Eastlake Wolves senior quarterback Ben Howard was in the zone against the Issaquah Eagles on the gridiron.
Howard, who tossed four touchdown passes in the first half, led Eastlake to a 49-7 victory against Issaquah in front of a packed homecoming crowd on Oct. 21 at Eastlake High School in Sammamish. The Wolves improved their overall record to 6-2 with the win while Issaquah dropped to 1-7 with the loss. Howard connected with prolific wide receiver Hank Pladson on three of his touchdown tosses and also hit Parker Lester on a 67-yard touchdown strike on the second offensive play from scrimmage in the first quarter.
Pladson’s 33-yard touchdown catch on a fade route down the right sideline with 11 seconds left in the first half, gave the Wolves a commanding 28-7 lead against the Eagles. The touchdown was improbable as Issaquah left cornerback Anthony Stephens-Kirkman had perfect man-to-man coverage on the play against Pladson. Pladson was able to maneuver around Stephens-Kirkman’s body and come down with the acrobatic catch in the end zone.
“We knew we needed a score. Ben threw it up. It wasn’t his best ball but I just watched it all the way in and made the play,” Pladson said of his third touchdown of the night.
Howard knew it wasn’t a great pass when he let it go.
“As soon as I released it, I thought that is such a bad ball and I just see Hank come up with it. I’m really grateful to have great receivers to throw to. When you are throwing to guys like we have on this team, it is awesome,” Howard said.
Eastlake head coach Don Bartel is 100 percent confident in Howard’s ability and decision making on the field.
“Ben Howard is the best quarterback in our conference. His numbers prove it, the way he conducts himself, what he does with the football and how he takes care of the football means so much to our team,” Bartel said. “We’re a process-based program and Ben is a guy who buys into that. He knows where he wants to go and he knows what he wants to do with it. I love that about him. He’s worked himself into a place where he knows what we’re thinking as a coaching staff. It is fun when that happens because you can just hand him the keys to the car (offense) and let him go.”
In the second half, Daniel Bradley had two rushing touchdowns and Chris Nelson scored on a 6-yard touchdown run. On the defensive side of the ball, cornerback Hunter Klinge had two interceptions and Pladson also had one interception in the first half.
The Wolves are looking forward to their matchup against the KingCo 4A champion Woodinville Falcons at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 at Eastlake High School in Sammamish. The Falcons, who clinched the league title with a victory against Skyline last week, currently possess an undefeated record of 8-0 during the 2016 season thus far.
“They got the No. 1 defense in KingCo but we have the No. 1 offense. I’m pumped. It is going to be a great game,” Pladson said.
Howard concurred with his favorite wide receiver’s sentiment about the showdown against the undefeated Falcons.
“We have been looking forward to this one. Obviously every week you are looking to the next team you play on Friday night, but this one is huge,” Howard said of the upcoming matchup against Woodinville. “This has been in the back of everyone’s minds for a while. We’re really excited.”
The Wolves have lost just two games during the 2016 season thus far. Eastlake suffered a 17-14 loss to Skyline in Week 3 and lost to the Bothell Cougars 21-19 in Week 5.
“Our kids have been upset all year about five total points that separates us from challenging this week for the league championship. For us, we get to test ourselves against the best to see if we can get that chip off our shoulder about those other two losses and prove something to ourselves. We have been waiting for that test,” Bartel said. “Woodinville is so good. It’s going to be such an awesome game. We’re especially excited to have it here in front of our home crowd on senior night with our guys.”
