SAMMAMISH — Titles never come easy.
The No. 2 ranked Eastside Catholic High School football team fought off No. 9 Rainier Beach to secure a Metro League Mountain Division title on Friday night with a 41-21 victory on a cold and wet night at Acosta Field, thanks to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and some impressive performances from its senior running backs, Masen Uribe and Richie Fotualii-Aliifua.
Uribe broke off an 84-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and finished with 21 carries for 219 yards, while Fotualii-Aliifua had 10 carries for 66 yards and three touchdowns.
With the win, the Crusaders finished the regular season with a perfect 8-0 record (7-0 division).
The game, played in sloppy conditions, started in the sloppiest of fashions, as the teams combined for 12 penalties in the first half, including seven in the first six minutes.
The Crusaders finally broke the scoreless tie with an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brady McKelheer to freshman wide receiver Asa Turner at the 2:17 mark in the first, and scored again on their next drive when Uribe’s 84-yard score put Eastside Catholic up by 14 points.
Scottre Humphrey put Rainier Beach on the board with a 24-yard touchdown run with 4:35 to go in the first half, but Eastside Catholic answered with a score of its own three minutes later, as Fotualii-Aliifua took the ball in for a 2-yard Crusaders rushing touchdowns.
Eastside Catholic tried to close out the first half with a 41-yard field goal, but Rainier Beach senior Tywan Hillis blocked the kick and Oregon-bound Vikings’ senior Caleb Presley returned it 71 yards for a touchdown.
Instead of a 17-point lead headed into the half, the Crusaders lead had been cut to just eight points at 21-13. But Eastside Catholic got its revenge on the first drive of the second half by blocking a Rainier Beach punt, which junior David Lene fell on in the end zone for a touchdown.
The defensive scores continued later in the third quarter, when Humphrey picked off a pass from McKelheer, and ran it back 50 yards for a pick-six, which pulled the Vikings back within six points. Rainier Beach stopped another Crusaders drive at the 1-yard line on the first drive of the fourth quarter, when Marcell Burns recovered a fumble when Fotualii-Aliifua coughed it up on his way into the end zone.
But that drive ended in a punt, and Fotualii-Aliifua redeemed himself with a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:39 to, putting Eastside Catholic ahead 35-21. He scored his final touchdown of the night with 3:40 to go, taking it in from the 2-yard line to put the Crusaders up by the victorious margin.
Humphrey finished the day with 13 carries for 88 yards, as Rainier Beach finished the regular season with a 6-2 record.