Matthew Spurbeck unstoppable, leads Sumner past Graham-Kapowsin in 4A SPSL contest
Call it the Matthew Spurbeck game. On Friday night on the road at Art Crate Field against the defending Class 4A state champion Graham-Kapowsin Eagles, Sumner High School’s junior running back was relentless.
Spurbeck gashed the Eagles to the tune of 279 yards and two touchdowns — one of the best single-game statistical performances ever from a player wearing a Sumner uniform — leading Sumner to a 34-31 win. Spurbeck graciously deflected credit to his teammates after the game.
“Our line is great,” he said. “They made giant holes the entire time, I just hit off of them the entire night. That’s all props to them.”
Graham-Kapowsin led 24-16 going into the fourth quarter, but the Eagles were showing signs of being worn down by Sumner’s running attack. Spurbeck scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the Spartans ahead for good.
“What we saw was us changing our offensive game plan the last two weeks and getting downhill,” said Sumner coach Keith Ross. “Spurbeck is short but he’s compact and he’s a power runner. We’ve been waiting for this breakout. He’s been 120 every game and this is his game that he breaks out in. Couldn’t have been a bigger game.”
Ross and the Spartans have simplified things on offense, with a clear strategy now: Sumner is coming straight at you. It worked in a 40-10 blowout win over rival Puyallup last week and this week against a talented Graham-Kapowsin team. Spurbeck has been front and center in the attack.
“He’s tough,” Ross said. “He’s super strong, he’s worked as hard as any player on our team. One, his work ethic and dedication to this team. He wants it so bad, he works super hard and I’m super proud of him. It was a great night for him.”
Spurbeck said that this Sumner group is the type of team he and his teammates were talking about fielding during the offseason.
“That’s what we were talking about all summer long — that we were built nasty,” he said. “We showed it tonight.”
GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN HAS SOME TALENTED PIECES
Graham-Kapowsin got a big night from senior Demitrius Taape, who rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown. He also ran a kickoff back 93 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Junior Jabez Woods also had an impressive outing, catching six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown, including one late in the fourth quarter to make things interesting. First-year Graham-Kapowsin head coach Jeff Logan tipped his cap to Sumner after the loss.
“They play a physical brand of football,” Logan said. “Those guys are in the weight room 24/7. You’ve got to give all the credit to Sumner and that o-line. Spurbeck ran the hell out of the ball. That guy, we’d have three or four guys on him and he’s running through tackles, then he gets down the sideline and he’s a lot faster than people may think.
“Our guys got tired. We’re a little out of shape, inexperienced getting some different guys in there. The inexperience shows up because of what Sumner’s able to do on offense.”
Logan said was happy to see his team fight back and not hang their heads.
“We’re finding out the guys that want to fight every play and really be out on the football field,” he said. “The positives of it, you see we’ve got some talent. It just comes down to making some plays, a catch here, a catch there, a holding call. That’s the difference in a football game, that’s kind of what turns the tide. We’ve got a lot, we’re trying to build, we are very inexperienced and that shows. But we get better every week.”
SUMNER SNAPS THE STREAK
It’s Sumner’s first win over Graham-Kapowsin since 2016, snapping G-K’s six-game win streak in the series.
“We haven’t beat them in six years, so this was a huge deal,” Spurbeck said. “I mean, coach Ross has been trying to beat them for six years now. This was a huge deal to everyone in the town of Sumner.”
And about that Spartans’ offensive line: Ross thinks it’s pretty special.
“They put those 380 pounders up there and we were still moving them,” Ross said. “We thought at the beginning of the year that our o-line would be the best o-line in the state. I don’t say that very often and I said it this year.”
The win moves Sumner to 4-1 on the season. After some slow starts the first three weeks of the season, this is the team Ross has been waiting for.
“We finally decided that we were going to cross the street and get it on,” Ross said. “That’s what I talked about today. We’ve already crossed that street and we’re not going back. So this is the style of play we’re going to play for the rest of the year. That’s what I said at halftime. Let’s go out and wear them out. (G-K) were getting tired, getting cramps, laying on the ground. That’s what a punishing run game will do.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2022 at 12:00 AM.
