It was a fitting final play to Saturday's Class B-8 state quarterfinal between Inchelium and Touchet at Lampson Stadium.
Inchelium quarterback Jesse Schumacher scrambled in the end zone, only to be swarmed under by three Touchet players for a safety. The two points were icing on the Indians' 36-12 victory.
No. 3 Touchet, which has played in the past two state title games, advanced to the semifinals next Saturday against top-ranked Crescent, a 48-0 winner over Clallam Bay. Indians coach and athletic director Wayne Dickey said the game would be played at Ephrata High.
Touchet's defense dominated the contest. Except for Inchelium's first touchdown, a slant pass to Rich Swan which he broke for 69 yards – and a 92-yard kickoff return by Schumacher, the Hornets gained only 39 yards and four first downs.
Inchelium's running back Galen Desautel, who rushed for 1,426 in the regular season, was held to eight yards on nine carries.
"We're not worried about the run at all," said all-state defensive tackle Beau Gosney, who had 1 1/2 of Touchet's seven sacks. Our line, we've done that all year."
The Hornets (6-4) had two offensive linemen injured in the first half, but coach Duane Gatlin refused to use that as an excuse.
"They just bottled up our offense," Gatlin said. "The injuries disrupted our whole blocking scheme. They just kept coming after us, and we couldn't stop them. We couldn't break our runners out."
Offensively, the Indians (9-1) executed Dickey's plan almost to perfection. He wanted to have good balance of run and pass – they rushed for 151 yards, threw for 234 — and they controlled the ball for 9 1/2 minutes longer than Inchelium.
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