HS Football: Huge Second Half Powers W.F. West Past Aberdeen

10/3/25

(Chehalis, WA) As we reach the midway point of the high school football season, we also begin the exciting portion of the schedule that is league play. Evergreen 2A play began this week with a couple of solid matchups but in the Mint City, it was a battle of a couple 3-1 teams as the Aberdeen Bobcats traveled to take on the WF West Bearcats.

Aberdeen entered Friday night searching for their first win over WF West since 2007 but would do so without their leading rusher on the season in Micah Schroeder. They would need someone to step up in the rushing attack for the Bobcats to announce their presence to the entire 2A classification. For WF West, a week 1 loss was well in the rearview mirror as they hoped to have their sophomore quarterback Wyatt Hoffman lead them to their fourth win in a row on Homecoming Night.

WF West 56, Aberdeen 21

Aberdeen began the game with the ball but struggled to move it on the ground. Mason Hill did have some success but it would be an empty possession. WF West had a nice drive behind Wyatt Hoffman and Miles Martin moving the ball deep into Bobcat territory. Then on a handoff to Martin, a Bobcat punched the ball loose and it was recovered by Luke Martin for an Aberdeen takeaway for the swing of momentum. Teams would trade possessions as they stayed scoreless until the end of the opening quarter when WF West would put up points on a 46-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Hoffman to Jalen Amoroso to give the Bearcats a 7-0 lead after one.

That seemed to wake up the Aberdeen offense as Mason Hill was dialed in for the rest of the half. He found Gabe Matthews and Waylon Palmer consistently to move right down the field while WF West continued to shutdown the ground game. Hill would end up finding Matthews wide open for a 36-yard touchdown to get Aberdeen on the board to tie the game at 7-7.

Aberdeen’s defense then began to feed off of the offensive success. Cole Nylander won up front for Aberdeen to slowdown Miles Martin while also getting some pressure on Wyatt Hoffman. They would get the ball back at their own 20 and finally Aberdeen found a big play on the ground. The fullback Riley Wixson ran right up the middle through a scrum and was gone for an 80-yard touchdown. Aberdeen led for the first time in the game, 14-7.

WF West would have to respond to some adversity for the first time but did so successfully. A little screen pass to Miles Martin turned into a big 38-yard gain to jumpstart the drive for the Bearcats. Holden Kunz would get them down to the one where Martin finished it off with a short touchdown run. However, the Bobcats would block the extra point to protect their lead with a 14-13 advantage.

Mason Hill continued to complete pass-after-pass and ran his completion streak up to 11 completions in a row on their final drive of the half. A 27-yard completion to Riley Wixson put Aberdeen in a great spot and Hill then found Gabe Matthews for 14 yards shortly after. His final pass of the half went to Waylon Palmer for a 20-yard score to give the junior 185 passing yard in the first half. With just a 59 seconds remaining.

With two timeouts, WF West would need to go 65 yards to have a chance to tie it with a touchdown and two-point conversion before halftime. They would move the ball to around midfield before Miles Martin was brought down in bounds with two timeouts left. WF West wouldn’t use it and got a play off and Wyatt Hoffman found Connor Coleman on the sideline for a big 38-yard gain and he got out of bounds with two seconds left. Dan Hill burned his first timeout and drew up a trick play. A double reverse, flea flicker ended up back in Wyatt Hoffman’s hands and he found Holden Kunz wide open for a 19-yard touchdown. Hoffman then found Hiroto Smaciarz for the two-point conversion and a thrilling end to the half had things all tied up 21-21 at the break.

After the Homecoming festivities, WF West had a ton of energy from the crowd as they got the ball to start the second half. That energy went away quickly as they fumbled the opening snap and it was recovered by Sammy Schreiber to give the ball to Aberdeen. WF West adjusted nicely and the defense got much more aggressive and began to completely dominate the Bobcat offense. They would get the ball back and the Bearcats went down the field with a methodical drive and a key third down conversion. Miles Martin found the endzone again from one-yard out to put WF West back in front 28-21.

From that point on, the Bearcat defense dominated. Everything that was working for Aberdeen in the first half was taken away as they struggled to move the football and the injury riddled team began to run out of gas. WF West’s offense still looked fresh with plenty of depth. Miles Martin found the endzone two more times, from 35 and 5 yards out while Hoffman added another touchdown pass of 41 yards to Connor Coleman. Senior running back Kade Mohoric put the finishing touches on this one with a 47-yard score while Jalen Amoroso had a pick and the defensive front of Grady Oien, Peyton Santiago, Cody Schwarz, and Josh Vigre took the game over. WF West outscored Aberdeen 35-0 in the second half to win the league opener 56-21.

Stats and MVP

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to WF West’s sophomore quarterback Wyatt Hoffman. The dual-threat QB was doing it all for the Bearcats on Friday night, completing 18/27 passes for 300 yards and three touchdowns while also running the ball seven times for 30 yards. 330 all-purpose yards while also playing a vast majority of snaps on defense is eye popping stuff and Hoffman was the catalyst and the cool and calm leader WF West needed after being rocked early.

Elsewhere for the Bearcats, Miles Martin had a fantastic game, carrying the ball 12 times for 104 yards and four touchdowns while catching seven passes for 71 yards. Connor Coleman had three catches for 94 yards and a touchdown and a ten-yard carry. Hiroto Smaciarz caught four passes for 47 yards and caught the two-point conversion to tie the game before halftime. Holden Kunz caught three passes for 42 yards and a touchdown and had a nine-yard carry. Kade Mohoric carried the ball three times for 60 yards and a touchdown while Jack Becker had a six-yard carry. Jalen Amoroso capped off the offense with a 46-yard touchdown catch and had an interception on defense. Grady Oien had a sack on defense while Connor Coleman, Miles Martin, and Peyton Santiago all had a tackle for a loss and Jack Becker added a pass break-up.

For the Aberdeen Bobcats, Mason Hill was the star of the show, going 17/30 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns while running the ball four times as well. Riley Wixson was the primary ball carrier with 13 carries for 124 yards and a score and catching a 27-yard pass. Sammy Schreiber tallied eight carries for -5 yards but did catch two passes for 26 yards. Gabe Matthews led the receiving game with nine catches for 96 yards and a touchdown while Waylon Palmer had four catches for 45 yards and a touchdown. Collin Hiett had a 15-yard catch and Kenyon Crawford carried the ball four times for 13 yards. On defense, Glenny Black and Cole Nylander each had 1/2 of a sack and Nylander also had a tackle for a loss. Both Luke Martin and Sammy Schreiber had fumble recoveries as well.

WF West opens EvCo 2A play with a win to move to 1-0 in league and 4-1 overall with their fourth consecutive victory. The Bearcats go back for another non-league game next Friday when they visit Battle Ground at 7pm. Aberdeen falls to 3-2 on the season and drops to 0-1 in EvCo 2A play. The Bobcats will search for their first league win next week when they host Centralia at 7pm.

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