The numbers add up big for Tualatin

The Wolves move to 2-0 in league play with a 51-27 win at Forest Grove

By Dan Brood

The Times, Oct 15, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

RUNNING MAN – Tualatin junior Sean Acosta rushed for 109 yards and he scored a pair of touchdowns in the Wolves' 51-27 win at Forest Grove.

DAN BROOD / The Times

FOREST GROVE — Sometimes, the numbers just don’t lie.

They certainly seemed to tell the true story of Tualatin’s first half domination in its Pacific Conference football with Forest Grove.

The Timberwolves had more first-half points, 45, than the Vikings had yards of offense, 35, in the opening two quarters of the league contest. Tualatin went on to turn its 45-0 halftime lead into a 51-27 victory in the game played Thursday at Forest Grove High School.

“We wanted to prove that last week wasn’t a fluke,” Tualatin senior running John Grill said, referring to the Wolves’ league-opening 27-0 win over McMinnville. “We’re here, and we’re ready to contend for the league title.”

Forest Grove fell to 0-2 in Pacific Conference play and to 3-4 on the season with the setback. Tualatin, which lost its first three games of the season, upped its overall record to 3-3 while improving to 2-0 in league games.

“We’ve got a solid corps going,” said Tualatin senior quarterback Levi Levasa, who tossed a pair of first-half touchdown passes in the win. “It’s a process and you have to learn from it. We’re really coming together as a team.”

Tualatin, operating behind its powerful offensive line that includes center Jordan Maze, guards Jered Richter and Jordan Ellisen and tackles Taylor Hart and Grey Carkner, wasted little time in marching down the field the first time it got the ball.

Grill ran for 12 yards and senior fullback fullback Alek Poti had a 19-yard run to set up Grill’s 6-yard touchdown blast that gave Tualatin a 7-0 lead with 8 minutes and 15 seconds left in the first quarter.

On the Wolves’ very next offensive play, Levasa connected with a wide-open Phil Pauly for a 64-yard touchdown pass play.

The Tualatin defense then got into the act as junior cornerback Christian Pierson scooped up a Viking fumble and ran untouched 26 yards for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 21-0 with 4:57 still left to play in the opening quarter.

After Forest Grove fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, with Tualatin junior Nick Morelli recovering the loose ball, Levasa threw an 8-yard touchdown strike to junior receiver Scott Zobrist, giving the Wolves a 28-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

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