Sports
Football Preview: Renton Indians vs Bremerton Knights
Indians looking for key win to earn first playoff appearance since 1998.
Who - Renton Indians (4-5) vs Bremerton Knights (8-1)
What - 2A Sub-District playoffs (winner advances to the 2A WIAA Football Championship First Round)
When - Friday, November 2, 7 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Rentonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Where - Silverdale Stadium
Radio/Webcast - No radio or webcast
Find out what's happening in Rentonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Twitter - Post updates to the Renton Patch Twitter
Last state appearance - Renton hasn't seen the 2A playoffs since switching from 3A where they lost to Capital in 1998 in quarterfinals. Bremerton has not been in the playoffs since 1993 losing to Newport 42-6. This is Bremerton's first year in 2A.
Head Coach Donald Ponds says his team can beat Bremerton.
"They are just like any other team, but we will have to do it in all phases of the game," he said.
"On the defensive side of the ball, we have to make tackles, that has been our crutch all year. They are a big play offense and thrive on those big plays. We have to create negative plays and play solid up front, meaning we have to tackle on first contact. We have to rally to the football and tackle," Ponds said.
"Their quaterback, Mikey Lawrence is a dynamic player, he scores more than 65% of their touchdowns," Ponds said.
Currently Lawrence has passed for 1,199 yards with 14 touchdowns. Running back Andrew Shadle is the other scoring threat, with three touchdowns last week. He has 864 yards rushing on 131 carries and 10 touchdowns. Shadle also plays defense with 42 total tackles and 2 sacks. Lucas Anderson leads the team in total tackles 52 and 6.5 sacks.
"Offensively, we can’t worry about making big plays. We have to be consistent and sustain drives and we can’t get down on ourselves if we have to punt…just as in the game against Hazen, we got down on ourselves and it effected our offense," said Ponds.
"We need to score 35 points to win, I don’t care how we get the points, but we will need to score some points on the offensive side of the ball to get confidence," said Ponds.
Ernie Davis leads the Indians with 1,056 total offense through eight games. Quarterback Da'Ssaun Sauls has rushed for nearly 500 yards and led the Seamount League in passing with 51.4% completion throwing over 1100 yards for 6 touchdowns. Look out for Bryon Siu and Ray Casto, the two most overlooked players on the team who can run in traffic.
Kicker Uriel Gonzales has provided extra points for the Indians making 5 of 5 field goals with his longest 46 earlier in the year. Gonzales has also punted over 1,000 yards this season with an average of 35.3 yards per punt. On defense, Indians have Elijah Clayton, Isaiah Mahoney, Patrick Sanders, Kenny Green and Sauls.
"The players are excited to play and ready to continue their season. The motivating factor, is getting to play back at home. The kids are looking forward to erase our loss against Hazen, by showing up and playing at a high level," said Ponds.
Patch Pick - The game could goe one of two ways: If Renton can hold on, Renton 26-24; if Renton gets discouraged, Bremerton 42-17.
ScoreCzar Pick - Bremerton 34-7
Renton's season
W - Olympic 13-0
L - Decatur 21-18
W - Foster 18-8
W - Lakeside 56-28
W - Highline 63-35
L - Lindbergh 38-24
L - Kennedy 42-6
W - Evergreen 30-6
L - Hazen 38-7
Bremerton schedule
W - Foster 42-15
L - Wilson 21-14
W - Sequim 21-6
W - North Mason 58-31
W - North Kitsap 34-27
W - Port Angeles 63-7
W - Kingston 37-8
W - Olympic 46-7
W - Klahowya 56-13
