’s waning moments. After Panther senior kicker Alex Hall tacked on the extra point, Bonney Lake went out front 7-6 and never looked back.
The Panthers’ air-to-ground display materialized in the game’s second and third segments, when Chris Brown and wideout Austin Marshall hooked up on 41-yard and 34-yard scoring strikes.
Brown may have gone to the well once too often as in the early stages of the fourth frame, Alex Weymiller pilfered a Brown offering and bolted 35 yards with the interception return for a touchdown, making the score 21-12.
There was plenty of time for a dramatic Peninsula rally, but Bonney Lake wasn’t looking to sit on its lead.
With eight minutes remaining, Bonney Lake took the ensuing kick-off and trudged methodically down the field to gobble up most of the time left, in order to set up a 35-yard field goal try. Hall’s kick split the uprights as the Panthers doubled up on Peninsula, 24-12, with two minutes left to play.
Foremost on the minds of the Bonney Lake players during those final few ticks of the scoreboard clock were the four previous attempts and failures during the brief history of Bonney Lake High, in which the Panthers had lost to the Seahawks every time.
