Week 10: Takeaways from high school football playoffs in the South Sound
Friday night’s Week 10 postseason games are in the books for the high school football season in the South Sound, which saw several teams punch tickets to the state tournament. Here’s what we learned from an exciting slate of postseason games, highlighted by The News Tribune’s featured game of the week, No. 5 Puyallup’s 42-21 win over Auburn Mountainview.
Puyallup’s ground game looks strong
The way Auburn Mountainview lined up on defense, Puyallup coach Gary Jeffers figured the Vikings might be able to run the football effectively.
“It’s just kind of the structure of their defense,” Jeffers said. “They give you a little bit more of a run opportunity than they do a pass opportunity. They have a lot of moving parts in the defensive backfield, so the looks aren’t as clean. We have two pretty good running backs and a pretty good offensive line, so we felt pretty confident that we were going to be able to move the ball on the ground.”
The biggest beneficiary was sophomore Ziere Ford, who rushed 23 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have a great offensive line,” Ford said. “We just push, read our wholes. The running backs did well, quarterback made the right reads, and we did everything like we were supposed to. Just the line holding it down, pushing. Great players on the sideline, the team working together as a whole.”
Senior Isaiah Dickerson also had a big night, rushing 16 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
“They’re kind of more spread out (on defense),” Puyallup quarterback Luke Holcomb said. “It was a different defense with those two high safeties and that one high mike. So that just left the middle open for us, our line blocked well, and Ziere and Isaiah, they ran really well today, and Danny, too, of course. That wasn’t our game plan exactly but it was working, so we just stuck with it.”
In total, Puyallup rushed for 257 yards behind a powerful offensive line, anchored by tackle Braeden Bellmer and guard Austin Lawrence.
“It’s really a group effort up there,” Jeffers said. “They’re just a strong group of kids.”
Holcomb said this year’s line has a unique chemistry.
“We always have the linemen dinners,” Holcomb said. “I love the line. Linemen are typically kind of weird dudes. But I love them, they’re funny. We all trust each other … They were eating tonight.”
Ford’s take? Let’s just say he doesn’t mind running behind Puyallup’s line.
“Best line in the state,” he said. “They’re amazing.”
Puyallup can attack teams in different ways
For as good as the ground game was on Friday night, Puyallup was threatening through the air, also. Holcomb completed 13-of-17 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown, a play in which he found Angel Sanchez on a slant for a 36-yard score.
Having run-pass balance, being able to attack teams in different ways and adapting to different looks defenses are giving the Vikings is something the Puyallup offense prides itself on.
“I definitely think that’s we strive for,” Jeffers said. “We want to take what people will give us and be successful when they give us opportunities.”
That balance makes Puyallup a difficult team to slow down.
“We’re a 50/50 team,” Ford said. “We pass the ball deep — touchdowns. We run the ball — touchdowns. As you could see from today, we did great on both sides.”
Will Tumwater run the table?
It’s one thing to beat a team handily, but what Tumwater — the state’s top-ranked 2A team — did to visiting Columbia River on Friday night was something else entirely. With 2:20 still to play in the first quarter, the T-Birds (10-0) were up on the Chieftains (3-7), 40-0. Tumwater ultimately ran off 66 unanswered points before winning, 66-13.
Ranked all season as the state’s No. 1 Class 2A team in every poll, the T-Birds will almost certainly receive the top seed to the state playoffs, which begin next week.
There are some talented teams across the state in 2A, with Hockinson, Steilacoom, Lynden, Archbishop Murphy and others pegged as contenders. But it’s going to be a tall order for any team to slow down Tumwater right now.
Lakes picks up road win
It was the Devon Nofoa-Masoe show in Lakes’ 31-7 road win over Snohomish on Friday night to send the Lancers to the 3A state tournament. The sophomore rushed for 182 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns in the first half.
“He’s a great runner, and he’s a great linebacker,” said Lakes coach Dave Miller. “He didn’t play last week. We kind of held him out because he was a little banged up. He’s back to health now, and he’s a guy that has to touch the ball because he’s hard to tackle. He means a lot to our team.”
With Nofoa-Masoe at full strength, Lakes could be a sneaky-dangerous team in the state tournament.
“We found our rhythm,” Nofoa-Masoe said. “Now that we found our rhythm, we’ve just got to keep going, keep pushing and keep fighting, no matter what team it is.”
Peninsula, Yelm will represent 3A SSC in state
Before last year, it had been 31 years since Yelm had qualified for the state tournament. With Friday night’s 27-17 win over Edmonds-Woodway, the Tornados made it back-to-back trips to the 3A state tournament.
Quarterback Ben Hoffmann completed 14-of-17 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 69 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win.
“We saw some things we could exploit,” said Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo. “We kept it simple at first. They were giving us the coverage we thought they would. They never adjusted to what we were doing, so we took advantage of it.”
Peninsula, the 3A South Sound Conference champion, pitched a 35-0 shutout at home against Arlington to punch its ticket to state.
Landon Sims rushed 11 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns, Sean Skladany rushed 15 times for 89 yards and Shawn Leonard rushed five times for 40 yards and a touchdown. Chase Wittmers hauled in four receptions for 55 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Jumper leads Eatonville past Orting
It was the Caden Jumper show once again for Eatonville on Friday night, with the do-it-all quarterback leading the Cruisers past Orting, 57-35.
Jumper completed 10-of-18 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 14 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
“Obviously, he’s a great player,” said Eatonville coach Gavin Kralik. “We love his toughness.”
Jumper said he knew the Cruisers were in for a tough game.
“We knew the last couple times we played them, we beat them, so they kind of had that grudge on us,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a fight.”
Kralik said his team is in a good place, health-wise, at this point in the season, when injuries generally have taken their toll.
“Our team’s healthy,” he said. “This is the first time in my career that I’ve gone into Week 11 and got every single kid on the roster healthy and able to play. I’m just really excited about what’s ahead of us.”
Plenty of state tickets punched
In 4A, No. 4 Graham-Kapowsin advanced to state with a 49-6 win over Mount Vernon. Receiver Malaki Roberson hauled in eight receptions for 163 yards and three touchdowns and also completed a pass for a 34-yard touchdown on a trick play.
In 2A, No. 3 Steilacoom beat Washington, 63-13 and Franklin Pierce beat Olympic, 31-24 to advance to the state tournament.
Several South Sound teams will also be in action on Saturday night. Check thenewstribune.com for the latest results and state brackets early in the week.
Contributing writers Dave Weber, Aaron Lommers and Thomas Kyle-Milward contributed to this story.
This story was originally published November 9, 2019 at 11:25 AM.