‘Just get me in range’ — walkoff FG lifts Graham-Kapowsin to 4A state title game
Can this Graham-Kapowsin High School football program complete an undefeated season with a Class 4A state championship for the second time in three years?
We’ll find out next week.
The No. 1 Eagles won a back-and-forth contest against No. 4 Eastlake in the state semifinals Saturday afternoon at Art Crate Field in Spanaway, sending the game-winning field goal through the uprights as time expired, to secure the program’s first trip to the final since the historic 2021 team won the school’s first championship.
“It’s a great feeling,” Graham-Kapowsin senior wide receiver and defensive back Mika Roberson said. “From the beginning, I told them that we are not going home. Our goal from the beginning of the season was to make it to Husky Stadium. We’ve been preaching it all year, and it’s never stopped.”
Graham-Kapowsin took an early lead against the Wolves in Saturday’s contest, and built it as high as 10 early in the second quarter.
Five plays into Eastlake’s game-opening drive, Eagles freshman Kase Betz picked off a Landon Renfroe pass near the Wolves’ sideline to set Graham-Kapowsin up near midfield.
Nine plays later, the Eagles were in the end zone on a 6-yard pass from quarterback Daveon Superales to Roberson.
After forcing a punt on the Wolves’ next series, Graham-Kapowsin scored again 13 plays later on the first of kicker Aidan Skolrud’s two field goals, this one a 24-yard try that gave the Eagles a 10-0 lead early in the second.
But, Eastlake scored on the next two drives to eventually take a lead into halftime. Grady Woodward ended the ensuing series with a 13-yard scoring run, and ended Graham-Kapowsin’s next series with an interception at the Eastlake 5.
The Wolves completed a 95-yard scoring drive four minutes and 13 plays later, on a 22-yard connection between Renfroe and Kade Haroldsen that gave them a 14-10 lead at the break.
Trailing at halftime for the second time in as many weeks, Graham-Kapowsin again needed a second-half rally to advance — and got one.
“Our defense and our offense both had to step up and be great today,” Roberson said.
The Eagles opened the third quarter with a 12-play scoring drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock. Jabez Woods took a pitch on third-and-goal from the 3, then jumped and tossed a short pass to tight end Noah Fox-Flores for the go-ahead score.
Eastlake tied the game at 17-17 on the following drive, on a 33-yard field goal from Alex Dreher.
The scored stayed there until early in the fourth, when Graham-Kapowsin answered with a 4-yard scoring run from Woods.
The Wolves responded again with less than four minutes to go, ending a 13-play drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Renfroe to Woodward on fourth-and-5 to even the game at 24-24.
The Eagles punted five plays later, but their defense then forced a quick three-and-out to give Graham-Kapowsin the ball back at the 22-yard line with one minute to play.
Graham-Kapowsin ran the ball on three consecutive plays, with running back Alele Fa’apito-Leao picking up 15 and 23 yards on back-to-back carries that took the Eagles across midfield with 15.8 seconds left.
Superales then launched a pass down the sideline, which Roberson caught for a 37-yard gain, and was pushed out of bounds with one second left.
“I told Daveon, my quarterback, that he can trust me to get the ball, I will catch it, and that’s exactly what happened,” Roberson said. “I slow played my wheel route, went up, got the ball, got out of bounds perfectly in time for us to kick that field goal and win the game.”
Roberson knew at that point the Eagles were one play away from returning to the title game.
“I trust my kicker so much,” he said. “We practice pregame all the time these kicks, just like this. So when I got down and got out of bounds, seeing the one second on the clock, it was stopped, I was like, ‘This is our game.’ “
Skolrud connected on the winning 25-yard field goal moments later to lift the Eagles to the 27-24 victory.
“I was warming up the whole time,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Just get me in range, and I’ll put it through the uprights.’ That great catch really set me up good with one second left, and that was good range, so I put it through.”
Graham-Kapowsin totaled 353 yards of offense in the win, including 215 on the ground. Superales was 16-of-20 passing for 135 yards and the touchdown, and added 81 yards on 14 carries. Fa’apito-Leao had 14 carries for 99 yards. Roberson led the Eagles in receiving with four catches for 73 yards and the touchdown, and Woods had six catches for 42 yards, and seven carries for 35 yards and the score, as well as the passing touchdown.
Eastlake collected 322 yards of offense. Renfroe was 12-of-23 passing for 132 yards and two touchdowns, while Woodward led the Wolves in both rushing (14 carries, 63 yards) and receiving (five catches, 42 yards) and had the two scores and an interception on defense.
The 4A KingCo champions end the season at 11-2.
The 4A SPSL champion Eagles (13-0), who were making their third consecutive appearance in the semifinals this weekend, advance to play defending state champion and No. 2 Lake Stevens (12-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Husky Stadium for the state title.
This will be the sixth time Graham-Kapowsin has played Lake Stevens in the state playoffs in 10 appearances. The Eagles are 2-3 in those meetings, including besting the Vikings for their undefeated 4A state title in 2021, and losing to the Vikings in the semifinals in 2022.
“We’ve probably seen them in the playoffs more than 50 percent of the time we’ve ever been in there,” Eagles coach Jeff Logan said. “It’s been back-and-forth every time. They’re obviously going to test a lot of what we do. It’s going to be exciting. I think our kids are excited to go after it.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2023 at 5:26 PM.
