With revamped defense, Steilacoom looking to turn the tables on Lynden in 2A semifinals
Tending to a knee injury, Judah Jackson watched the game unfold from home through a Facebook Live stream.
He was hours away from where his Steilacoom High School teammates were playing up north, but the frustration was still extensive.
Jackson watched as Lynden built as much as a three-touchdown lead by the third quarter. He watched as the Sentinels made a speedy comeback in less than five minutes. And he watched as, ultimately, Lynden escaped with a 56-47 win in Week 3.
The 56 points were, by quite a margin, the most Steilacoom has allowed this season. The Sentinels allowed 455 rushing yards — averaging 8.4 yards per carry — and Lynden’s Steven DiLorenzo broke a school record with 320 yards on the ground.
Jackson remembers how he felt watching it all unravel.
“I saw that we were a little undisciplined (on defense) and I really wanted to be there with them and help them correct it,” he said. “There were just a few mistakes going in — and then at the end of the game, especially — and it really frustrated me quite a lot.”
That fuels the motivation he has now. At 3 p.m. Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School, the No. 2 Sentinels (10-2) get a rematch with No. 3 Lynden (9-2) in the Class 2A state semifinals.
Jackson, who anchors Steilacoom’s defensive line with 60 tackles — 11 for losses, three sacks — and has since been named the 2A SPSL Mountain defensive player of the year, will be in the trenches this time around.
“I’m very motivated,” Jackson said. “I want to show them what they didn’t see before. I want to bring the pressure to that quarterback. I want to show that left tackle what he was missing.
“I want to dominate them. I want to win in the semifinals. I want to go to the state finals.”
The Sentinels believe their second meeting with Lynden will play out differently. Joining Jackson are two more defensive starters — junior linebacker D.J. Fryar (8.4 tackles per game) and sophomore defensive tackle Nick Barnes (4.4) — who also missed the first game.
And Steilacoom has given its defense something of an overhaul since that first loss to the Lions. After allowing 97 points in two games to defending 4A state champion Union and Lynden in Weeks 2 and 3, the Sentinels have mixed in new defensive looks, sometimes adding more down linemen to emphasize stopping the run.
It’s worked out. The Sentinels are on a nine-game winning streak, have allowed just 12.2 points per game since, and never given up more than three touchdowns to an opponent.
And the scores have been lopsided in their favor. Their closest win since that Lynden game is a 17-point victory over league rival Fife.
Steilacoom’s district playoff win was a 63-13 rout of Washington, its opening-round win was a 42-21 rout of Ridgefield and its quarterfinals win a 48-15 rout of Prosser.
“We’re better up front on both sides of the ball,” Steilacoom coach Colby Davies said. “We’ve gotten so much better from a physicality standpoint and our guys learning how to play from a technique standpoint. We’ve changed schemes around, and this and that, and I think that our kids are preparing better and we’ve prepared them better to be successful against the run and running the football.
“Lynden exposed us, so we had to figure it out after that. We’ve done a good job of figuring it out.”
Steilacoom junior Emeka Egbuka — a five-star recruit who has a team-leading six interceptions for the Sentinels at cornerback — said the Sentinels have improved a lot since that loss, and are focused on keeping their historic season rolling.
“A lot of people have stepped up,” Egbuka said. “We’ve been playing the run really well and we have all of the athletes on the outside to make it work in the pass game. … We’re just excited to show our abilities on Saturday.”
Though, Egbuka is well aware of what the Sentinels are up against, considering Lynden has won six 2A state titles in the past 13 seasons.
“They’re a team that knows how to win,” he said. “Even when they’re down in a game, they never give up. They have a winning culture. … They don’t shoot themselves in the foot and they do their job.
“They’re a really disciplined team, and we’re going to have to show some discipline ourselves.”
Egbuka says the Sentinels are ready, on the cusp of their first title game appearance in program history.
“I think it’s very important to our coaches, our players — the seniors especially, I think they’ve all been looking forward to this,” Jackson said. “We’ve been talking about this for a really long time, ‘This is our year, this is our year.’ And finally, we’ve been able to prove it.
“A few setbacks with Lynden and of course Union, but since then we’ve gotten in a groove. We’ve been very effective with what we do offensively and defensively.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 6:01 AM.
