Asotin completes 19-point comeback to advance in 2B state playoffs

ASOTIN — The Asotin Panthers may have trailed by 19 points in the third quarter, but that did not mean they were going to stop running the football.

Senior running back Peter Eggleston rushed for three touchdowns, quarterback Cody Ells made several big throws and the No. 2-seed Panthers scored 22 unanswered points to overcome a 19-point third-quarter deficit and beat 15th-seeded Cle Elum 29-26 on Saturday in Asotin.

“It’s just what they’ve done all year,” Asotin coach Jim Holman said of running the football. “We’re gonna win or lose games with those guys and if we were going to be unsuccessful in this one, it was gonna be with those guys carrying the ball.”

The Panthers (10-0) leaned on several big throws from Ells to put them in a position to win, particularly a deep heave to wide receiver Wyatt Caldwell to set Asotin up at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.

“I have full trust in Wyatt,” Ells said. “I saw him get that little bit of separation and I just reared back and threw it as far as I could and he is a great athlete, great player and I trust him to come down with that and he did.”

Eggleston punched it in several plays later to make it a one-score game.

“Tough people win,” Eggleston said. “When we were down nobody gave up and that’s just something that’s changed a lot. We don’t give up. We’re a bunch of tough guys and we don’t want to lose.”

Eggleston said he felt as if he and his teammates overlooked a 15th-seeded Cle Elum Warriors squad and struggled to respond in the first half when Cle Elum (7-4) rattled off 26 straight points.

Holman said that Colt Kelley and Eggleston made significant plays on defense and defensive lineman AJ Olerich batted two balls right in front of the line of scrimmage.

“We just battled, and that’s what these guys do,” Holman said. “We just kept battling. It’s kinda been our mantra all year. Even though we only have 19 guys, if we can wear a team down, eventually we’re gonna pop and we did.

“Three huge drives, huge stops definitely; super proud of the effort and (resilience) we showed tonight.”

Asotin advanced to the second round of the Washington 2B playoffs. The Panthers will face 10th-seeded La Salle (10-1) at a time and place yet to be announced.

“We’ve struggled throwing the ball all season so I didn’t know if we were built to come back from down 19,” Holman said. “So now it’s just on our guys to come out and play.”

Cle Elum 7 7 12 0 — 26

Asotin 7 0 7 15 — 29

FIRST QUARTER

Asotin — Peter Eggleston run (kick)

Cle Elum — unknown

SECOND QUARTER

Cle Elum — Trey Tolen-Chavez pass from Quinn Carlson (kick)

THIRD QUARTER

Cle Elum — Josiah Beiter pass from Carlson (missed kick)

Cle Elum — DeVonne Casleberry run (missed kick)

Asotin — Eggleston run (kick)

FOURTH QUARTER

Asotin — Eggleston run (kick)

Asotin — Ells run (Eggleston pass from Ells)