Puyallup’s special teams turn No. 5 Sumner away, 45-24

Momentum is momentum, coach Gary Jeffers said.

It doesn’t matter what serves as the catalyst, it can infiltrate a whole sideline — as it did Friday night for the Puyallup High School Vikings.

And they can thank a teenager playing in his first game of the season for that.

Ethan Steward returned two kickoffs in the first half for touchdowns, and Puyallup surprised No. 5 Sumner, 45-24, on Friday night in a high-scoring 4A SPSL game at Sunset Chev Stadium.

With the victory, the Vikings moved to 5-0, and have set themselves up for an important showdown next week against No. 2 Graham-Kapowsin at home for first place in the league standings.

But this was a night Jeffers will remember as the Puyallup coach for a long time.

Sumner’s Ben Wilson had just tied the game, 17-17, on a 1-yard plunge midway through the second quarter.

Back there deep stood Steward, a junior who was ineligible the first four games of the season.

Steward had already burned the Spartans on the first time he touched the football, racing 99 yards on a kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter.

This time, he scooted past everybody on a 90-yard return to give the Vikings the lead for good — 24-17 — with 5:40 remaining before halftime.

“No question, a true game-changer,” Jeffers said.

Sumner coach Keith Ross was in disbelief even after the game how poorly his normally rock-solid special teams played in the first half.

The Spartans also had a punt blocked at the 1:21 mark that set up the Vikings’ final first-half score — Jacob Holcomb’s 14-yard touchdown strike to Darius Morrison just 25 seconds later.

Puyallup led 31-17 at halftime.

“They came in here and did what they needed to do,” Ross said. “They came in and took it to us. Not many teams do that.”

Taking a screen pass from Holcomb, Landen Neff raced 33 yards for a touchdown early in the second half that pushed the Vikings lead to 38-17.

“It doesn’t matter how you get points on the board,” Jeffers said. “To match a team like Sumner, it gives you the momentum to play confident on defense, to play confident on offense, and on special teams.

“Our kids were ready to play.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Puyallup’s special teams turn No. 5 Sumner away, 45-24."