LYLE, WASH.–After dishing out the licks for six games, the Pomeroy Pirates came up short with no answer to the Montoya and Montoya package of the 8-2 Lyle/Wishram Cougars last Thursday, November 7, as the hosts cruised to a lop-sided win, 64-14.

Lyle/Wishram, as the Southeast B-8 champions, receives an automatic seed into the playoffs, and will host Tekoa-Rosalia Friday, November 15 in Lyle. During the season, L/W beat T-R 64-36.

Efficiency was the name of Lyle/Wishram’s game versus the Pirates. Both teams rushed for 205 yards, and passing was comparable, with Brandon Bales passing for 206 and L/W’s Cruz Montoya throwing for 223 yards.

The Cougars spent most of the time on defense as the Pirates possessed the ball 34 minutes to L/W’s 13:23, and the Pirates notched 17 first downs to the Cougars’ 10.

But when Lyle/Wishram did have the ball, the one-two punch of Cruz and Brandon Montoya was virtually unstoppable. The Pirate defense held back to Cougar offensive attack until there was about five minutes left in the first half. Trent Gwinn counted eight solo tackles, Byron Stallcop notched five and both Colton Slaybaugh and Noah Lamb garnered three.

The Cougars scored quickly on a 45-yard pass from Cruz Montoya to Robbie Dorr to take an 8-0 lead two minutes into the game. They scored again on a 95-yard Brandon Montoya run with 1:38 on the clock to hold a 16-0 lead in the first quarter.

Pomeroy responded midway through the second period with Bales finding his favorite receiver Gwinn for a 52-yard scoring strike and a 16-6 score.

But that was all she wrote for the Pirates in the half as the Pirates’ defensive dam broke and L/W tallied up three more touchdowns. Cruz Montoya delivered to Dorr for a 23-yard score, then Cougar Chris McPherson picked a Bales pass intended for Devon Knuteson and returned it for a touchdown with about two minutes to play in the half.

L/W added another six with just 19 seconds to go in the half as Cruz Montoya threw to Brandon Montoya for a 67-yard score, and 36-6 lead at the half.

In the third, the Cougars put the game into mercy-clock mode with the Montoya’s connecting for a 69-yard score on their first possession of the third quarter.

Brandon Montoya evaded Pirate tacklers on a 20-yard scoring ramble with eight minutes on the clock and a 50-6 lead.

Pirate Trent Gwinn cut loose, finding daylight on a 52-yard touchdown run, and Bales added the extra point to give Pomeroy 14 points.

Unfortunately, Danner Maves’s ensuing kick was returned for a touchdown at the three-minute mark in the third. Brandon Montoya outpaced Pirate defenders with a 77-yard score that finished the game with 3:30 to play in the fourth quarter.

Pom 0 6 8 0-14

LW 16 20 22 6-64

LW-Dorr 45 yd pass from C. Montoya. B. Montoya run

LW-B. Montoya 95 yd run. B. Montoya run

Pom-Gwinn 52 yd pass from Bales. Run fail

LW-Dorr 23 yd pass from C. Montoya. Run good.

LW-McPherson interception runback. Run fail

LW-B. Montoya 67 yd pass from C. Montoya. Pass fail

LW-B. Montoya 69 yd pass from C. Montoya. Pass good

LW-B. Montoya 20 yd run. Pass fail

Pom-Gwinn 52 yd run. Bales run

LW-#22 53 yd kick off return. B. Montoya run

LW-B. Montoya 77 yd run. Run fail.

Pom LW

First downs 17 10

Penalties 3-25 1-10

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Punts 2-25 2-29.5

Total Offense

411 428

Passing

8-16-206 6-10-223

Rushing

45-205 14-205

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Pom-Bales 20-90, Gwinn 9-88; Knuteson 15-22; Lamb 1-5. LW-B Montoya 9-196; #22-4-15; Dorr 1-(-6).

Receiving: Pom-Gwinn 4-96, 1 TD; C. Slaybaugh 2-66; B. White 1-25; D. Maves 1-19. LW-B. Montoya 2-136, 2 TD; R. Dorr 2-68, 2 TD; C. Montoya 1-10; W. Jones 1-9.

Passing: Pom-Bales 8-15-206 yds, 1TD, 2 Int .; LW-C. Montoya 5-9-213 yds, 4 TD.