Ginnis shines as Fife wins 2A SPSL title, spoils No. 3 Steilacoom’s undefeated season

Fife High School football coach Kent Nevin wanted his team to focus on one thing Friday night in Steilacoom — playing Fife’s brand of ground-and-pound football.

And that’s exactly what the Trojans did, piling up 275 rushing yards, controlling possession for much of the game, and eventually downing third-ranked Steilacoom, 28-16, on the road to win the Class 2A SPSL title.

“We played power football on offense, on defense, and that’s it,” Nevin told his players as they huddled together near midfield following the win. “Love it. Great job.”

Steilacoom (8-1) was the only remaining undefeated team in Pierce County entering the final week of the regular season, and was on track to win back-to-back league titles after securing another Sound Division championship a week ago.

But, the Trojans (8-1), who haven’t lost since their opener against Rainier Beach, and also own back-to-back Mountain Division titles, spoiled the Sentinels’ shot at another perfect run through the 2A SPSL.

Fife clinched the league’s top seed with the win, and hosts Port Angeles (3-6) next week to open the playoffs. Steilacoom hosts Orting (3-6). Both games are loser-out.

“It’s going to mean something for us going forward in the playoffs,” Nevin said. “We just keep grinding. We’re Fife, and we’re going for it.”

Fife quarterback Gannon Ginnis, who proved a thorn for Steilacoom on both sides of the ball, scored the decisive touchdown on a 6-yard keeper late in the third quarter, giving the Trojans a 22-16 lead.

Ginnis finished with a game-high 153 rushing yards on 31 carries and scored three total touchdowns.

“Just ground and pound,” Ginnis said of Fife’s offensive strategy. “Just run right through them.”

He did that consistently, and picked up several key first downs in the fourth quarter to eliminate any chance of a Sentinels comeback.

Following Ginnis’ go-ahead score, Steilacoom fumbled on a bad snap, and the Trojans recovered. Ginnis then led Fife on another scoring drive that chewed up more than four minutes.

He converted on a fourth-and-4 in the red zone on a 5-yard keeper, and three plays later converted third-and-9 on a pass to Ethan Policar that was just short of the goal line.

Elias Faitala eventually punched in a 5-yard score to give the Trojans a two-possession lead with 8:21 to play.

Steilacoom appeared on the verge of a late rally, methodically driving down the field, and converting a fourth-and-long on a 15-yard connection between quarterback J.J. Lemming and Emeka Egbuka.

But, Lemming was picked off in the end zone two plays later — by Ginnis.

“We just did a few different wrinkles that they hadn’t seen before,” Nevin said of how the Trojans approached Steilacoom’s typically explosive offense. “We tried to bracket (Egbuka). He’s a great receiver. He gets some stuff done.

“But, we were concentrating on us. We said we can’t be something that we’re not, so we’re going to be power football. We’re going to run right at them. We’re going to keep going at them, and that was the biggest thing.”

Following the interception, Fife ran the ball on 12 consecutive plays — including another fourth-down conversion by Ginnis, and later a 19-yard gain on third down where he slid to remain in-bounds and keep the clock moving — to run out the final seven minutes of the game.

“We’re very excited after the win,” Ginnis said. “It took a lot of hard work this week.”

Steilacoom opened scoring on its first possession with a 6-yard plunge by Jaymason Willingham.

But, each of the Sentinels’ final four drives in the first half stalled deep in the red zone, and Steilacoom managed only a 22-yard field goal by Ty Reeder despite pushing the ball inside the Fife 10 each time.

Fife responded to the early deficit with a crafty double reverse, and Judah Graham hit Ginnis streaking down the sideline for a 75-yard score to make it 10-7 at the break.

“I could tell in the first half that leaving those points of the board was going to come back to bite us — the way the game shifted, the momentum, the way they were starting to figure out how to move (the ball) on offense,” Steilacoom coach Colby Davies said.

“We tried to make some changes and adjustments on (defense) to better us in the second half, but you could tell, leaving four red zone trips with one field goal, that wasn’t going to cut it. We just made too many mistakes.”

Ginnis gave Fife its first lead with a 10-yard keeper to open the second half. Steilacoom responded when Lemming hit Jayden Coalsen for a 30-yard score, but the lead was fleeting.

Ginnis scored the game-winner on the ensuing drive.

Lemming finished 19 of 36 passing for 262 yards, the one touchdown and an interception. Coalsen led all receivers with 127 yards and the touchdown on eight catches, while Egbuka had 104 yards on eight grabs.

S – Jaymason Willingham 6 run (Ty Reeder kick)

S – Reeder 22 field goal

F – Gannon Ginnis 75 pass from Judah Graham (Gabriel Duenas kick)

F – Ginnish 10 run (Duenas kick)

S – Jayden Coalsen 30 pass from J.J. Lemming (kick failed)

F – Ginnis 6 run (Kacey Koehn run)

F – Elias Faitala 5 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing: F – Ginnis 6-12-0-23; Graham 1-1-0-75. S – Lemming 19-36-1-262.

Rushing: F – Ginnis 31-153; Junior Faualo 11-79; Faitala 3-15; Malakai Samuelu 5-15; Dom Hernandez 2-11; Gavin Knapp 1-2; Koehn 1-0. S – Willingham 13-65; Lemming 2-6.

Receiving: F – Ginnis 1-17; Ethan Policar 1-10; Hernandez 1-6; Sekai Samuelu 1-4; Faitala 1-3; Malakai Samuelu 1-2; Faualo 1-(-2). S – Coalsen 8-127; Emeka Egbuka 8-104; Nehimiah Shird 2-22; Logan Brady 1-9.