It was the final preseason football game for the Puyallup Nation Kings and they pummeled and pounded their opponent like it was a playoff game. The visiting Roseburg Rampage found themselves undermanned and overmatched as they were blistered by the Kings 58-0 Saturday night, May 3, at Chief Leschi Stadium.
Roseburg was going to be in trouble all night as they only suited up 20 players, compared with Puyallup’s impressive total of 49 dressed in green and black.
The rain was coming down in sheets and torrents for much of the game and lent itself to being a much more run-oriented match-up due to the soaked environs. However, the Kings made their way up and down the field on the ground and when they saw the opportunity, through the air as well.
Puyallup came out throwing on their first possession and stalled after missing on a couple of deep passes by quarterback Justin Southern. After a 58-yard punt by Ryan Burks, the defense then showed Roseburg the true teeth of the Kings.
The first Rampage run up the middle was stuffed by a gang of Kings tacklers for a one-yard loss and defensive tackle Ty Satiacum tallied the first of his game-high three sacks on the next play for a loss of three.
Roseburg quarterback Cody Monahan was already feeling the pressure and fumbled the next snap on third-down, recovering the ball at the two-yard line. Puyallup’s Chris McCutchin fumbled the ensuing punt at the 30-yard line, but teammate Reggie Woods scooped up the ball and worked his way down to the 12-yard line.
A holding penalty backed-up Puyallup to the 23-yard line and the Kings took to the air. At the 7:13 mark in the first quarter Southern hit Ejai Curran up the middle and the speedy receiver spun past two defenders for the Kings' first touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
On the next Roseburg possession, the Rampage gained a first-down on a 10-yard scamper by Monahan. The Kings defense followed-up by stuffing three straight runs for no-gain. On fourth-and-ten the defensive push into the backfield was so quick that the punter was swallowed-up for an 18-yard loss.
Three plays later, Isiah Syph took a handoff and rolled over left-tackle for one-yard into the end-zone and Puyallup’s second touchdown. Ryans’ point-after kick was wide-left and the Kings led 12-0 with 45.3 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The wet ball and nasty rain would play havoc on Ryan’s point-after attempts all game as he finished four-of-eight.
Puyallup would strike again following a fumble recovery at the Roseburg 13-yard line. After a first-down incompletion, Jamell Brady pounded the ball into the middle of the Rampage line, breaking several tackles on his way to the Kings' third touchdown.
It was only 20-0, but everyone knew the rout was on.
Defensive end Darius Dennis snuffed the next Roseburg possession with a three-yard sack. Puyallup would then put together an eight-play, 69-yard drive, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by McCutchin to go up 26-0 with 6:23 to play in the second quarter.
“We’re deep in our backfield,” said Puyallup head coach Aaron Rambo. “We can just basically throw anybody back there in the slot and we go. It’s unbelievable how many guys we can throw in and be effective. I’m excited to have six or seven great backs on our team.”
With 51.8 seconds remaining, the Kings would strike again when Southern took a snap from the Roseburg 22-yard line and found receiver Kevin Barnett open at the 11-yard line. Barnett twisted-off a defender back to the center of the field and beat the remaining Roseburg defenders to the end-zone. Puyallup would go into halftime leading 33-0.
“The passing game was a little bit slow to start off, but we started picking up a little bit as the game wore on,” said Southern, a former signal-caller at Federal Way High School. “We should all be used to the weather playing up here. It’s still the game of football - playing in the rain or the sun or whatever.”
The second half began much like the first as the Kings defenders continued to chase and pound Roseburg’s backfield into submission. Lucky for the Rampage, the entire second half would be played with a rolling-clock, due to the sizeable point differential.
McCutchin would find the end-zone again at the 10-minute mark of the third on a 28-yard scamper up the gut and through a bevy of Roseburg defenders. Once he found a little running room, the swift-footed back bolted past the goal-line and a 39-0 Kings advantage.
“It just comes naturally I guess,” said McCutchin, a native of Valdosta, Georgia and currently a Specialist in the Army at Ft. Lewis. “I just go to toward the hole, I see it open up and I just hit it. The O-line made it look easy for me.”
Following another Roseburg turnover, Donald McKee burst through the middle of the line for a 13-yard touchdown and the Kings led 45-0 with 4:45 remaining in the third quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, McCutchin fielded a punt and ran it back 23 yards to the Roseburg 26-yard line. Five plays later Isiah Syph would score his second touchdown of the night and Puyallup would go up 52-0 on a five-yard run up the middle with 9:30 remaining in the ballgame.
As time expired, Southern would get into the act scrambling to his left for a 3-yard touchdown and onslaught was over 58-0.
The Puyallup defense held Roseburg to minus-37 yards of total offense. The only time Roseburg made it past the 50-yard line was following a Kings personal foul penalty. The Kings defense subsequently pushed them back to their side of the field and forced Roseburg to punt yet again.
Puyallup racked-up 194 yards rushing on 23 carries while Southern finished the day 5-for-12 and 96 yards passing.
“There’s a lot more things that we’ve got to work on,” said coach Rambo. "As far as execution and knowing what our assignments are. We have personnel groups on our team, so guys need to know what groups they’re on. It can get a little confusing out there sometimes."
“It’s the little things that we’ve got to do. We have some mental mistakes that we’re still making. We’re still kind of in our gelling stage right now.”
Several hundred fans braved the nasty weather and enjoyed a feast of Kings touchdowns, as well as cleaning out the concession tent of quantities of delicious fry bread, stew and hot dogs.
The Puyallup Nation Kings open the Western Washington Football Alliance regular season May 17 at Chief Leschi Stadium at 6 p.m. against the Washington Cavaliers, last season’s WWFA champion.