Enumclaw Opens New Stadium, Season With 28-14 Win Over Yelm

Senior quarterback Tyler Carlson scored on runs of 33, 20 and 9 yards to lead Enumclaw High School to a 28-14 win over the visiting Yelm Tornados Friday night.

The Hornets opened their season and their new Astroturf stadium with the victory.

Enumclaw led 14-7 at halftime but then Yelm standout tailback Jacob Swilley, whom the Hornets held in check for most of the night, ripped off a 66-yard run to open the second half to tie the game.

But the Hornets scored the final 14 points to get the win.

First, Carlson scored on the 33-yard run, then hard-running sophomore Cameron Strecker ended the scoring with a 3-yard burst with 4:11 to play.

The Hornet defense also took over in the fourth quarter, limiting Yelm to just six plays, and one of those was an interception, another a fumble and another a punt. The other three plays were an incomplete pass, and runs for 4 and 0 yards.

In the meantime Carlson was hitting on two straight passes on slants over the middle to Stephen Carlino. The first he made a shoestring catch and the second he was popped with the hardest hit of the night by Swilley.

A 15-yard run by Strecker and a pass interference call on Swilley when he hit Carlino a little too early set up Strecker’s final score.

The Hornets scored again after an interception on a 39-yard pass from Carlson to Perry Rockwood, but it was called back because of a penalty, so Enumclaw decided to just run out the clock.

Yelm only had three possessions in the third quarter, after Swilley’s TD run, and the Tornados were four and out each time.

Enumclaw couldn’t get much going offensively either, however, as Carlson was intercepted and had a number of incompletions. He did have a 13-yard run and later scored his long touchdown after a penalty on Yelm gave the Hornets good field position when Rockwood was interfered with trying to catch a punt.

Both teams started the game with penalties, incomplete passes and plays that lost yardage.

A long pass play on fourth down gave Yelm the first chance to score from the 8-yard line, but its field goal attempt was blocked.

Later, a bad snap by Yelm gave Enumclaw the ball on Yelm’s 32-yard line, and a few plays later Carlson made a great fake to Strecker on a sweep to the right, and kept the ball running left for his 20-yard score.

But the Tornados came right back when Enumclaw gave up another long pass play, this one for 64 yards, to set up a 3-yard run by Swilley to knot the game at 7-7.

Enumclaw took a 14-7 lead at halftime on a 9-yard run, but the key play of that drive was a 44-yard middle screen from Carlson to a hard-running Strecker, who broke a number of tackles along the way.

Carlson missed on his first six passes and was only 4 of 15 in the first half for 80 yards. In contrast, Yelm’s starter was 3-5 for 97 yards. However, Swilley carried the ball nine times for just 20 yards in the first half.

In the second half, Carlson went 5-for-16 for 53 yards and the one pick, but he ran the ball 10 times for 53 yards. Strecker had three receptions for 32 yards.

Swilley had five carries for 71 yards, but Yelm only passed the ball four times, all incomplete.

For the game, Carlson was 9-for-31 for 133 yards and ran the ball 13 times for 77 yards. Swecker had four receptions for 76 yards, and Rockwood three for 27.

Love the new field

Friday night’s game was the first played at the new Enumclaw Stadium, which received a $900,000 overhaul and Astroturf field.

Longtime Hornet fans Laurie Nelson and Kim Sales loved the new look.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” Nelson said. “The old field was nostalgic – old-time football. But it broke my heart last year when the seniors couldn’t play their last game at home because of all the mud.”

They had to play instead at Orting.

Sales said she loved the vibrant colors of the new facility.

“And it brought a lot of the community closer together,” she said.

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