No. 10 Sumner wanted to get its ‘swagger back.’ The Spartans did that win a win over Curtis
After winning its first two games via crushing shutouts of Class 4A SPSL foes, the No. 10 Sumner High School football team took it on the chin last week against Puyallup.
In the wake of that 30-point loss, Spartans coach Keith Ross had a simple message for his players: “We’re one win away from getting our swagger back.”
Sumner (3-1) got that win Friday night at Sunset Chev Stadium, scoring the game’s first three touchdowns, then staving off persistent Curtis, 28-26.
The result came down to PATs. Colton Sigafoos kicked all four of Sumner’s without a miss while Curtis had one extra-point kick blocked, and misfired on a two-point conversion pass attempt.
Though his team squandered all but two points of what was a 21-0 lead before the first quarter was over, Ross said he was proud of his players’ effort in twice halting possible game-winning possessions by the Vikings (3-1) in the final three minutes.
“At my age, after coaching for 20 years, a win’s a win,” he said. “They had some big plays and we let them back in. Good teams don’t let the other guys back in. That’s an area we’ve got to work on.”
Sumner put all of its first half points on the board in the opening quarter.
Taking over on downs at midfield, the Spartans took nine plays to score, seven on the ground, but the touchdown came on a 16-yard pass from Aaron Grondahl to Mitchell Wolfe.
Forcing the Vikings into a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Sumner took only two plays to score this time. Grondahl tossed a screen pass to Deontrea Stoudemire, who ran 48 yards almost untouched to the end zone.
“We watched a lot of film and we knew they’d bring a safety down and I’d be one-on-one with somebody,” Stoudemire said. “I feel like I’m better than them, so I just did what I do.”
It was on the next sequence that Stoudemire turned in the most exciting play of the night to help set up another score.
Once again, the Spartans held Curtis to three downs defensively and the Vikings were forced to punt.
Waiting back at the Curtis 48 for the ball, Stoudemire caught it despite being surrounded by would-be tacklers and dashed through them for a 32-yard return. Three players later, Sumner took its 21-0 lead on a run by Tyler Ruch.
“Coach Ross always tells me, ‘Catch the ball and get what you can get,’ ” Stoudemire said. “No fear. That’s what we do at Sumner.”
Curtis had something to offer as well.
The Vikings put two touchdowns on the board before halftime on a 3-yard run by quarterback Kyle Russell and a 47-yard touchdown pass from Russell to Marlon Jones, who had gotten the ball back for the Vikings by intercepting a Grondahl pass — the only turnover by either team on the night.
Russell passed for 294 yards on the night, delivering the ball to five different receivers, but the Vikings were without starting running back Caleb Kwalalon for much of the game.
Kwalalon — who led the South Sound in rushing after three weeks with 658 yards and 10 touchdowns on 42 carries — left with an injury in the second quarter and didn’t return. He managed 22 yards on 10 carries before he exited.
When Sumner marched 74 yards in 12 plays to score on the initial drive of the second half via a 1-yard Ruch run, it looked liked the Spartans might be able to get comfortable, but they couldn’t.
Late in the third quarter, Russell found Zack Paulsen — who finished with five catches for 102 yards — for a 7-yard touchdown pass. Four minutes before the final buzzer, Russell ran the ball in from 4 yards out, forcing Sumner back to full alert.
Next week, Ross said, Sumner will be closer to full strength with the return of junior running backs Bryan Falk, injured early in the Puyallup game, and Ra’Sun Williams.
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CURTIS 0 12 7 7_26
NO. 10 SUMNER 21 0 7 0_28
S – Mitchell Wolfe 16 pass from Aaron Grondahl (Colton Sigafoos kick)
S – Deontrea Stoudemire 48 pass from Grondahl (Sigafoos kick)
S – Tyler Ruch 1 run (Sigafoos kick)
C – Kyle Russell 3 run (kick blocked)
C – Marlon Jones 47 pass from Russell (pass failed)
S – Ruch 1 run (Sigafoos kick)
C – Zack Paulsen 7 pass from Russell (Russell kick)
C – Russell 4 run (Russell kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Passing: C – Russell 14-33-0-294. S – Grondahl 8-13-1-111.
Rushing: C – Caleb Kwalalon 10-22; Russell 10-19; Jones 7-50. S – Lito Knight 14-85; Camden Russell 12-44; Ruch 16-59; Grondahl 2-(-2), Stoudemire 3-8.
Receiving: C – Kwalalon 1-7; Jones 3-91; Jose Gonzales 2-47; Elijah Dockery 3-41; Paulsen 5-102. S – Tyson Bernt 1-8; Stoudemire 3-88; Donovan Clark 1-10; Knight 1-1; Devon Murray 1-11; Griffin Clark 1-15.