No. 9 Timberline causes 5 turnovers, shuts out Oak Harbor to return to 3A state playoffs

No. 9 Timberline High School looked very much like the program that closed out the second half of its Class 3A South Sound Conference season on a dominant four-game winning streak on Friday night.

Make that five straight wins after the Blazers (8-2) soundly defeated Oak Harbor, shutting out the Wildcats, 21-0, at South Sound Stadium in Lacey to return to the 3A state playoffs for the third consecutive season.

“We came in with a mindset (to be) aggressive ... just ball out like it’s our last game,” Blazers linebacker Jamin Fa’alogo said. “We just came in and did what we had to do.”

Fa’alogo, a 6-foo6-3, 235-pound senior, created plenty of energy for Timberline, consistently wreaking havoc on the Wildcats’ offense.

“For some reason, we were really thin on numbers this year, so we had to change our defense to a different kind of style, because we’re short on linebackers,” Timberline coach Nick Mullen said.

“Finally they’re started to pick it up and get it. Hitting their strides at the right time, and they’re just ball hawks back there. When you have two guys like Justin Kuhn and Jamin Fa’alogo, you can get away with a lot of things. They are so fast to the ball.”

Fa’alogo finished with 14 tackles (four for losses), a sack and an interception in the win. The Blazers came away with four interceptions of Oak Harbor quarterback Caleb Fitzgerald, and caused one fumble.

“We are going to keep going. We are going to push our defense more, and we’re going to try to keep pushing for more shutouts,” said defensive back J.J. Graham, who came away with an interception in the second quarter.

The shutout was Timberline’s third of the season — it also shut out Shelton and crosstown rival North Thurston — and all have come since the beginning of the Blazers’ five-game winning streak, which dates back to Oct. 5.

After Timberline’s defense forced Oak Harbor’s offense to stall at the end of the first quarter, Blazers’ quarterback Hunter Campau — who finished 8 of 11 passing for 142 yards and two touchdowns — started to use his legs to pick apart the Wildcats defense with key runs to start the second.

Campau gashed the Wildcats for 35 yards on the ground during the Blazers’ first drive of the second quarter, forcing Oak Harbor to load the box once Timberline moved inside the red zone.

Campau rolled to his left on a play action before throwing back across the field to Izaiah Jerenz, who worked his way in for a 17-yard touchdown to break the scoreless tie, 7-0, with seven minutes, 49 seconds remaining in the half.

“I feel like the luckiest quarterback right now, because my defense keeps performing well,” Campau said. “(They) gave up 13 points last week and a shutout this week. I feel real lucky right now having a good defense behind me.”

Campau also finished with a game-high 93 rushing yards on 18 carries.

Timberline drove into to the red zone again late in the half, but a fumble at the 17-yard line gave the ball back to Oak Harbor with 1:01 to go.

The Wildcats used quick plays from Fitzgerald, Caden Leckelt and Dorian Hardin to move the ball to midfield.

But, the Blazers forced a turnover on downs at midfield with 4.1 second left in the half.

Coming out of a timeout, Campau threw up a prayer to Graham’s back shoulder, and he beat single coverage, scoring a 42-yard touchdown to give the Blazers a 14-0 lead at the break.

“I saw that ball in the air. I knew it wasn’t coming in the way I was looking, so I had to flip my head around. I saw the corner go up,” Graham said.

“Hunter threw it up there (to his) outside shoulder and J.J. made a great catch,” Mullen said.

Coming out of the break, the Blazers’ defense went right back to work, completing the shutout and limiting Oak Harbor to 156 yards of offense.

Keola Allison capped scoring with a 15-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, after Timberline pinned the Wildcats at their own 1-yard line.

“I think that was the moment of the game where we took away all their hope of winning,” Fa’alogo said. “After that it was 21-0. That’s great. That’s game.”

T – Izaiah Jerenz 17 pass from Campau (Mason Joubert kick)

T – J.J. Graham 42 pass from Campau (Joubert kick)

T – Keola Allison 17 punt return (Joubert kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing: OH – Caleb Fitzgerald 8-15-4-50. T – Campau 8-11-0-142.

Rushing: OH – Dorian Hardin 10-52; Caden Leckelt 20-50; Aaron Martinez 11-21; Fitzgerald 3-(-17). T – Campau 18-93; Noah Cunningham 5-43; Jaden Gorman 10-43; Jerenz 3-21; Max Aunese 1-6.

Receiving: OH – Martinez 3-24; Hardin 2-17; Leckelt 1-3; Kevin Schmidt 1-2. T – Jerenz 3-70; Graham 3-52; Trevor Joubert 1-14; Aunese 1-6.

This story was originally published November 2, 2018 at 11:49 PM.