Kentwood’s offensive line dominates in win over Federal Way
The Kentwood High School coaching staff cooked up a recipe for success that was apparent from the early moments of Saturday’s 27-7 win over Federal Way.
The Conquerors wanted to keep the ball on the ground, control the clock and wear down the Eagles – and led by their offensive line, they did just that to improve to 2-0 in Class 4A NPSL play.
Kentwood scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and added a field goal on its third to take a 17-0 lead, and the Conquerors never really allowed the Eagles to get back into the game after that.
“It’s starts with our center,” Kentwood coach Michael Bush said. “He’s a senior and he’s been a starting O-lineman for a couple of years now, and then we’ve got two sophomores next to him that are just fighters, and they’ve been fighting.
“It’s great to see. They’ve got a very bright future. They are actually D-lineman that we moved over to guard. They really want to be playing D-line, but they did a great job and they helped us control the game.”
Kentwood’s offensive line opened holes for senior running back Lole Tapasa and senior quarterback Jackson Proctor throughout the game. Proctor kept the ball for several big runs and had a rushing touchdown, and Tapasa led the team with 140 yards on the ground and two scores.
“Nothing short of carrying the team,” Tapasa said of his offensive line. “Nothing goes without our offensive line. Without them holding us up we for sure wouldn’t have been marching down the field the way we were.”
Tapasa led the team in workman like fashion. His runs weren’t flashy, but he seemed to tire the Eagles’ defense with pounding runs and slowly racked up the yards.
“He’s always been like that,” Bush said. “Our first game, we didn’t feel like we did enough for him and got him going enough even though he was over 80 yards. We felt like we wanted to establish him this game and let him be him.”
With the offensive line dominating and the running game clicking, the Conquerors held a sizeable time of possession advantage, especially in the first half.
“I think that was a great game plan by our offensive coordinator Brandon Gibson,” Bush said. “I think he did an awesome job of saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to run the ball and attack them with the run game and then we’re going to take some shots.’ We wanted to have the ball. We wanted to possess the ball and wear them down and then hopefully finish them late in the game.”
Even when things weren’t going well for the Conquerors on offense, they found a way to salvage possessions. In the first half, back-to-back penalties back them up deep in their own territory where they faced a first-and-28, but Proctor connected with wide receiver Omari Williams for 63 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Federal Way 10-yard-line. Kentwood wasn’t able to find the end zone, but they did finish the drive with a 29-yard field goal by Thomas Allam to take a 17-0 lead.
Allam was also perfect on his extra points and added a 38-yard field goal later in the game.
“Our goal is to play real football and that even starts with our kicker,” Bush said. “When we get down there and it’s fourth-and-3, hey, let’s go ahead and get three points. … He’s done a great job. This week has been really challenging for him. He didn’t kick as well as he wanted to week one, but he just went back to the drawing board and started working on his approach, and really mentally this week he was amazing. I’m happy to see he had some good things that he had some good things happen to be successful.”
The win for Kentwood sets up a showdown with also unbeaten Kennedy Catholic. The Conquerors host the Lancers next Saturday at noon.
It will be the toughest test so far this season for Kentwood. The Lancers are led by future University of Washington quarterback Sam Huard, who has thrown for over 900 yards and 13 touchdowns in just two games this season.
“(We’re) more than excited,” Tapasa said of the chance to face Kennedy. “I’m 100% certain it will show on the field next week, for sure. We’re just going to come in next week on Monday, stay focused, get our game plans ready, get ready and get in practice and get ready for next week.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 7:11 PM.