Takeaways from high school football state quarterfinals in South Sound
The high school football state quarterfinal round in Washington is in the books. Several South Sound area teams saw their seasons come to an end, but there are a few still alive, fighting for state titles this fall. Here’s what we learned from a wild quarterfinal weekend.
LINCOLN WILL REPRESENT TACOMA
For the first time in school history, Lincoln High School is moving on to the state semifinals. After beating Marysville-Pilchuck, 56-21 on Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Bowl, the Abes advance in the Class 3A state tournament.
And it was an emotional scene after the final buzzer sounded, with players picking up jugs and joyfully dousing coach Masaki Matsumoto with ice water.
“Well, I love them,” Matsumoto said, tearfully. This community, these families, this school and these players deserve this. We told them that there’s a lot of negative things that get labeled with Tacoma — especially the east and south side — and I told them this is a chance to give ourselves and these people some hope.
“I know it’s a football game. But … we all know it’s more than football. They put in the work. We just want to give them hope and something to celebrate. Our kids did that. I’m so proud of them.”
Lincoln has now advanced to the state playoffs for six consecutive seasons.
Jon Kitna took them to the quarterfinals in 2014 — just the second state trip in school history, and first since 2003 — before leaving for another high school coaching job in Texas.
Matsumoto took over the team in 2015, and the Abes have returned to the state playoffs in every season since.
But, each of the five state trips before this one wrapped up sooner than anticipated, and each ended in a crushing one-touchdown defeat.
Eastside Catholic won 28-21 in Kitna’s final season in 2014. Bonney Lake stunned the Abes, 35-28, Matsumoto’s first. Lincoln lost a 28-20 heartbreaker to O’Dea in the 2016 quarterfinals. Garfield prematurely knocked the Abes out with a 44-41 win in the first round in Tacoma the following season, and Rainier Beach did the same with a 14-7 win last year.
“I told them in past years when we’ve felt like we’ve come short of our goals — it’s on me,” Matsumoto said. “I’ve done, and I’m still trying to do, everything I can to learn from those mistakes and not let them down.”
He hasn’t.
This season, Lincoln can finally celebrate overcoming the early round hurdles with its first state semifinals berth.
“We just believed in ourselves from the beginning,” Abes junior Julien Simon said. “We thought this team was going to be able to do it. We knew this team was special.”
Saturday’s win is significant in Abes history but has greater meaning for the city as well.
Lincoln is the first Tacoma Public Schools program to advance to the state semifinals since Wilson — led by former NFL player Marcus Trufant and current Rams coach Amad Robinson — played for a state title in 1998.
“It means a lot,” Abes senior Abner Sio said. “To be the first (Lincoln) team to ever make it to the semis is huge. We had to make a statement. We have the whole city that’s counting on us and, yeah, we did that today. I’m very proud of my team.”
NO. 1 TUMWATER LOOKS UNSTOPPABLE
The undefeated T-Birds were supposed to finally be tested this week, against eighth-seeded Archbishop Murphy, a program that has sparred with over Tumwater plenty over the years in the state tournament.
That didn’t happen.
Tumwater rolled, 48-0, in another dominant effort at Tumwater District Stadium. It was the fifth time in seven postseason meetings over the past nine years that Tumwater has defeated Archbishop Murphy.
“All three phases did a great job,” said Tumwater coach Bill Beattie. “The coaching staff did a phenomenal job, but more importantly these kids prepared. They paid attention to what was going on. They were very focused this week.”
Tumwater faces No. 4 Hockinson next in the Class 2A state tournament semifinals.
STEILACOOM THROUGH TO SEMIS FOR FIRST TIME
Lincoln wasn’t the only South Sound area school to break through for the first time. With the second-seeded Sentinels’ 48-15 Class 2A state quarterfinal win over No. 7 Prosser at Mount Tahoma High School on Friday night, Steilacoom punched its ticket to the semifinal round for the first time.
Steilacoom offensive coordinator Greg Herd — who played for Steilacoom in the late 2000s and went on to a prolific career at Eastern Washington University and a stint in the NFL — knew how much the win meant to the Steilacoom community.
“It’s just awesome to see those guys invest into the school and community, see all the hard work, dedication, buy-in,” Herd said. “We have a bunch of guys on the staff that went to Steilacoom. I think it bleeds into our kids. We care about this community, we care about this school. We hold them to a high standard.”
Steilacoom was led by senior running back Rasun Williams, who posted a career-high 225 yards and a touchdown in the win, just months after his family’s house had burned down and family friends in Steilacoom had taken them in.
TOP-SEEDED KENNEDY CATHOLIC GOES DOWN
The No. 1 seeded Lancers fell to eighth-seeded Woodinville, 55-42, in the Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals.
Woodinville led 28-0 less than a minute into the second quarter, and kept Kennedy chasing the rest of the way.
Kennedy finally stopped the bleeding in the second, cutting the lead to three possessions, but that’s as close as it got until late in the fourth quarter.
“We gave it a run and we fell short,” Kennedy coach Sheldon Cross said. “We ran out of time. … We made it interesting. We didn’t quit, and I love that.”
HEARTBREAK FOR GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN, BETHEL, PUYALLUP
After Bothell kicker Charlie Shulkin drilled a 40-yard field goal to give the Cougars a 30-27 lead with under 2 minutes in the fourth quarter of a Class 4A state quarterfinal matchup against Graham-Kapowsin at Art Crate Field on Saturday afternoon, the fourth-seeded Eagles had one more chance to drive down the field to win the game against the fifth-ranked Cougars.
Graham-Kapowsin started the drive with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining from its own 27 and marched to the Bothell 8 with 20.7 seconds left.
Graham-Kapowsin quarterback Nate Thomas had connected with receiver Eython Daugherty three times on the final drive, twice with Malaki Roberson and once with Trevor Merck to put the Eagles in prime position to score and win the game.
Facing a third-and-6 from the Bothell 8, Thomas took off running up the middle, but a Bothell defender knocked the ball loose and the Cougars (10-2) recovered to win the game, 30-27, ending Graham-Kapowsin’s (11-1) previously undefeated season in the state quarterfinal round.
“We had 100 percent faith (we were going to score and win the game),” Daugherty said. “I thought we were going to get in. It just sucks how it ended.”
Roberson posted a huge effort in the loss, catching seven passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns, also rushing five times for 102 yards. He even completed a 6-yard pass for Graham-Kapowsin.
Fourth-seeded Bethel, playing in the second game of the doubleheader at Art Crate Field following Graham-Kapowsin, fell to No. 5 Kennewick, 21-20.
With 25 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, Braves’ quarterback Kekoa Visperas connected with receiver Cameron Parker for a 43-yard touchdown pass, putting No. 4 Bethel within one point of tying the game.
It was a perfect throw and catch and an unlikely, late-game heroic drive from an offense that had largely struggled for most of the evening. Bethel still needed to make the extra point, but it was blocked, effectively sealing for Kennewick.
“Heartbreaking loss,” said Bethel running back Will Latu.
Seventh-seeded Puyallup, meanwhile, lost 56-27 to No. 2 Camas on the road on Saturday afternoon in Class 4A.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 10:27 AM.
