By RayJaun Stelly, The Seattle Medium
The last two undefeated teams in the Metro League’s Mountain Division put their records on the line against one another as Eastside Catholic (5-0) and Garfield (5-0) took to the field to battle for sole possession of first place Friday night at Memorial Stadium. The Bulldogs, who were celebrating senior night, were coming off their fourth straight 40-plus point win of the season last week against Ballard. In keeping their opponents to 20 points or less, Garfield would face their toughest opponent of the season in an Eastside Catholic team that was coming off a win against O’Dea last week.
Getting off to their best start under Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon, Garfield looked to get their first win over the Crusaders since the 2017-18 season. After losing 16-14 to the Crusaders last season due to a controversial holding call, this was the Bulldogs opportunity for revenge after a year-long wait.
Garfield’s high-powered offense has scored on their first possession in every game this season and looked to do the same against Eastside Catholic, but the Crusaders’ defense put those plans to an end. Although their possession lasted four minutes, Garfield was unable to gain any traction down field. The drive was deemed a three-and-out as it concluded with a sack by Eastside Catholic, forcing Garfield to punt.
The Crusaders would take over possession only to see their drive last less than a minute. On their second play from scrimmage, quarterback Brady Mckelheer’s pass was intercepted by Garfield defensive back Henry Smidt near the 20-yard line before falling out of bounds. Now with momentum, the Bulldogs began finding their rhythm offensively as they drove downfield to put themselves in scoring position.
With Garfield facing a third and goal from the five-yard line, Bulldogs’ quarterback EJ Caminong would scramble out of the pocket and score a touchdown to give his team a 7-0 lead after a successful PAT attempt. Scoring the game’s first touchdown, Garfield’s defense immediately responded with a sack and followed by defensive pressure that would force quarterback Mckelheer to run out of bounds for a quick three-and-out.
With momentum appearing to be on the side of Garfield, Eastside Catholic’s defense returned the favor by blocking a Bulldog punt near the 20-yard line that gave them field position inside the Garfield five-yard line, and one play later Crusaders’ running back Masen Uribe scored to tie the game at 7.
Both defenses would take over the second quarter, as the offenses became stagnant due to the pressure upfront which forced sacks and allowed minimal yards by both teams. Both teams were able to score field goals during the quarter, as they went into halftime tied at 10.
With both teams accustomed to having a commanding double-digit halftime lead throughout this season, fans from both sides were left to wonder which team would separate themselves from the other first. After receiving the second half kickoff, Eastside Catholic would respond in a big way.
Mckelheer would find receivers Jayden Reyes and Branden Ganashamoorthy for a 30 and 35-yard touchdowns, respectively, while kicker Cade Boehl made his second field goal of the night, and just like that Eastside Catholic scored 20 unanswered points in the third quarter, which were more points than Garfield had allowed an opponent to score in a game this season, let alone a single quarter. Defensively, Eastside Catholic held the Bulldogs scoreless in the final 24 minutes of the games, and as time expired Garfield had suffered their first loss of the season.
Losing 30-10, the Bulldogs, now 5-1, will have an opportunity to regroup next week as they face their cross-town rival, the Rainier Beach Vikings. Eastside Catholic will look to keep their undefeated streak going when they face Seattle Prep on their home field.
