Cheney Scores Promising Win Over Ml
Before Cheney’s non-league football game with rival Medical Lake on Friday, Adam Pegg told his Blackhawks teammates he would outrun Medical Lake star running back Alexis Alexander.
Bold words for someone who started at cornerback for the junior varsity last season as a junior and had only played running back one other time - last week.
Yet Pegg made good on the deal, and the stats weren’t even close.
The 6-foot, 170-pounder carried 21 times for 122 yards and two second-half touchdowns as the Blackhawks defeated the Cardinals 37-26 at Eastern Washington University’s Woodward Stadium.
“I always knew I had it in me,” Pegg said of playing running back. He earned a varsity letter last year because he was called up for the playoffs and got in for four plays.
“They put me all over the place (in the past),” he said. “I’m glad I’m getting touches on the ball and making plays.”
In the first half, it was Medical Lake making the big plays.
Alexander, who was limited to 38 yards on 12 carries, wasn’t gaining ground, so the Cardinals (1-1) went to the air. Quarterback Nick Tareski connected with Dustin Haynes on an 88-yard touchdown pass just 2 minutes into the first quarter and found John Potter for a 32-yard score in the second. Potter caught a 60-yard pass.
“That was the big thing,” Medical Lake coach John Giannandrea said of the passing game. “We had to back them off. Everybody is going to run a nine-man front or an 11-man front against Alexis.”
The Blackhawks (1-1) led 14-13 at halftime following a Ryan Cogley TD catch, then began the third quarter with an 80-yard, 10-play drive in 4 minutes, 46 seconds to go up 20-13 on Rhett Humphrey’s 5-yard TD pass to Ben Woodard.
Alexander tied the game with 1:55 left in the quarter on a 10-yard scoring run, his longest of the game.
“They just blew away our line and I couldn’t find the littlest hole,” he said. “If I had a little hole, I could blow up it. They came out and played hard and hit hard. They deserved to win.”
Cheney dominated the fourth quarter. Peter Gresham booted a 37-yard field goal with 10:15 to go, then Pegg scored both his touchdowns, on runs of 10 and 35 yards.
Cheney was effective with its passing game, as Humphrey, a junior, completed 12 of 23 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He was 5 of 7 in the second half.
Woodard finished with eight catches for 118 yards and rushed six times for 75 yards. He also recovered a fumble.
“All we wanted was our first win,” said Woodard.