Week 5: Takeaways from high school football in the South Sound
Friday night’s week five games of the high school football season have concluded. Here are a few takeaways from this week’s football action in the South Sound.
NO. 3 KENNEDY CATHOLIC IS A LEGITIMATE TITLE CONTENDER
The offense, led by quarterback Sam Huard, a 2021 UW commit, is as good as advertised, continuing the team’s 5-0 start with a 42-13 win over Enumclaw on Friday night. Huard completed 13-of-29 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns in the game, a completion percentage that would’ve been higher if not for numerous uncharacteristic drops from the Lancers receiving corps.
But the story for the Lancers this season is the revamped defense, which gave up an average of 38 points per contest last season. This year? It’s an entirely different story. Through five games, the Lancers are conceding an average of just 12.2 points. That’s a massive improvement and is a credit to the coaching staff and players, who spent a ton of time in the weight room during the offseason and were determined to make strides defensively this season.
“I think we’re the most improved defense in the state,” said Kennedy Catholic coach Sheldon Cross. “I really do. Compared to where we’ve been, our defensive staff is phenomenal and our kids have done a great job.”
SAV’ELL SMALLS IS A DIFFERENCE MAKER
Of course, adding Garfield transfer and 5-star recruit Sav’ell Smalls to the defensive line has certainly bolstered the Lancers’ defense. Smalls, who made his commitment to UW in week four of the high school season, was a nightmare for Enumclaw’s tackles on Friday night, sacking quarterback Cameron Brauer three times, including one for a loss of 14 yards in which he completely blew up the play.
“He’s brought that strong, tough mentally,” said Kennedy Catholic coach Sheldon Cross. “Confidence. He’s helped rubbed off on a lot of our guys. We’re gaining confidence week in and week out. He’s a stud and he played a monster game.”
There were a lot of times last season when Huard and the offense put up plenty of points, but would watch the defense concede even more points and wind up losing. That hasn’t been the case this season. Smalls is a big reason for the improvement on the defense.
“He’s unreal,” Huard said. “The crazy thing is, he still has so much upside. He can get so much better. For how good he is now, that sounds crazy but it’s true. That’s just credit to his work ethic, but it’s not just him playing on the field. But just how much he brings out of the other guys, how much he’s pushing them and bringing that energy, that swag to every game.”
LANCERS HAVE WEAPONS ALL OVER THE FIELD
Even with some of the head-scratching drops from Kennedy Catholic’s receivers on Friday night, the Lancers were typically productive on offense. Jab Tinae led the receiving corps with three catches for 103 yards; Junior Alexander racked up 64 yards and a touchdown on three catches; Zaire Lozolo caught three passes for 27 yards and a touchdown, Justin Baker caught two passes for 19 yards and Reed Shumpert caught two passes for eight yards and a touchdown.
But with how many defenders Enumclaw dropped into coverage in an effort to try to slow down the air raid, the biggest beneficiary on the offense was Lozolo, the team’s running back. He ran the ball 22 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
“He works so hard,” Huard said of his running back. “He’s one of the hardest working dudes on this team. I’m just so proud of him. There’s a lot of games where he’s overshadowed by the other guys. But silently, humbly, he gets the job done every night. He practices super hard and is always prepared coming into games. He’s just so reliable.”
Lozolo also finished with three catches for 27 yards and a diving touchdown off a check down from Huard in the first half on a third down play in the red zone.
“Especially with Enumclaw tonight dropping that many, those check downs are there and I think that’s the biggest evolution of his game,” Huard said. “Zaire really worked on getting the timing down and getting all those reps to get prepared. He can run the ball and catch the ball out of the backfield and makes play.”
IS YELM THE 3A SSC FAVORITE?
The Tornados came away with another convincing win the 3A SSC, this week beating Capital 49-20, one week after blasting Gig Harbor, 42-18. Yelm jumped out to a five-touchdown first half advantage against the Cougars and coasted to the win in Olympia on Friday night. Yelm led 14-0 before the game was a minute old.
Sylas Franklin ran the opening kickoff back 96 yards for a touchdown. Capital fumbled the ball away on the second play of its ensuing possession — the first of four times the Cougars would lose a fumble — and Yelm running back Carson Amendt scored the first of three rushing touchdowns from 11 yards out. Amendt racked up 222 yards on 19 carries for the Tornados, which are in a first-place tie with Peninsula.
It certainly seems that those two teams will duke it out for the league title at this point (although, don’t count out Gig Harbor just yet, which bounced back this week with a 46-0 win over North Thurston after losing to Yelm the previous week). Peninsula escaped with a narrow 24-21 overtime win this week against Timberline.
Peninsula and Yelm meet on Friday, Oct. 18 at Roy Anderson Field in Gig Harbor. There should be plenty on the line in that one.
TOP-RANKED LOCALS TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS
All in all, it was a quiet week for the local favorites. In 4A, No. 5 Graham-Kapowsin knocked off SPSL 4A foe Olympia, 40-7.
In 3A, all three of the top PCL teams won easily. No. 3 Lakes beat Bonney Lake, 35-0; No. 4 Lincoln beat Spanaway Lake, 48-0 and No. 8 Bethel beat Mount Tahoma, 52-0.
In 2A, No. 1 Tumwater beat 2A EvCo opponent Rochester 64-6 and No. 5 Steilacoom beat No. 10 North Kitsap handily, 57-7, in a convincing win that could knock the Vikings out of the AP poll in the upcoming week. SPSL 2A power Fife also won, 49-20 against Washington.
Reporter Dave Weber contributed to this story.