High school football roundup: Emerald Ridge bounces back with win over Olympia
Daylen Mathews stood outside the home locker room at Sparks Stadium on Thursday night, surrounded by friends and teammates. Only smiles could be seen in the senior’s vicinity, minutes after the linebacker and Emerald Ridge High School stormed over Olympia for the program’s first win of the season.
Mathews, grinning ear to ear, was only two hours removed from the first quarter performance of a lifetime. He snagged two interceptions in the opening period, and on consecutive drives. The plays came only 53 seconds apart.
“No, absolutely not. No (chance I predict that),” Mathews said. “I just read the plays and made the plays.”
Emerald Ridge’s defense went on to snag three interceptions in the first half, more than enough to topple the Bears in a 35-19 win.
Quarterback Jake Schakel tossed three touchdowns, including two to junior wideout Gio Kafentzis, as the Jaguars defense suffocated the run and rejected the pass.
The win was Emerald Ridge’s first of the season after a crushing one-point loss to Puyallup six days earlier. It became increasingly clear throughout Thursday’s win that no player on Emerald Ridge — offense, defense, or backup — wanted to lose again.
“We played great,” Mathews said. “We put all of our effort into that game.”
Mathews’ first interception was returned 54 yards for a touchdown, pushing Emerald Ridge’s lead to 14 in the early stages. Perched behind the Jaguars defensive line, Mathews read the eyes of Olympia quarterback Gabe Downing and sprung into the flat, snagging a wayward attempt.
It’s a play Mathews makes often at practice, Emerald Ridge coach Adam Schakel said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen (Daylen) run that fast,” he continued. “He turned to the sideline, and I wanted to get a clock on him, because I think that’s the fastest he’s ever run.”
After Emerald Ridge kicked off, Downing threw again to the outside, but was picked when the ball was tipped up and fell, basically, into Mathews’ lap.
“It tipped up, and I caught it,” Mathews said. “I had to get there.”
Emerald Ridge opened scoring when Jake Schakel escaped a near-sack and launched a 63-yard touchdown pass to Kafentzis, who burned Olympia’s secondary and raced home for the score.
Mathews’ interception return pushed the lead to 14, though he wouldn’t intercept a third — Downing hit Drew Carlson for a pair of receptions totaling 51 yards, and Parker Fouts caught another over the middle for a 16-yard touchdown to complete a much-needed scoring drive.
The touchdown cut Olympia’s deficit back to seven, 14-7, with little time left in the first.
Emerald Ridge’s Logan Lisherness recovered a fumble in the opening minutes of the second, wiping away an important stop by Olympia’s defense and offering the Jaguars a trip to the red zone.
Olympia forced a fourth down from its own 9-yard line, but surrendered a touchdown when Schakel fired a 9-yard scoring pass to Tony Harste.
Downing’s next possession with Olympia’s offense resulted in another interception, snatched by Emerald Ridge defensive back Kajon Babcock. Lisherness powered a 6-yard rush over the goal line minutes later, pushing the score to 28-7.
“If we want to be a team that’s going to win football games, we have to have all of the phases,” Adam Schakel said. “Running the football and stopping the run is always going to be something that we have to work on and control.”
Downing threw a third interception before intermission, snagged by Pierce Kelly on the Olympia 37. Emerald Ridge scored quickly on Kafentzis’ second touchdown reception of the game, this time for 37 yards.
When the horn signaled halftime, Emerald Ridge trotted into the locker room with a 35-7 lead.
“(Olympia) had some tough breaks, but they’re a good football team,” Adam Schakel said. “There’s a bunch of good football teams in this league, and I think any time you can get a win in this league, it’s going to be hard-fought and earned.”
A scoreless third period led to Olympia’s first response since the first quarter, when the Bears opened the fourth with a toe-tapping touchdown catch inside the pylon by Mason Juergens.
Carlson hauled in the Bears’ second touchdown of the half, a 10-yard reception with 16 seconds left in the game. Emerald Ridge recovered an onside kick attempt before Schakel took to victory formation.
“We’re coming,” Mathews said. “We’re coming for the playoffs. We’re going to do a lot this year.”
PLAY OF THE GAME
When Kafentzis came down with Jake Schakel’s long first quarter heave, the senior wideout was two steps ahead of his defender.
Kafentzis, in essence, was gone. He torched the Bears secondary early on, racing home for a 63-yard touchdown — the game’s first — before Mathews followed with the pick-six on the ensuing drive.
It was an impressive route by Kafentzis, and an even better throw from Schakel to begin Emerald Ridge’s first win of the campaign.
“He was rock-solid on his reads tonight,” Adam Schakel said of his quarterback. “He was hitting pretty well, particularly in the first half. When things weren’t there, he did a good job not forcing it.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Thursday’s contest guaranteed a crucial victory in response to last weekend, when both programs lost season openers by a single point.
Both Olympia and Emerald Ridge held fourth quarter leads last weekend before Curtis rallied to top the Bears last Friday, 35-34, and Puyallup stormed back to shock the Jaguars, 29-28.
“(Tonight) was super important,” Mathews said. “We talked about bouncing back all week. That loss (last week) hurt us. We gave it all we got today, and came out with the win.”
UP NEXT
Emerald Ridge (1-1) travels to Sumner next Friday at Sunset Chev Stadium, while Olympia (0-2) hosts defending 4A SPSL and state champion Graham-Kapowsin next Friday at Ingersoll Stadium.
PENINSULA 31, KENTWOOD 7
The Seahawks left Roy Anderson Field in Purdy frustrated last week following a 29-27 loss to visiting Enumclaw in their season-opener.
This week, though, they left their home field with a much more favorable result.
“It was a short week, but we had a very good week,” Peninsula coach Ross Filkins said after the Seahawks evened their record with 24-point win Thursday night. “And now we’ve just got to keep on growing.”
Peninsula (1-1) never trailed in the contest, opening scoring in the first quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run from quarterback Payton Knowles.
Kentwood responded with a 38-yard touchdown run by quarterback Anthony Tucker, but the Seahawks took the lead for good in the second quarter.
Aiden Lester collected a pair of 10-yard touchdown runs to give Peninsula a 21-7 lead at the break.
Knowles added a fourth Seahawks touchdown in the third quarter, when he connected with Conner Burton for a 39-yard score.
“Our passing game was very efficient and we were able to run the ball downhill against a very big, physical, aggressive defense,” Filkins said.
Frankie Cross added a 35-yard field goal in the fourth to give Peninsula its final 31-7 advantage.
The Seahawks shut out Kentwood in the final three quarters, and caused four turnovers — three fumbles and one interception — during the contest.
“Our kids really responded well to our own turnover issues and lack of execution last week,” Filkins said. “We took that very personally, and our kids did a great job tonight playing against a really talented team.”
Peninsula, last season’s 3A South Sound Conference co-champion, opens league play next week against Gig Harbor in the annual Fish Bowl rivalry game.
Kentwood (0-2) opens 4A North Puget Sound League play by hosting three-time defending league champion Kennedy Catholic.
SPANAWAY LAKE 17, MOUNT SI 14
Six days ago, Spanaway Lake was shut out in a season-opening loss to Gig Harbor.
Thursday night, the Sentinels (1-1) bounced back with a nonleague win over visiting 4A KingCo program Mount Si at Art Crate Field in Spanaway.
“Just giving us that confidence before we go into our league play is huge,” Spanaway Lake coach Cameron Robak said. “ … That’s a good 4A football team. I think they ran for 350 yards last week, so I think we played them well.”
Mount Si (1-1) piled up 450 yards of total offense and six touchdowns — including 354 yards and five scores on the ground — against Spanaway Lake’s 3A Pierce County League rival Silas last week.
This week, though? The Sentinels shut out the Wildcats in three of four quarters, including the entire second half to pick up their first win of the season.
Neither program scored in the opening quarter, but Spanaway Lake scored on the first play of the second, when quarterback Dempsy James — who did not play in Week 1 — connected with Oklahoma commit Jasiah Wagoner for a 15-yard score.
The Wildcats scored the next two touchdowns, though, on a 12-yard run by Liam Christensen and 4-yard run by Beau Phillips inside the final five minutes of the half to take a 14-6 lead into the break.
James tossed a second touchdown on Spanaway Lake’s first drive of the second half, connecting with Zion Jones on a 28-yard pass, and the Sentinels added a two-point conversion run to tie the score at 14-14.
Spanaway Lake kicker Danny Amaral scored the deciding points late in the third with a 22-yard field goal.
Neither team scored in the fourth.
“That was huge,” Robak said of Amaral’s winning kick. “ ... We just decided at that point we needed the points, and my senior kicker came through.”
Spanaway Lake begins 3A PCL play next week, opening its league schedule on the road against Mount Tahoma.
FRIDAY (SEPT. 9)
GIG HARBOR 24, BONNEY LAKE 0
Gig Harbor still hasn’t allowed a single point this season.
They’ve completed two games.
After blanking Spanaway Lake in last week’s season opener, the Tides rolled again to a 24-0 win at Bonney Lake on Friday night. Gig Harbor quarterback Will Landram threw two touchdowns, and rushed for another.
Reeves, now 2-0 in his first season at the helm, dubbed his defense “disciplined.” Formerly the program’s defensive coordinator, it’s a dream start for the unit he once led.
Could this start get any better?
“No,” Reeves said with a chuckle. “You can’t lose if they don’t score, right?”
Landram’s first touchdown pass was to Gavin Nash in the first quarter. Gig Harbor’s signal-caller took a five-yard keeper in for another score in the second quarter and connected with Blaze Herbert for another touchdown pass in the third.
Up next for the Tides: the annual Fish Bowl game with crosstown-rival Peninsula. The Seahawks bounced back with a 31-7 win over Kentwood on Thursday after dropping their season opener to 2A-contender Enumclaw on Sept. 1.
“(Peninsula’s) a really good team,” Reeves said. “Really disciplined. They stop the run. That’s their game.
“You want to be the team that stops the run. That’s our goal for next week.”
BOX SCORE
GH: 7-7-10-0—24
BL: 0-0-0-0—0
YELM 46, UNION 6
Regardless of whether Yelm’s Brayden Platt torched Union on the ground or through the air, there was no stopping him.
Within the contest’s opening five minutes, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Platt hauled in a screen pass and bolted down the sideline for a 50-yard receiving score, which gave Yelm a lead they would never surrender. He hurdled a man in the process, shedding tacklers and racing beyond the reach of Union challengers.
Said Yelm head coach Jason Ronquillo: “He had a pretty special night.”
Union’s only touchdown came in the third quarter, and their offense mustered only 48 total yards. Platt scored four times, in total, and Yelm went on to rout the Titans, 46-6.
Two minutes Platt’s first touchdown, the junior tailback and linebacker took a draw play up the middle and exploded for another 28-yard score.
Before the end of the opening period, Platt had secured a hat trick with a 41-yard rushing score that gave Yelm a 26-0 lead.
On the first play of the second quarter, Platt punched home a five-yard touchdown rush, his fourth of the game in less than 13 minutes.
Aden Schaller’s six-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter put the Tornados ahead by 40, and Kyler Ronquillo’s 14-yard receiving score with six seconds left in the first half pushed the score to 46-0.
“They followed the game plan. 48 yards total... the defense did spectacular,” Ronquillo said.
BOX SCORE
Y: 26-20-0-0–46
U: 0-0-6-0–6
Check back for updates from around the South Sound throughout the weekend.
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 11:35 PM.
