One of the halftime floats at the Vashon High School homecoming celebration last weekend should have been a replica of Noah’s Ark carrying the Pirates off to the high ground of another Nisqually League victory. The wetter the weather, the better the Pirates seem to play, as they advanced to 6-1 with a 27-6 drenching of the Chimacum Cowboys.

Vashon dominated both sides of the ball. Quarterback Quinn Holert went nine for 20, passing for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Adrian Arceo led an awesome rushing attack, picking up 115 yards on 22 carries. After missing a couple of games with an injury, Nathan Betz was back in action as if he hadn’t missed a beat, carrying the ball 15 times for 93 yards. Holert kept the ball himself on 15 plays for 83 yards. These three workhorses accounted for a total of 291 rushing yards, while the offense as a whole racked up a staggering 394 yards.

Needing to punt only twice, Arceo got off two beauties of 38 and 41 yards. Nick Fox-Edele connected on 3 PATs.

It was clear the defense came to play as well. Twelve different players notched at least one tackle. Kyle York led the mean green defensive machine with four tackles and seven assists. Jeff Rauma picked up five tackles, while Gregor Davidheiser and Austin Franks had four each. Davidheiser and the brothers Gregg (Randyn and Travis) accounted for the Pirates’ four sacks.

In what has become a recurring pattern, the Pirates wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Austin Saathoff recovered a Chimacum fumble on the Cowboys’ fourth play from scrimmage, and it took the Pirates only two minutes to score. The first play was an 18-yard strike to Matt Kerns at the 27.

Arceo ran the ball on five consecutive plays, taking it down to the 3. Holert hit Hamzah Griffin to put the Pirates up 7-0 with a mere four minutes ticked off the clock.

The Cowboys came right back when Austin McConnell scampered around the right end for a 60-yard TD run. Chimacum missed the PAT, and the Pirates held a 7-6 lead.

The Pirates put together a 15-play drive that stalled on the Cowboy 17, where Chimacum took over on downs.

The end of the second quarter provided some of the wildest action seen this year.

With about eight minutes left in the half, the Cowboys snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head and Vashon’s York recoverd the ball on the Chimacum 19-yard line. After a Vashon penalty pushed the ball back to the 37, Vashon completed what appeared to be a TD pass. On the way in, however, the ball was fumbled and rolled into the end zone where the Cowboys recoverd for a touchback. After holding the Cowboys to six yards, the Pirate defense set up Vashon’s next score with a blocked punt. On a first and goal from the 10, Betz did a great job keeping his balance as he lunged into the end zone to give the Pirates a 14-6 advantage.

But the Pirates weren’t finished. With only 17 seconds left in the half, Randyn Gregg picked up a Cowboy fumble and ran it in 23 yards to put the Pirates up 20-6.

Vashon completed its scoring attack early in the fourth quarter. Starting at their own 42, the Pirates put together a nine-play, 53-yard scoring drive that culminated in a TD strike to Fox-Edele from the 17.

The Pirates are away at Orting this Friday for a huge game that will directly influence the Pirates’ playoff hopes.

— Steve Edele is the father of kicker Nick Fox-Edele.