What we learned from Week 7 of high school football in South Sound
Week seven of the high school football season is in the books. Fans were treated to another dominant performance from Graham-Kapowsin, the state’s top-ranked team in Class 4A. The Eagles went on the road and beat No. 4 Sumner 41-14 to win the 4A South Puget Sound League title, extending its streak to three consecutive league championships. The last team to win the 4A SPSL was Puyallup in 2018.
Here’s what we learned from Week 7 of the season in the South Sound.
FACING BIGGEST TEST YET, GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN LEAVES NO DOUBT
Let’s start with this: Sumner is a good football team. Ranked fourth in the state in 4A, the Spartans had been blowing by everyone. Coming undefeated into Saturday’s showdown with Graham-Kapowsin, Sumner had beaten its opponents by an average of 37 points per game. The only close game was in the valley battle against rival Puyallup, a 26-21 for the Spartans.
Sumner coach Keith Ross knew the Spartans would have their hands full against the state’s No. 1 team, but few likely expected the outcome to be quite so lopsided. Graham-Kapowsin, held in check over the first quarter and change, exploded for three touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half at Sunset Chev Stadium.
Quarterback Joshua Wood hit tight end Andrew Savaiinaea for a 25-yard score. On Sumner’s next offensive play, Spartans’ quarterback Bo Carlson threw an interception, hauled in by G-K’s Ethan Pletcher. Then, on the very next play, Wood ran for a 24-yard touchdown.
Just like that, in 21 seconds, it went from a scoreless tie to a 14-0 Graham-Kapowsin advantage. The Eagles got the ball back once more in the half and scored on a six-yard rush from Wood, giving G-K a 20-0 lead heading into the break.
“We knew what we had to do going into halftime,” Wood said. “We knew we were getting the ball back right after half. We knew we had to come down and score.”
GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN QB WOOD KEEPS PROVING IT
We’ve written a lot about Joshua Wood. He’s the quarterback on the state’s No. 1 team, so he’s in a high-visibility position. It’s hard to overstate, though, just how good he’s been for the Eagles. He’ll never have the gaudy numbers that say, a Sam Huard had for Kennedy Catholic. He’s not going to throw the ball 50 times a game. Graham-Kapowsin doesn’t run the air raid. On the contrary, actually: this team’s foundation is strong line play and running the football.
That being said, it seems like every time Wood runs or throws the ball, he makes magic happen. He completed 15-of-20 passes (75 percent completion rate) for 275 yards and two touchdowns through the air against Sumner. He added 71 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, and had an 80-yard touchdown run called back.
Sumner coach Keith Ross had high praise for Wood after the game.
“He is really, really good,” Ross said. “He doesn’t have the stats of some of the quarterbacks in our league but he’s by far the best player. He can run, he can throw. He’s the best player.”
Wood recently announced his verbal commitment to play for Eastern Washington University. We’ll see how his college career pans out, but it sure feels like a lot of Pac-12 schools are going to regret not offering the dual-threat QB.
SUMNER NEEDS PEYTON WING
We wrote on Saturday night that if Sumner had a recipe to beat Graham-Kapowsin, it would have involved a heavy dose of running back and linebacker Peyton Wing, the league’s reigning MVP. During the opening drive, he was featured prominently, touching the ball on nine of the team’s 14 plays. Sumner was marching down the field and knocking at the door of the red zone.
Then Wing took a shot to the knee and had to leave for the sideline. He came in for one more defensive series but it was clear he wasn’t at full strength. He didn’t return to the game after. It’s been a lingering knee injury that he initially suffered in the Puyallup game. Wing has tried to play through it, but it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
With Wing, Sumner is one of the state’s top teams and a legitimate threat to make a run in the 4A state tournament. Without him, the team was unable to string together long drives against Graham-Kapowsin. There’s a reason he was the league MVP last spring, despite G-K winning the league: He’s a difference maker. Hopefully for Ross’ Spartans, Wing can make his way back onto the field, because Sumner needs him.
AUBURN RIVERSIDE WINS 3A NPSL
Greg Herd felt like he was throwing out more than his team could reasonably pick up last spring. There were practically no offseason workouts, so the former Steilacoom offensive coordinator had a short window to implement an entirely new system in his first season as the Auburn Riverside head coach last spring before games started.
“We had 10 practices to install new game plans, new offensive and defensive schemes, new practice plans, special teams schemes, all that stuff,” Herd told The News Tribune in August. “Everything was just scratching the surface. I feel like it was hard to put a quality product on the field, even keeping things pretty simple. There was so much new to learn and so little time.”
The Ravens posted a 1-3 record last spring in Herd’s first go-around as a head coach. Fast forward to this fall: Auburn Riverside is 6-0 and just beat Auburn Mountainview on Thursday night, 28-21 to win the 3A North Puget Sound League.
Ravens’ running back Thaddeus Umi-Tuato’o rushed for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 26 carries.
“We have a lot of seniors,” he said. “And we’ve worked since summer to get here. Our o-line is really good.”
TUMWATER IS PLENTY TESTED AHEAD OF 2A STATE TOURNAMENT
The reigning Class 2A state champion (2019) saw its 21-game win streak snapped in Week 3 at the hands of Oregon 6A powerhouse Central Catholic. We wrote after the loss that Tumwater should be given credit for scheduling aggressively and not backing down from a challenge. The same applies after Tumwater’s 28-26 loss to defending 4A state champion Camas on Friday.
It looked like it might be an uncharacteristic blowout loss for Tumwater, initially. At one point, Camas led 28-7.
“We want to play great competition and teams like that are going to come out and get after you,” said Tumwater coach Bill Beattie. “It took us a half to wake up. We made way too many mistakes. Those mistakes fall on my shoulders. We had way too many penalties, way too many miscues.”
But Camas didn’t score again from that point on. Quarterback Alex Overbay took the place of starter Brady Prothero after halftime and led the T-Birds to score 26 unanswered points. A potential game-tying two-point conversion was intercepted and Camas hung on for the 28-26 win.
The most interesting question moving forward: What will happen with Tumwater’s quarterback situation? Overbay, the son of former Major League Baseball player Lyle — who is the Tumwater baseball coach — came in and gave Tumwater a much-needed spark.
“Alex stepped in and did a fantastic job during the second half,” said Beattie.
Will there be a changing of the guard for the top-ranked team in 2A at the quarterback spot? We’ll find out in Week 8 when Tumwater takes on rival Black Hills.
COVID TAKES 3A SSC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AWAY
Peninsula had to cancel its nonleague game against Lincoln on Friday night because of covid issues in the program. It also had to cancel its game against Yelm in Week 8, which is the one that stings. It likely would have been the 3A South Sound Conference championship game, with both teams coming into the game with undefeated league records.
Yelm is the defending league champion, but that came last spring when Peninsula wasn’t playing in the league. The Seahawks played last spring as temporary members of the 4A SPSL. The last time Peninsula and Yelm were in the league together, Peninsula won the league in 2019.
Assuming Yelm beats Central Kitsap on Oct. 29 to complete a perfect run through the 3A SSC, the Tornados will be the league champion.
