On a long night loaded with penalties on both teams, the Timberline football team rode another huge night from running back King Pridgen and four forced turnovers by its short-handed defense to beat Prairie 32-14 in Battle Ground Friday night.
A combined 25 penalties were assessed, including 14 on Timberline, for a combined 158 yards. Four Blazers touchdowns were wiped off the scoreboard due to penalties. But that wasn’t the only eye-popping stat of the night.
Pridgen rushed for 177 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries, and he scored the Blazers’ first touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run in the second quarter.
Quarterback Cam Vongdara extended Timberline’s lead in the second quarter with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Keaton Thomas, and Prairie responded with a touchdown in the final second of the first half to cut the deficit to 13-7.
Vongdara tossed his second touchdown of the evening in the third quarter on a 4-yarder to Dalton Abbott, and Pridgen made it 25-7 with his second rushing score.
After Prairie found the end zone late in the third, Pridgen scored for the third time in the fourth quarter.
“In the end, we just overwhelmed them,” Timberline head coach James Jones said. “The offense right now, we’re just lining up and running right at people. King Pridgen is really hard to bring down.”
Timberline’s defense, playing without starting lineman Ansu Sonko and linebacker Caleb Bacon, also lost defensive back King Spearman early in the game, but not before he intercepted a pass for the third straight game. The Blazers picked off three passes and forced one fumble, and they allowed a total of -15 rushing yards by Prairie.
Through three games, Timberline’s defense has forced 13 turnovers.
“We still really haven’t scratched the surface of how good we can be. We keep striving, and eventually we’re gonna get there,” Jones said.
Timberline (3-0) is gearing up for its Puget Sound League opener at home against Peninsula Friday, Sept. 25.
