If there’s any good news for the Redmond Mustang football team, it’s that their 4A Kingco schedule doesn’t start until Friday against Eastlake, when the games really count.
Redmond got pounded by a torrential rain as well as the Bothell Cougars, 42-0, at Saturday’s Best of the West Football Classic at Qwest Field.
Bothell, the defending Kingco champions, got another outstanding performance from star running back Patrick Ottorbech, who put his incredible speed on display, nearly returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Lucky for Redmond, it was called back on a penalty, but Ottorbech still torched the Mustangs. The 5-foot-7 senior ran for 179 yards on 11 carries and scored on a 39-yard touchdown reception — all in the first half.
The Mustangs struggled offensively, unable to convert nearly all of their crucial third-down opportunities as they trailed 35-0 at halftime. Redmond had only 40 total yards of offense in the game’s opening 24 minutes, during which starting quarterback David Gilbertson was held to just 24 yards on 3-for-8 passing, including a couple of uncharacteristic dropped balls by Mustang receivers.
“We got overmatched by a very good opponent,” said Mustang coach Mike Pluschke. “We just didn’t play the type of game that we thought we would play. We were a little off, a little out-of-sync … things that would go well, we would follow up with a poor play.”
Pluschke also commended Bothell for good blocking, which paved the way for Ottorbech to do what he does best: carry the ball and weave through defenders. Otterbech’s skills were on full display on the Cougars’ first drive of the second quarter, when he broke three tackles on the way to a 27-yard touchdown run that put Bothell on top 20-0.
Simply put, the blowout loss was credited to Redmond’s inability to halt Bothell’s running game.
“We just never got anything going offensively, and defensively we had the same problem as last week (against Juanita),” lamented Pluschke after the game. “We had trouble stopping the run… the toss play (to Ottorbech) was just a very difficult play for us to stop.
Regardless of the game’s outcome, the coach knows just being able to play the game on the same field as Seattle Seahawks stars like Matt Hasselbeck and Deion Branch represents the thrill of a lifetime for his youngsters.
“It was fun to be able run around on that field for the kids, and every kid got to live out their dream today, being just like a big-time football player,” Pluschke said. “So it was a lot of fun on that side of it, but on the bad side, we’re going home 0-3.”
The players themselves had surprisingly different reactions to playing at Qwest Field.
“It was really fun, a great experience,” said junior running back Cole Hardwick, who hopes to be able to play at Qwest someday as a pro.
“To me, the stage doesn’t really matter,” said linebacker Sean Shewey, who was awarded the Redmond Player of the Game award for an outstanding defensive performance. “I’ve been playing the way I play since I was seven, so it don’t really matter who I’m playing or where I’m playing, I play the way I’m supposed to play and I was taught to.”
Pluschke is still optimistic about the program and the rest of the season, since, in the eyes of most coaches, the slate is wiped clean when league play begins.
“Good news is that we get into league play next week, so right now the records don’t mean anything, throw ‘em out the window,” Pluschke said. “We gotta get better and stay healthy, and go in full-force against Eastlake.”
Tim Watanabe can be reached at twatanabe@reporternewspapers.com or at (425) 867-0353, ext. 5054.
