Cruiser football extends win streak over Orting

The Eatonville Cruiser offensive and defensive lines showed their dominance on Friday night as they set the tone on both sides of the ball and helped lead No. 1-ranked Eatonville to a 35-14 non-league victory over their longtime rivals, the Orting Cardinals, and extend their winning streak against the Cardinals to seven games.

Eatonville coach Gavin Kralik said the line play was the difference in the game.

"The strength of our team is our offense and defensive lines," he said. "They're fantastic workers and just kind of blue-collar kids that represent our community really well."

On offense, that line allowed quarterback Job Kralik to shine in only his second high school start.

Kralik had his hand in each of the Cruisers' five scores on the night.

Through the air, Kralik went 6-of-7 for 123 yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, he ran the ball 10 times for 90 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a 42-yard pass from Ky Nation off of a reverse. Kralik was also a perfect 5-5 on extra-point attempts for the night.

Defensively, senior linebacker Jake Wood had a field day by picking off Orting's Mason McCall twice on the night. The defensive line gave McCall problems all night.

On the opening possession of the game, Kralik found an open Aiden Eichost from 27 yards out for the score to give the Cruisers a 7-0 lead that they never relinquished.

Following Wood's first interception of the night on the Cardinals' first possession, the Cruisers marched 62 yards down field and capped the drive with a little trickery.

Kralik handed off to Walker Bruun who went in motion pre-snap. Bruun then pitched to Nation who was coming from the opposite side of the field. Nation then passed to a wide-open Kralik for a 42-yard reception down to the 6-yard line. On the next play, Kralik walked in untouched for the score to put the Cruisers up 14-0.

After the Cruiser defense forced a Cardinal punt, Kralik found Nation on the first play from scrimmage for a 43-yard score that saw Nation out-jump the Orting defender to haul in the pass and drag him into the end zone to put the Cruisers up 21-0.

On the very next Cardinal possession, Wood picked off McCall again for his second interception of the night.

Late in the third quarter, the Cardinals chipped away at the Cruiser lead when they found the end zone to make the score 21-7.

The Cruisers quickly answered back by marching 70 yards, capped by a 1-yard Kralik keeper to increase the Cruiser lead back to 21 points at 28-7.

The Cardinals responded by stringing together a 65-yard scoring drive and cutting back into the Eatonville lead at 28-14.

The Cruisers finished up the scoring on the night in a big way.

Facing a fourth and 12, Kralik kept the ball and wove his way through Cardinal traffic on the way to a 42-yard score to make it 35-14, the final score of the game.

The Cruisers amassed 533 total yards on the night, led by Kralik's 259 total yards.

Next up for the Cruisers is a rare Thursday night home game at B.W. Lyon Stadium in Eatonville where they will host the 2-0 Cascade Christian Cougars out of the 1A Nisqually League. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

SPORTS SHORTS

Girls soccer

Defeated Rochester 4-0. K. Noble (2 goals), H. Kralik (1 goal), N. King (1 goal), T. Amaral (Shutout in goal)

Lost to Emerald Ridge 2-0

Volleyball

Lost to Rochester 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20)

Lost to Morton-White Pass 3-0 (25-11, 25-8, 25-12)

Lost to Cascade Christian 3-0 (25-0, 25-8, 25-11)

Boys tennis

Lost to Vashon 5-0