What we learned from Week 9 of high school football season in South Sound
Week 9 of the high school football regular season is in the books and playoffs are here, with several South Sound teams poised to make deep runs in the state tournament. Here’s what we learned from the final week of the high school football regular season.
WHAT’S SPANAWAY LAKE’S CEILING? WE’LL FIND OUT
It’s hard to tell what to make of Spanaway Lake. And that’s not necessarily the fault of the Sentinels; they’ve only played five games this season as a result of covid cancellations.
That’s one game fewer than the team played during the shortened spring season. The 3A Pierce County League is top heavy, so there were two games that were going to give us an idea of how good the defending league champion Sentinels were: Lincoln and Lakes. Spanaway Lake lost 41-14 to Lincoln on Sept. 23. Last Friday, the Sentinels put together an impressive 32-21 win over Lakes.
We don’t have any nonleague games to show how Spanaway Lake might have matched up against teams from around the state, so most of what we can glean comes from those two games. The Sentinels weren’t competitive against Lincoln but certainly looked the part in Friday night’s win against Lakes, led by a breakout game from sophomore running back Joshua Collie.
He finished the night with 16 carries for 226 yards and three touchdowns in the win, showing blazing straight-line speed and the ability to shed some tackles, too.
“He’s fast, he’s got some great legs, some strong legs,” said Spanaway Lake coach Cameron Robak. “He just runs hard, he’s just gotta get more confidence in our scheme. He’s only a sophomore, he was out most of the year injured. So I think he’s just going to keep on rolling these next two years and hopefully deep into this playoff run.”
Four-star recruit Jasiah Wagoner, a corner, and safety KeeKee McQueen highlight a defense that’s going to make teams work for every yard in the postseason. Linebacker Eugene Camacho and defensive end Trishion Sullivan are physical in the front seven. There’s a lot to like from this team and a lot of talented pieces — the Sentinels just haven’t had many chances to take the field this season.
The win against Lakes felt meaningful, not just to take the league’s No. 2 playoff seed, but to provide some momentum heading into the playoffs. Sure, this team has had frustrating stoppages throughout the season, but ultimately what matters is playing your best football as you head into the playoffs, and that’s where Spanaway Lake is.
4A SPSL’S TOP THREE FINISH WITH JUST THREE TOTAL LOSSES
Graham-Kapowsin finished 9-0, winning the league. Sumner finished 8-1, losing to Graham-Kapowsin and Puyallup finished 6-2, losing to both G-K and Sumner.
It’s largely what we expected from the 4A South Puget Sound League’s top tier. We felt coming into the season that these three teams were a cut above the rest and that bore out over the course of the season. Just how clear were the tiers? The fourth place team was Bellarmine Prep, finishing with a 5-3 league record. Puyallup beat Bellarmine on Saturday, 42-7.
Bellarmine scored the game’s first touchdown before Puyallup rattled off 42 unanswered points. The Vikings led 35-7 at halftime. Jordan Dwyer caught a pair of touchdown receptions in the win and Ryan Cramer rushed 17 times for 120 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
“Our line is just great,” Cramer said. “They really got their assignments in. I gotta buy them some donuts or something next week.”
We still feel Graham-Kapowsin has the best shot of any South Sound team to win the 4A state championship — OK, we’re not exactly going out on a limb here, picking the state’s No. 1 team — but Sumner and Puyallup both have the potential to knock off any team in the field, depending on the matchup.
3A SOUTH SOUND CONFERENCE HAS SOME CLARITY
Gig Harbor, which beat River Ridge on Friday night, is officially in the playoffs. The league’s athletic directors met on Saturday and determined there was no scenario in which the Tides would or could be knocked out of the playoff picture.
So that left Timberline (4-3) and Central Kitsap (3-2) left for the league’s final playoff spot. Since Central Kitsap wasn’t able to play all its games because of covid protocol, the league was unable to fairly assign a tiebreaker scenario to advance either of the teams.
So they’ll play a tiebreaker game on Tuesday night at Central Kitsap High School. There will be two 12-minute halves to determine which team will move onto the postseason.
PLAYOFFS ARE SET
Times and dates are still being determined, but here are the Week 10 playoff matchups.
CLASS 4A
Federal Way at Graham-Kapowsin
Curtis at Eastlake
Emerald Ridge at Lake Stevens
Mount Rainier at Camas
Bellarmine Prep at Bothell
Skyline at Glacier Peak
Tahoma at Sumner
Kamiak at Skyview
Kentwood at Woodinville
North Creek at Kennedy Catholic
Puyallup at Mount Si
CLASS 3A
Southridge at Bellevue
Juanita at Eastside Catholic
Mead at Yelm
Auburn at O’Dea
Central Kitsap/Timberline at Kennewick
Bishop Blanchet at Marysville Pilchuck
Stanwood at Lincoln
Edmonds-Woodway at Peninsula
Auburn Mountainview at Arlington
Snohomish at Rainier Beach
Gig Harbor at Mt. Spokane
Seattle Prep at Mountain View
Kelso at Auburn Riverside
Liberty (Issaquah) at Spanaway Lake
Ferndale at Garfield
Monroe at Lakes
CLASS 2A (District 3)
Renton at North Kitsap
Interlake at Steilacoom
White River at Highline
Washington at Enumclaw
Bremerton at Orting
