Prep roundup: Four picks, Sam Huard’s arm help Kennedy Catholic dent Tahoma’s unbeaten title dreams

Top performer: Jabez Tinae, Kennedy Catholic

3 catches, 57 yards TD; 2 interceptions in win over Tahoma

Kennedy Catholic 40, Tahoma 21: The Bears were handed their first league loss this season thanks to the two interceptions by Kennedy’s Jeffrey Tinae and a high-octane Lancers’ offense.

Tinae’s big day was part of a collective defensive effort to disrupt Tahoma quarterback Conner Lambro, who ran for 83 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 123 yards and another score, but also threw four interceptions.

“(Tinae) is a big-time player,” Kennedy Catholic coach Sheldon Cross said. “Our defense played fast and opportunistic, they created turnovers consistently in huge moments and we limited their big plays.”

And Kennedy Catholic freshman quarterback Sam Huard continues to play much bigger than his age. The left-hander threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns.

“Our offensive line played really well today since Sam didn’t get sacked all game,” Cross said. “But he made some really big throws, and he improves and matures every week. I think he’s ready for these moments, and the team loves him.”

The Lancers (5-2; 3-2 4A NPSL Cascade) didn’t seem so concerned with the pefect league start Tahoma (5-2; 4-1) had in league play. Junior Alexander caught six passes for 114 yards and three touchdowns and running back Kendall Oakes ran for 164 yards on 30 carries and scored twice.

“I think we did a good job by having a great week of practice and my guys were excited for the sake of competing,” said Cross, a former Stadium High School quarterback. “We think highly of [Tahoma], but our guys decided they wanted to compete. We thrive on big plays and today we made a lot of them.”

This means Tahoma is tied atop the 4A NPSL Cascade standings alongside Hazen (5-2; 4-1) and Kentwood (5-2; 4-1), though Tahoma owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Kentwood. The Bears face Kent-Meridian next week with the regular-season finale against Hazen after that.

Kennedy faces Hazen next week.

Rainier 51, Life Christian 14: After giving up two early scores to the Eagles in the first quarter, the Mountaineers settled in and played their game.

“We played really well defensively,” Rainier coach Terry Shaw said. “We were a little slow getting started but once we got started, we had a couple long runs but we played a consistent game getting 3-4 yards per play.”

The Mountaineers defense had a stellar game as they only gave up 50 yards of total yards to Life Christian.

Capital City Volleyball Invitational

Capital 1, Puyallup 0: It’s not often one set decides so much.

But with Homecoming fast approaching, Capital and Puyallup met in the title match and played a best-of-one with the Cougars winning, 25-17, against the reigning 4A SPSL champs.

Capital entered the tournament with a 9-1 record in 3A South Sound Conference play.

Capital won its pool before tournament play, edging second-place Tumwater. Olympia won the Pool A, Puyallup was the Pool C winner and Burlington-Edison took Pool D before Capital and Puyallup met for the tournament title.

Cascade Christian 4, Charles Wright 0: Nicole Souply and Grace Jung each scored two goals in the shut out of the Tarriers.

Souply put the Cougars ahead 2-0 just 10 minutes into the matc with an unassisted goal in the seventh minute and from Hannah Beardemphl in the 10th.

Cascade Christian (11-1-1) has won three consecutive since losing its only match so far this year against Klahowya and a tie the match before that against Bellevue Christian.

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 12:24 AM with the headline "Prep roundup: Four picks, Sam Huard’s arm help Kennedy Catholic dent Tahoma’s unbeaten title dreams."