Tahoma endures wild fourth quarter to escape with season-opening win at Auburn

Two weeks into the high school football season, after spending much of preseason camp inside due to poor air quality, Tahoma coach Tony Davis says his team is still figuring out who they are.

And there is still a lot to learn, the veteran coach said, as he enters his 25th year with the program.

There were some mistakes made, penalties called and kinks to work out as the Bears played their season-opener Thursday night at Auburn Memorial Stadium.

But, after successfully navigating a wild, back-and-forth second half against Auburn, the Bears can say this about their identity early on — they’re winners.

Running back Jake Trost scored the go-ahead touchdown for Tahoma on a 1-yard plunge in the final quarter, and the Bears stopped the Trojans on four consecutive drives to escape with a 19-17 win.

“We have a lot of young guys, and older guys that haven’t necessarily played a whole lot of snaps,” Davis said. “I think this is the kind of game where you can really build off of that.

“We came away with a win, and we were yards away from not being in that position. It’s a good night for us.”

After Trost scored what proved to be the decisive touchdown, the Bears forced a punt, two turnovers and a final turnover on downs to seal the game.

The Trojans’ biggest threat down the stretch came on a drive when back-up quarterback Keegan Yu connected with Aadam Nasheed twice for gains of 39 and 20 yards. Auburn reached Tahoma’s 28, but, Carson Ringhiser spoiled the momentum when he picked off Yu near the goal line with less than two minutes to play.

Tahoma and Auburn exchanged fumbles, and the Trojans got the ball back one more time with 42.2 seconds remaining, but the Bears defense again stalled the drive. Aidan Satelo delivered the final blow when he sacked Yu on fourth-and-long, forcing a turnover on downs.

“We had opportunities to win the game, and didn’t execute as well as we could have, but I was really proud of how they battled,” Auburn coach Aaron Chantler said. “It’s a growing experience.”

Auburn opened scoring on its first offensive play of the game, when starting quarterback Calvin Liulamaga — who later left the game with cramps — connected with Nasheed for a 42-yard score.

Nasheed finished with three catches for 101 yards and the touchdown, while Liulamaga completed 8 of 12 passes for 83 yards before exiting in the second half.

And, after Tahoma tied the game in the second quarter on a 7-yard keeper by quarterback Shay Lowrey, Nasheed gave the Trojans a 10-7 edge by booting a 30-yard field goal as the half expired.

“I was happy with how they fought,” Chantler said. “They fought for four quarters. We told them before the game our hope was to execute as best we can, and keep fighting, and if at the end we’re close that all we could ask for.”

The Bears grabbed their first lead late in the third, when Lowrey — a transfer from Georgia who finished with 137 yards on 15 of 18 passing and two total touchdowns — hit Artur Hrabar for an 11-yard score.

But, Auburn took it back minutes later. Wide receiver Josiah Fagan took a sweep 36 yards to Tahoma’s 2 to set up on a 2-yard touchdown run by Ronna Brown.

“We wanted to run some variation of jet as kind of a tip of the hat to Gordy,” said Chantler, in his first season taking over for his father-in-law, former Auburn coach Gordy Elliott, who coached the Trojans for 16 years and is now the defensive coordinator.

“We ran the ball well at times. ... Once we kind of found that groove late in the third quarter and made that nice, long drive, I was happy with that.”

But, the following drive is when Tahoma took the lead for good on Trost’s touchdown.

“The biggest takeaways were our defense making plays, our coaches making the correct calls and our offensive line was huge tonight. They were making holes, creating lanes,” Tahoma running back Max Repenn said.

Repenn keyed each of Tahoma’s three scoring drives, rushing for a game-high 167 yards on 19 carries.

He broke free for a 58-yard gain to set up the Bears at Auburn’s 11 early in the fourth quarter, but tweaked his right ankle on the play and left the field. Trost carried the ball on three consecutive plays to score the go-ahead touchdown.

“He actually started for us on offense and defense last year,” Davis said of Repenn. “We said, ‘Max, we’re going to take you off of defense because I think you’re a guy who is going to get the ball 25-plus times a night.

“He’s a special football player. He’s an absolute difference-maker.”

SCORING

A — Aadam Nasheed 42 pass from Calvin Liulamaga (Nasheed kick)

T — Shay Lowrey 7 run (Cory Soiseth kick)

A — Nasheed 30 field goal

T — Artur Hrabar 11 pass from Lowrey (kick failed)

A — Ronna Brown 2 run (Nasheed kick)

T — Jake Trost 1 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: Tahoma — Shay Lowery 10-(-15); Max Repenn 19-167; Tim McGonegle 1-8; MIchael Gasper 2-4; Jake Trost 9-24. Auburn — Calvin Liulamaga 9-23; Carter Casad 6-27; Josiah Fagan 2-38; Ronna Brown 5-50; Keegan Yu 7-0; Connor Howat 1-(-6).

PASSING: Tahoma — Shay Lowery 15-18-0-137. Auburn — Calvin Liulamaga 8-12-0-83; Keegan Yu 2-6-1-59.

RECEIVING: Tahoma — Max Repenn 5-41; Carson Ringhiser 3-24; Tim McGonegle 2-13; Luke Michel 1-11; Artur Hrabar 2-17; Tyler Rushton 1-12; Kameryn Blakey 1-19. Auburn — Aadam Nasheed 3-101; Timmy Marksbury 5-36; Connor Howat 1-1; Carter Casad 1-4.

This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 10:37 PM.