STEVENSVILLE —The Corvallis Blue Devils football team won on both sides of the ball Friday night beating the Stevensville Yellowjackets 37-8 to spoil the Yellowjackets' homecoming night.
But it started with strong defense from both teams. Corvallis recovered a fumble early in the first quarter in Yellowjackets' territory, but was was unable to score after failing to convert on fourth down after Stevensville Brogan Gard broke up the play.
Then late in the first quarter, Corvallis player Hawika Carlos blocked a punt late in the first quarter deep in the Yellowjackets' territory to set up a touchdown from running back Will Bohenek to get on the scoreboard first.
"I think that our boys came out. We always have an emphasis of trying to establish the run game and set up our other action," said Blue Devils head coach Josh McCrossin.
"Our young sophomore quarterback is hitting his stride with diagnosing the defense and getting the ball where it needs to be. I think we did a great job getting the ball on the perimeter in the passing game and also with running the ball too," said McCrossin.
After that first score, the Blue Devils started to roll. Quarterback Aydan Mayn hit Dillen Potter for a touchdown in the second quarter and followed that with two more touchdowns from Logan Avery and Gideon Boswell.
Right before halftime, Levi Reynoso intercepted a Stevensville pass at midfield with 57.8 seconds left. But Corvallis promptly turned it back over when Stevensville's Gracen Trevino returned the favor with an interception of his own with 47.6 seconds left on the clock before halftime. Corvallis then forced a safety in the Yellowjackets' end zone to close the half at 30-0.
To start the third quarter, Yellowjackets running back Kellan Beller broke off a huge 59 yard run to the Blue Devils eight yard line but they could not convert going four-and-out.
However, they maintained their defensive intensity and blocked a Blue Devils punt in their territory to set up the Yellowjackets' first touchdown of the game. Hunter Gum caught a two-point conversion shovel pass on a trick play to make the deficit 30-8 with 4:08 left in the third quarter.
At the end of the third quarter, the Blue Devils scored the final points on a pass play to Bennet Boelman to go up to 37-8.
"Offensively, I'm very proud of those guys playing a very balanced game the way we like to, but on defense, just hard-nosed football, we brought pressure. That's kind of our identity. I feel it's bringing a lot of that pressure with solid coverage behind it and being able to get home in those sacks and TFLs today was really good for those guys," said McCrossin.