Cruisers win big for Homecoming

This past Friday night, the No. 2-ranked Eatonville Cruisers welcomed Elma to B.W. Lyon Field as they hosted the Eagles for their annual Homecoming game in which the Cruisers made them sorry for coming with a convincing 51-6 shellacking.

After the Eagles fumbled away the ball on their opening possession, Cruiser Reilly McIlraith recovered the ball at the Cruiser 47-yard line. The Cruisers dealt the first blow on the second play from scrimmage when quarterback Kevin Wulff found a wide-open Job Kralik and hit him in stride for a 50-yard score. Kralik put the extra point through the uprights, and the Cruisers led 7-0 with 8 minutes, 22 seconds left in the first quarter and never looked back.

Eatonville scored again on its next possession when Wulff kepts the ball on a designed draw play and outraced the Eagle defenders to the end zone. After the extra point, the Cruisers extended their lead to 14-0 at the 2:53 mark in the first quarter.

Only 20 seconds into the second quarter, the Cruisers struck again. Wulff found a wide-open Kralik again, this time for a 65-yard score. Kralik's extra point was successful, and the Cruisers led 21-0.

Kralik found the end zone again midway through the second when he took the Wulff handoff off the fly sweep 14 yards for the score to increase Eatonville's lead to 28-0.

Kralik added to the point total again as he would hit a 37-yard field goal as time expired in the half to give Eatonville a 31-0 lead into halftime as the Homecoming court was ready to be announced.

The 2021 homecoming court was:

Seniors — Sophia Henley/Brandon Storm, Rylee Valentine/Waylan Mettler, Berkeley Porter/Jakob Lucht, and Hailey Rath/Kevin Wulff

Juniors — Heather Nash/Kaleb Forysiak and Grace Fuhrman/Job Kralik

Sophomores — Kennedy Noble/Max Henley and Ella Gendreau/Dylan Norman

Freshmen — Alayna Meyer/Justen Koch and Ruby Morgan/Lucas Lavergne

The 2021 Eatonville High School Homecoming king and queen were Brandon Storm and Sophia Henley.

Once the halftime Homecoming festivities were complete, Eatonville wasted no time lighting up the scoreboard. This time, Wulf hit Lucht on a bubble pass, and he raced up the sideline 25 yards for the score to increase the Cruiser lead to 38-0 with 10:19 left in the third.

Freshman Griffin Clevenger got in on the scoring party midway through the third when he took Wulff's handoff 38 yards, breaking four tackles along the way, to find the end zone for his first career varsity touchdown. Eatonville now led 45-0.

In the closing minutes of the third quarter, Elma finally got into the end zone on a 70-yard touchdown run by Jerred Bailey. The ensuing two-point conversion was thwarted, and Eatonville still led 45-6.

Sophomore Dylan Norman finished up scoring for the Cruisers at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Norman took the Wulff handoff and ran through a huge hole opened up by the Cruiser offensive line into the end zone to increase the Cruiser lead. The Cruisers won the game, 51-6.

The Cruisers racked up 683 all-purpose yards on the night, while the defense held the Eagles to only 140 yards.

Kralik had a break-out night for the Cruisers, catching seven passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns while carrying the ball one time for 15 yards and a score. Kralik converted on six of his seven extra-point attempts and also kicked a 37-yard field goal.

Wulff completed 17 of his 24 pass attempts for 362 yards and three touchdowns while running the ball twice for 45 yards and a score.

Norman carried the ball 17 times for 128 yards and a touchdown to become the Cruisers' first 100-plus-yard rusher of the season. Norman also caught one of Wulff's passes for 16 yards.

With the win, the Cruisers improve to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in league play with just two games left in the regular season.

The Cruisers' next game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday when they host the Castle Rock Rockets out of the 1AA Trico league. This will also be Senior Day for all the Cruiser seniors.

Game Stat Leaders

Passing — Kevin Wulff: 17/24 for 362 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, 2 rushes for 45 yards, 1 TD

Rushing — Dylan Norman: 17 carries for 128 yards, 1 TD. 1 reception for 16 yards

Receiving — Job Kralik: 7 receptions for 169 yards, 2 TD, 1 rush for 15 yards, 1 TD

Jakob Lucht: 4 receptions for 96 yards, 1 TD

Defense — Reilly McIlraith: 3 tackles, 1 interception and a fumble recovery