Week 5: What we learned from high school football in South Sound
The Class 3A South Sound Conference crowned its champion in Thurston County this weekend.
Most Pierce County leagues — including the 4A South Puget Sound League and 3A Pierce County League — have one week remaining.
The 4A/3A North Puget Sound League is just getting started.
Whether programs were winding up or winding down their seasons last week, there was no shortage of action.
Here’s what we learned from the fifth week of high school football in the South Sound:
1. Who won the 2A title game rematch between Tumwater and Steilacoom in a battle of unbeatens?
There will be no high school football state playoffs in this COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season, but Steilacoom and Tumwater met Saturday night for a replay of last season’s 2A state championship game.
Considered by most as the top two teams in 2A this season, the two powerhouse programs made sure to schedule each other for what many believe would have been the 2A title game had the season played out normally.
“I think in our eyes, and everybody else’s eyes, it was the 2A state championship,” T-Birds senior lineman Cooper Wall said. “They know it. We knew it. Everybody knows it. We prepared for it, and so did they.”
The T-Birds won last season’s meeting, 48-34, on a chilly night in December in 2019. How did the rematch play out?
The green machine kept rolling, and Tumwater again capped a perfect season with a win, running away from the Sentinels in the second half for a 50-12 victory at Tumwater District Stadium.
“Those players just got so excited and they worked their tails off, and they knew this was it for them,” Tumwater coach Bill Beattie said. “This was their last week. For those seniors, this was their last year of high school football.
“They really put on a show tonight.”
Tumwater received the opening kickoff, and never trailed after Jack Jones scored on a 4-yard run eight plays later.
The T-Birds scored again on an 8-yard pass from Cody Whalen to tight end Austin Terry to take a two-score lead.
The Sentinels answered with a 12-yard pass from Western Kentucky signee Chance McDonald to Central Washington signee to cut the lead to 14-6 at the break.
Tumwater struck first in the second half on a 1-yard keeper by Whalen, and the momentum shifted completely when Wall hauled in a tipped pass inside the Steilacoom 10 and rumbled into the end zone to give the T-Birds a sudden 29-6 lead.
Turner Allen — who finished with a game-high 201 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries — tallied the first of his three scores on Tumwater’s following possession with an 8-yard run.
The Sentinels scored their final touchdown moments later, when McDonald connected with Fryar on a 46-yard pass downfield that was tipped. Fryar made a magnificent juggling grab before trotting into the end zone.
Tumwater scored on each of its final two drives on runs of 3 and 11 yards by Allen.
The T-Birds combined for 451 total yards on offense while limiting Steilacoom to 256. Tumwater’s defense also recorded five sacks, including one by Minnesota signee Jacob Schuster on the Sentinels’ first offensive play.
Whalen finished 11-of-18 passing for 121 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while also adding 77 rushing yards and a score on nine carries.
Jones tallied 51 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, and added a team-high 51 receiving yards on four catches.
For Steilacoom, McDonald finished 11-of-26 passing for 250 yards, the two touchdowns and the two interceptions. Cole Miller — who had a game-high 107 yards on two catches — was the Sentinels’ top receiver.
Tumwater is now 20-0 since losing its most recent game in the 2A quarterfinals against Lynden in 2018.
2. Graham-Kapowsin continued its undefeated run through the 4A SPSL with a rout of Peninsula
Graham-Kapowsin kept its undefeated run through the 4A SPSL rolling Thursday night at Art Crate Field in Spanaway with a 49-24 win over league newcomer Peninsula.
The Eagles were paced by a career performance from senior Va’a Hansen, who tallied five touchdowns in the game.
“He is an incredible athlete,” Graham-Kapowsin coach Eric Kurle said. “He has played so well on defense for us all year, returning kicks, getting six or seven carries at running back and a bunch of plays at receiver. He has been doing a little bit of everything.
“He is one of those special athletes with the ball in his hands.”
Hansen finished with 24 carries for a game-high 205 yards and touchdown runs of 5 and 1 yards.
Both of his receptions of 41 and 24 yards also went for scores.
And he added a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown on the third play of the game to give the Eagles a lead they never lost.
“Everything clicked,” Hansen said. “We came to play.”
Peninsula, usually a member of the 3A SSC, but playing up a classification in the 4A SPSL during this shortened season as a temporary member, was also undefeated entering the day.
Senior Landon Sims led the Seahawks in both rushing (nine carries, 41 yards, TD) and receiving (five catches, 109 yards).
Graham-Kapowsin is now one win away from locking up its second consecutive unbeaten 4A SPSL title.
The Eagles travel to Sumner for their season finale Wednesday.
3. Lincoln’s Gabarri Johnson engineers late scoring drive as Abes win thriller over Lakes
With less than five minutes to play Friday night at Lincoln Bowl, Abes quarterback Gabarri Johnson took it upon himself to put his team back in the win column.
The four-star sophomore passer guided his offense on a 96-yard scoring drive in the final four minutes, five seconds of the game, then barreled into the end zone for the winning two-point conversion to lift the Abes to a 22-21 win over 3A PCL rival Lakes.
“On the sideline, we all told the team, we’ve got to go fast,” Johnson said. “That’s what we did.”
With about a minute left to play, Johnson kept the scoring drive alive when he converted a fourth-and-8 pass to Darius Bailey for 18 yards from the Abes’ 47.
Five plays later, he connected with Bailey again on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 3.8 seconds remaining on the clock.
Johnson then muscled past a defender on his way into the end zone for the conversion, to give the Abes their one-point advantage.
“I promised my coaches I would punch it in, and that’s what I did,” Johnson said.
Johnson finished 19-of-27 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns.
Lakes completed a long pass on its only offensive play following Johnson’s score, but it was short of the end zone.
“I hope we bounce back,” Lakes coach Dave Miller said. “I told the kids, we did a lot of good stuff tonight. We’ve just got to get more consistent.”
Lincoln meets city rival Wilson in its season finale next week, while Lakes moves on to host undefeated Spanaway Lake.
Spanaway Lake remains the favorite to win the 3A PCL after crushing Stadium, 57-0, on Thursday night in Tacoma.
The Sentinels have shut out each of their past four opponents in dominant fashion by a combined score of 190-0. They’ve allowed one touchdown all season, in a 34-7 rout of the defending champion Abes in Week 1.
4. Yelm makes undefeated run to 3A SSC championship
High school football wrapped up in Thurston County this weekend, and Yelm was crowned the 3A SSC champion after making an undefeated run though the league.
The Tornados stormed to a 6-0 record in the shortened season, topping their opponents by a combined score of 202-76.
Apart from edging league newcomer River Ridge, 22-21, back in the second week of play, Yelm won each of its games by two or more scores.
The Tornados were paced this season by a veteran offensive line, which featured seniors Dylan Jemtegaard, a California signee, Slade Edwards, a Central Washington signee, and Josh Piland.
“With their size and experience, our O-line was the motor behind the vehicle,” Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo said.
The offensive line gave Yelm’s skill players a chance to thrive. Senior Sean Rohwedder led the Tornados on the ground, with 715 yards and 10 touchdowns on 105 carries, while freshman Brayden Platt added 475 yards and six scores on 47 carries.
Sophomore Kyler Ronquillo did a bit of everything for Yelm, finishing as the team leader with 14 catches for 202 yards and two touchdowns, and adding 38 carries for 296 yards and five scores on the ground. He also returned punts and kicks and played defensive back, logging 16 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble. He also appeared at quarterback.
Yelm’s defense allowed less than 10 points per game. Sophomore linebacker Ray Wright led the program with 67 tackles, including 10 for losses, four sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery.
Despite losing a large senior class to graduation this spring, Jason Ronquillo expects the Tornados to still be in the running in the 3A SSC come fall.
“We’ll be competitive again moving forward into next year,” he said. “We have a lot of young talent. But, they’re going to have to earn the right to be competitive. We’ve got a lot of holes to fill on the line of scrimmage, of course, but we’ll be competitive.”
5. Kennedy Catholic’s Sam Huard could rewrite state history next weekend
Sam Huard is on the cusp of state history.
Following another impressive performance Friday night at Federal Way Memorial Field, Kennedy Catholic’s senior quarterback appears poised to rewrite the state record for most passing yards in a career next week.
Former Shadle Park quarterback Brett Rypien, who went on to star for Boise State and now plays for the Broncos, set the mark to beat between 2011-14, when he threw for 13,044 yards across 39 games.
Huard, a Washington signee, entered the season having completed 746-of-1,218 passes for 11,745 yards and 132 touchdowns in 32 games, and was sitting in fourth place on the all-time list when his season opened last week.
He threw for 515 yards and seven touchdowns, completing 28-of-37 passes in a 49-14 rout of Tahoma last week as he inched ever closer to the career record.
Friday night against the Gators, he finished 30-of-42 for 444 yards and six touchdowns — he threw for more than 400 yards and all of his scores in the first half — as the Lancers rolled to a 53-6 win.
Huard passed DeSales’ Brian Lindgren (12,575 yards in 39 games from 1996-98) in career yardage in the win over Decatur, and now sits behind only Skyline’s Max Browne (12,953 yards in 52 games from 2009-12) and Rypien.
Through his 34 career games, Huard is now 804-of-1,297 passing for 12,704 yards and 145 touchdowns.
“It’s a thing of beauty,” Kennedy coach Sheldon Cross said. “He’s the best. It’s privilege to be able to coach him and watch him play.”
Huard needs less than 400 yards to eclipse Rypien’s mark when the Lancers host Kentwood in their home opener next week in Burien.
But, as he has often noted throughout his career, records are not what is on his mind heading into this Class 4A North Puget Sound League showdown.
“Just being locked in and just being focused on executing and doing our job,” Huard said. “Let’s enjoy this one and then get back to work this week and get ready to go for Kentwood, which is a great team.
“We’ve definitely had some great matchups with them in the past couple years. That’s definitely always a fun matchup to look forward to, and just got to put in the work and keep doing what we’re doing.”
Craig Craker and Doug Drowley contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
