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Shelton 35, N rth
Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023 Shelton—Mason County Journal — Page 17
“a?
Mason
Shelton retains bragging rights
Shelton High School football players raise the axe after defeating Mason
County .Cup rival North Mason 35-19 on Friday night at Phil Pugh Stadium
in Belfair. The Climbers now lead the series 7—4 after defeating the
Bulldogs for the third year in a row. See more photos on Pages 18 and 38.
Journal
photos by Shawna Whe/an
Climbers top Bulldogs for third straight win in rivalry series
By Matt Baide
matt@masoncounty.com
The axe went to Belfair in case it
needed to change hands, but the High
climbers ensured the Mason County
Cup would remain in Shelton with a
35-19 win Friday in a nonleague foot-
ball game to open the 2023 season.
Shelton senior quarterback Gabe
Conklin had a hand in all five touch-
downs, scoring two rushing touch-
downs and throwing three more.
“We executed pretty well when we
didn’t have self-inflicted wounds,”
Shelton coach Mark Smith told the
Journal. “Those extended drives for
North Mason and then those penalties
stopped our drives, but besides that,
it was a very well-executed game. I
thought both teams played hard. I
thought both teams cared, I thought
both teams were aggressive andhad
a good nature about themselves so it
was good from that standpoint.”
Smith said the Climbers had 15 pen-
alties, including eight on offense and
seven on defense, but they were able
to overcome that and never trailed.
Shelton kicked off to North Mason
and took the ball away and scored for
a 70 lead. The Climbers led 21—18 at
halftime and padded the advantage in
the second half. The Shelton defense
forced two turnovers on downs and re-
covered two fumbles.
“I think the biggest thing is our de-
fense decided they weren’t going to
give up big plays. They got us on a few
pass plays but for the most part, we
controlled the run really well,” Smith
said. “Our pursuit was better than
it’s been. Defense has been working
hard on that. I think the game plan
on defense was simple and easy to ex—
ecute, I thought our tackling could be
a little better. It’s early in the season.
Mark Smith, She/ton football coach
you don’t tackle a lot, try to keep your
guys healthy but those are things that
happen.” ‘
Conklin was 11 of 16 for 184 yards
and threw three touchdown passes
to Bennett Henry, Omar Zepeda and
Cameron Huisingh.
“(It wasla pretty good night for the
first—time-ever-behind-center quarter-
back that has never played quarter—
back in his life before,” Smith said. “I
think he decided he wanted to quit get—
ting yelled at by me. When you have an
athletic quarterback, it allows you to
do different things. I’m not saying Ma-
son (Goos) wasn’t athletic, but there’s
the ability to have to defend Gabe’s
legs and his arm. We weren’t sure
what we were going to get, I had no
idea. I was hoping, we were all hoping,
but when you have five touchdowns in
your first game ever quarterback,
that’s pretty dang good.”
Smith also commended sophomore
kicker AJ Weir, who was five for five
on extra points.
Smith said the atmosphere in Bel:
fair was great for football, but not hav-
ing school in session hurt in building
up the anticipation before a Friday
football game. He said it was a beauti—
ful night for football. .
“The axe looks pretty good on the
wall and that cup travels around a lit~
tle bit, it has a good time,” Smith said.
Shelton (1-0) hosts Bremerton (1-
0) in a nonleag'ue game for the home
opener Friday at Jack Stark Field. The
Knights won their opening game 27~
12 against Mount Douglas Secondary
School from Victoria, British Colum-
bia, Canada.
North Mason (0-1) travels to Silver-
dale to face Klahowya' in a nonleague
game. The Eagles won their opener 28-
25 on the road against 2B Coupeville
on Friday.