Come on. Be honest.
Did you really think the Skyline Spartans would allow the Class 4A football state finals to be played without them?
Unranked Skyline, which lost three regular-season games to fall from the 4A Top 10 for the first time in school history, is back in the state title game for the fourth straight season.
“Our record’s not pretty, yeah we’re 10-3,” quarterback Max Browne said. “You hate to lose, but the cliché’s right – you learn from losing.”
Skyline held off second-ranked Woodinville, 26-21, in the state semifinals Saturday afternoon at the Tacoma Dome and will meet ninth-ranked Skyview, a 38-14 winner over No. 8 Lake Stevens in the evening game, in the final.
The Spartans were 6-3 when they entered the postseason. They’ve reeled off four straight victories, looking like the championship-caliber team they were thought to be – and still are – when they began the 2011 season ranked No. 1.
Against a previously undefeated and defensive-minded Woodinville squad, Skyline raced to an early 12-0 lead, something Browne said the Spartans learned to do the hard way.
“The only thing I can say we’re doing differently now than in those losses is we’re starting off faster,” said Browne, who completed 22 of 31 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons “We’re not turning the ball over and we’re starting off faster in the first quarter.”
Skyline held off a furious Woodinville rally in the final three minutes. The Falcons’ Beau Vintertun caught a 5-yard touchdown pass with 88 seconds remaining, cutting the deficit to 26-21, and Woodinville recovered the onside kick. The Falcons (12-1) reached the Spartans’ 14 but turned the ball over on downs with 27 seconds left.
Big-game experience – Skyline has won nine of its past 10 games in the Tacoma Dome – can’t be overlooked as a key ingredient in another Spartans championship run.
“When we get here,” Skyline coach Mat Taylor said, “the expectation is we’re going to win.”
Skyline’s title-game opponent won’t have that been-there, done-that experience. Skyview, which opened the same year as Skyline (1997) is in its first title game.
“We haven’t been here before,” Storm coach Steve Kizer said “We’ve been close ... but we’ve never been this far.”
Skyview (11-2) dominated previously unbeaten Lake Stevens (12-1), scoring touchdowns on five of its first seven drives and punting only once. The Vikings chose to stack the line of scrimmage to stop running back Parker Henry, Class 4A’s leading rusher. That left quarterback Kieran McDonagh to slice apart a depleted secondary.
McDonagh completed 22 of 31 passes for 339 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 66 yards and two scores.
“We have a pretty good running back, a really good running back,” Kizer said of Henry, who finished with 79 yards on 23 carries. “They did a nice job on him, so we just had to throw the ball.”
Doug Pacey: 253-597-8271 doug.pacey@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/preps
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