Things didn’t look good for the Eastlake Wolves football team as they bolted for the locker room at halftime against the Lakes Lancers in their season opener on the gridiron.

The Lancers, who advanced to the Class 3A semifinals in 2015, had a 21-12 lead on their home-turf at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood. Many teams wouldn’t be able to recover from that kind of adversity against a football program of the Lancers stature and magnitude if they experienced those kind of circumstances in the first 24 minutes of action.

The Eastlake Wolves weren’t fazed by the nine-point deficit on the road against the one of the most storied programs in Washington.

The Wolves outscored the Lancers 24-6 in the second half, registering a comeback 36-27 win against Lakes in Lakewood much to the delight of a large contingent of Eastlake supporters in attendance, who made the 106-mile roundtrip trek from Sammamish for the non-league matchup.

The Wolves came out with fire and intensity in second half, delivering bone rattling hits and controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Eastlake head coach Don Bartel, a disciplinarian who cares immensely about his players, said the halftime talk was simple and straight-forward.

“When we went in at halftime, I went right down the list. Here is what we didn’t do and these are the things that are happening right now. I told them we got to win on third down and probably the biggest message and this has been our deal inside our locker room for years now is to quit meandering around like sheep and be sharks. You go straight forward and you blow people up. You see what you want and you go get it,” Bartel said. “All of a sudden we start working and it starts happening and our team feeds off of that.”

The play of the night came late in the fourth quarter. Eastlake running back Daniel Bradley had already rushed for three touchdowns and Lakes was keying on him. With Eastlake ahead 22-21, offensive coordinator Kyle Snell decided to take a chance on a play they worked on extensively in practice. Snell called a halfback pass designed for Bradley to hit Hank Pladson deep down the field for a large chunk of yardage. The play-call worked to perfection as Bradley calmly lofted a deep pass down the right sideline that Pladson hauled in for a 59-yard touchdown reception, extending Eastlake’s lead to 29-21 with 5:35 left in the game. Bartel said the play was difficult to convert because of the Lancers’ sticky man-to-man coverage on Eastlake’s perimeter receivers.

“Kyle (Snell) just came up huge calling that trick play. Daniel sold it and Hank did such a great job of selling it too,” Bartel said.

Bradley said it was just a matter of convincing Lakes defenders he was going to run the ball straight at them like he had done the entire evening. Lakes defenders didn’t see it coming as Pladson was wide open down the far right sideline. There wasn’t a defender within 15 yards of him when Bradley let go of the ball.

“Running that play immediately I knew I had to carry out the (run) fake as much as I could. I trusted Hank with all of my heart and I knew he was going to make something happen. We locked eyes and I just threw the ball out there and I knew he was going to make that play. The hardest catch in football is when no one is on you,” Bradley explained.

Pladson concurred with Bradley’s sentiment on the most important play of the game.

“We practiced that all week. I knew he would make the perfect throw. This is a huge win for us. Getting that first one is awesome and it always is the hardest one to get,” Pladson said. “It is the best feeling in the world.”

Following Pladson’s touchdown, Lakes answered with a 2-yard touchdown run by Cody Roe with 4:23 left in the game, cutting Eastlake’s lead to 29-27. On Eastlake’s ensuing offensive possession, Bradley busted through the line for a 58-yard run before being tackled at Lakes’ 1-yard line. Chris Nelson scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:05 left in regulation, giving Eastlake a 36-27 lead. Lakes moved the ball into Eastlake territory on the final drive but were denied any points after a clutch sack by Eastlake’s Jack Heffley and an interception by Hunter Klinge to ice the victory.

This win may not have counted in the KingCo standings, but these are the kind of contests that can set a tone for everything that happens after that. Eastlake dug deep and they came out of it with a signature victory on the road against a perennial powerhouse football program.

“I feel like a lot of people say brotherhood and a lot of people talk about family and the idea of playing roles, it got to the point (fourth quarter) of the game where I’m subbing out starters and rotating players to keep guys fresh. They are good with it. They get it. The guys make the right sacrifices,” Bartel said of his team.

Bartel was grateful to have a non-league opponent the caliber of the Lancers in the season opener.

“I cannot tell you how thankful I am for Dave Miller (Lakes head coach) and his squad. This was a great first game for us win or lose. I would not be talking as excitedly had we lost the game by two points but I would be talking about the same things. I feel like this is what you want in a Week 1 game. Lakes is a great team with a great tradition,” Bartel said. “They’re coming off of a semifinal year. That was big for us to have that competition.”

This was the kind of game Eastlake fans and supporters will be talking about for years to come. Over Labor Day weekend, I described in detail the particulars of this comeback triumph by the Wolves to multiple individuals. It is cliche, but games like this one are what sports are all about. It is a microcosm of life. Adversity is never going to escape any individual on Earth. What matters is how someone responds to the challenges they encounter. The Wolves were down but never out and in the end they were victorious.