North Thurston senior Riley Baker booted a game-winning, 27-yard field goal with 1 minute, 46 seconds to go in the fourth quarter to give the visiting Rams a 17-14 win over Seattle Prep in a Class 3A state preliminary round game at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.

The win means North Thurston (7-3) will advance to the first round of the 3A state playoffs for the first time since 2004.

Their reward?

The Rams will travel to face unbeaten Lakes next week at Harry Lang Stadium in Lakewood next week

After Michael Koehler recovered a fumble at the 41-yard line of Seattle Prep, quarterback Jake Klumker hit Luke Kitterman for a 41-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 14-all with 5:05 to go in the game. On the kickoff, the ball bounced off a Seattle Prep player, and Baker recovered it to set up North Thurston’s go-ahead scoring drive.

Klumker and the North Thurston offense marched to the Seattle Prep 8-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-goal, Baker hit the 27-yard kick to give the Rams the lead.

Seattle Prep, which led 14-7 at halftime, got the game’s first score and led 7-0. North Thurston tied the score at 7-7 after Klumker found Oliver Nelson for a 15-yard touchdown.

Class 4A playoffs

Central Kitsap 35, at Mountlake Terrace 0: The Cougars dominated on defense, holding the Hawks to just 82 yards of total offense – 57 of which came on one play late in the fourth quarter.

Central Kitsap also held Mountlake Terrace without a first down in the first half. Offensively, CK was led by quarterback Brett McDonald, who ran for one touchdown and threw a pair of 27-yard touchdown passes to Maurice Brown.

At Marysville-Pilchuck 49, Graham-Kapowsin 24: The Tomahawks got rolling early and simply couldn’t be stopped en route to a 49-3 halftime lead.

Five different Marysville-Pilchuck players scored touchdowns, with Austin Denton and A.J. Kvangnes each scoring two.

Besides Eric Nothstein’s 32-yard field goal in the first half, the Eagles got a pair of touchdown passes from Drew Austin to Jamaal Jones and a Jesse Kuwik touchdown run.

Class 2A playoffs

At Mark Morris 55, River Ridge 13: The Hawks proved to be their own worst enemy to start the game. River Ridge turned the ball over on the first play from scrimmage, and Mark Morris capitalized to go up 7-0 early. Mark Morris led 28-0 after the first quarter and 42-6 at the half.

Quarterback Adam Walker got the Hawks on the scoreboard in the second quarter with a 30-yard run. Kyle Lamm added a 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

River Ridge was four days removed from playing in a five-way tiebreaker to decide the fourth and final playoff spot from the 2A Evergreen Conference.