Mired in a three-game losing streak, Graham-Kapowsin High School coach Eric Kurle wanted desperately to see his team play with some passion against SPSL South rival Curtis on Saturday night.
His team was able to deliver, but it wasn’t pretty.
Despite committing some costly turnovers and being held scoreless in the second half, the Eagles played inspired football on defense and took advantage of a late Curtis turnover, escaping with a 10-7 victory at Art Crate Field.
“(It was) ugly. Sloppy. But I asked our kids to play with passion,” Kurle said. “We didn’t care about winning. Our kids have been flat the last three weeks. We’re not used to losing three in a row. Our kids finally just played with passion and got after it.”
The G-K passion especially showed when the outcome hung in the balance. Trailing by three points with 3 minutes, 50 seconds left, Curtis halfback E.J. Deveaux hauled in a 43-yard reception from Evan Elliott, taking the ball down to the G-K 5-yard line. After a penalty moved the Vikings back five yards, they fumbled the exchange on the next play, and Eagles senior cornerback Tabby Yu recovered the ball with 3:15 to play.
The G-K offense was able to run out the clock to secure the win.
“We knew we had to have our defense step up,” G-K quarterback Drew Austin said. “We drilled that defense all week in practice, and coach got on them. They came through.”
The defense also was stellar in the first half.
After Deveaux returned the opening kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown, the Curtis offense struggled. The Vikings went three-and-out on their first offensive possession and tallied just three first downs and 42 yards of total offense in the first half.
“We changed what we were doing a little bit, and our guys played more physical up front,” Kurle said.
Curtis (2-2 overall, 2-2 SPSL South) also punted four times and turned the ball over on downs at the Curtis 23-yard line with 1:46 left in the first half.
The G-K offense put up just enough to get the job done. The Eagles tied the game late in the first quarter when Austin tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Zach Mershon and Nathan Harden added the extra point.
The Eagles (1-3, 1-2 SPSL South) failed to capitalize on a trip to the red zone midway through the second quarter, turning the ball over on downs at the 21 when Curtis sniffed out Austin’s screen pass to Kahlil Dawson and tackled him for a loss of three yards. But Graham-Kapowsin did get three points when Austin led the Eagles on a drive and Harden drilled a 25-yard field goal at the end of the half.
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