With the final result all but decided after the first quarter, the Inglemoor High football team turned it’s focus to slow, steady improvement.

Eastlake beat Inglemoor 50-27 on Thursday at Pop Keeney Stadium. Inglemoor trailed 29-7 after the first 12 minutes. Eastlake quarterback Ben Howard threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, and the Wolves led 43-13 at the break.

But despite the ‘L’ on the schedule, Inglemoor took steps as a program on Thursday.

The Vikings (0-2 KingCo, 0-4) have been decimated by injuries, including at quarterback, running back, and starters on the offensive and defensive lines. Two of the team’s captains, Brayden Mills and Mario Tupou, will miss the remainder of the year.

Enter junior quarterback Brayden Sullivan, who was inches away from a monster game on Thursday evening. Sullivan completed 18 of 35 passes for 226 yards, but hit his receivers in the hands on most of the incomplete attempts.

“We had opportunities to make some plays, and [Sullivan] actually threw some good balls that we just missed on,” said Inglemoor coach DJ Baddeley. “For us, we don’t have a margin for error, so we’ve got to get guys executing when they have the opportunity.”

Sullivan has a quick release and tends to add a little mustard to passes, rarely throwing a pass out of reach of his target but often throwing hard enough the ball is difficult to catch.

Alex Crotteau, who reeled in six passes for 84 yards and a receiving touchdown, said the speed at which Sullivan throws has been an adjustment.

“I had a lot of dropped balls last week (against Issaquah) and it was kind of awkward, but we’ve been throwing a lot more this week (in practice),” Crotteau said.

Crotteau picked off Eastlake’s third-string quarterback Colton Padget in the fourth quarter and scored, his second interception of the evening.

“I was so surprised the guy didn’t catch me,” he said. “I was just running and was like, ‘We’ve got to go.'”

Crotteau’s two picks were highlights in an evening of lowlights for the Inglemoor defensive secondary. Howard consistently found receivers without a defender for 15 yards in each direction, and Eastlake made Inglemoor pay with big yardage.

Inglemoor didn’t begin to slow the Eastlake passing game until Howard stepped off in favor of backup Connor Brown in the third quarter.

“We had a lot of miscommunication in this game,” Crotteau said. “Playing at Pop Keeney, it’s just… since I was following around one of their receivers the whole game, I actually had no idea what coverages were at some points. I saw what the call was, and was able to piece it together.”

Up front, though Eastlake’s Chris Nelson ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns, the Inglemoor defense looked solid at times. Topou, at 6-foot-3, 285 pounds, is a big loss on the line, but Baddeley said fellow senior Pito Satele has stepped into the starting role on both sides of the ball.

Satele was invited to the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl, which is held in late December in Atlanta. He and junior Austin Cummings have stood out on the line, helping to give Sullivan enough time to get the ball out.

Next, the Vikings are scheduled to play Woodinville on Friday, Sept. 30 at Pop Keeney Stadium. Eastlake is scheduled to play Bothell at Eastlake High School in Sammamish on the same day.

Bothell (3-0) and Woodinville (3-0) play at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 at Pop Keeney Stadium.

Eastlake coach Don Bartel said the Wolves got exactly what they were hoping for in the game against Inglemoor: building for week five against Bothell.

“Short week, frustrating week for us in practice, and then trying to come off that tough loss last week, we just wanted to see how our kids would respond,” he said. “We ran through a gamut of things and everybody got to play.”

SUMMARY

at Pop Keeney Stadium, Bothell

Eastlake 50, Inglemoor 27

Eastlake 29 14 7 0 — 50

Inglemoor 7 6 0 14 — 27

SCORING

First quarter

E — Cody Cox 31 pass from Ben Howard (Cox from Howard), 10:00

I — Alex Crotteau 41 pass from Dahlton Sullivan (Sullivan kick), 7:25

E — Hunter Klinge 20 pass from Howard (Hank Pladson from Howard), 5:48

E — Chris Nelson 52 run (pass failed), 3:51

E — Nelson 1 run (Teegan Toliver kick), :43

Second quarter

I — Cole Kindschi 3 run (kick missed), 4:07

E — Cox 28 pass from Howard (Taige Thornton kick), 2:26

E — Jaxon Williams 60 interception return (Thornton kick), :31

Third quarter

E — Nelson 10 run (Thornton kick), 8:05

Fourth quarter

I — Christopher Birmingham 21 pass from Sullivan (kick missed), 11:14

I — Crotteau 45 interception return (Braden Dick kick), 5:30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSH — E: Nelson 15-141, Hunter Klinge 1-17, Andrew Plummer 4-7, Jack Hart 2-5, Cox 1-5, Connor Brown 2-3, Colton Padget 1-(minus 5); I: Cole Kindschi 6-26, Riley Mersberg 6-23, Sullivan 5-4, Jacob Dick 2-3, Mason Burdge 1-2, Birmingham 1-0.

PASS — E: Howard 12-17-1-316, Brown 1-3-0-13, Padget 1-2-1-5; I: Sullivan 18-35-2-226.

RECEIVING — I: Cotteau 6-84, Birmingham 5-51, Chinedu Ugokwoli 2-32, Kindschi 2-26, Max Larson 1-13, AJ Baldwin 1-8, Luke Bergman 1-6.