High school football roundup: Rolfsness powers Puyallup over Olympia, 29-24
Kaden Rolfsness and the Puyallup offense faced a 4th and 2 from rival Olympia’s 41, and less than a minute remained on the clock. The Vikings led at Sparks Stadium, 29-24 – just two yards from victory on Thursday night.
It was decision time.
Puyallup head coach Brian Grout spent a timeout, but quickly sent the offense back to the line of scrimmage. Rolfsness took a designed keeper up the middle for four yards and a first down. The home crowd roared.
Then came victory formation. The Vikings had outlasted Olympia, using a trio of passing touchdowns from Rolfsness in the second half.
“As a coach and an offensive coordinator, you want (Kaden) to see and feel and follow through on the things you’re seeing and feeling and following through on,” Grout said after the victory. “He’s starting to do that more and more with a higher level of consistency, and I think it’s starting to pan out with his play and decision-making.”
Grout considers Rolfsness one of the team’s bigger and stronger players, and he trusts Puyallup’s signal-caller to push the pile with his feet.
“We’re challenging him to grow every week,” Grout said. “We’re challenging him to take more on, and he’s doing a great job of that.”
Puyallup escaped a mostly-sloppy first half of play with the help of a stout defense, which only allowed three points before intermission. The Vikings gifted their opponents a possession via roughing the kicker penalty on the opening drive, and Olympia kicker Benjamin Scott went on to convert a 39-yard field goal.
But that was it.
Olympia wouldn’t score again until late in the third quarter. Puyallup kicker Luke Faccone responded with three first-half field goals, the last from 35 yards as time expired in the second quarter.
Puyallup took a slim 9-3 lead into the home locker room at halftime.
Those in attendance were starved of a touchdown until the third quarter, when Rolfsness found a wide-open Kai Richardson on the left sideline for a 63-yard catch-and-run.
Olympia’s defense forgot Richardson, instead anticipating Rolfsness to target lead wideout Mal Durant. Richardson was completely alone.
“Us as a team, when everything is going right and we’re not making mistakes… I think we can compete with anyone,” Rolfsness said. “My receivers, I think they’re the best in the state. My line does a great job, and my running backs get yards when they need it.”
Durant caught the other pair of Rolfsness passing scores, the first on a 46-yard screen pass Puyallup’s star receiver took to the house in the third quarter.
In the fourth, Durant burst through Olympia’s man coverage and scored again on a 70-yard catch-and-run.
Olympia rallied to close the deficit, aided by two receiving touchdowns and a second-half interception from junior wideout Drew Carlson.
Bears quarterback Gabe Downing matched Rolfsness’ three passing scores, his last on a 4th-and-30 desperation heave to Carlson with three minutes remaining in the contest.
It gave Olympia instant life, but an ensuing onside kick failed and the Bears never possessed the ball again.
The win pushed Puyallup into sole possession of first place in the 4A SPSL, dropping Olympia to ninth (1-5) in a crowded and contested league peppered with state-tournament hopefuls.
“We’re such a tough team,” Rolfsness said. “We’ve battled through a lot of adversity, players going down, injuries. But we have depth. We have ballers coming off the bench.”
ENUMCLAW 51, FRANKLIN PIERCE 12
Looking to extend their winning streak to six games, the Hornets entered Thursday night’s contest against the Cardinals in Tacoma expecting a dog fight.
And why not? Franklin Pierce was averaging more than 35 points per game, while Enumclaw was allowing 16.4.
Both teams got off to a hot start in the first quarter. The Hornets scored 23 points in the opening period, and the Cardinals put 12 on the board.
Then, the Enumclaw defense took over the game, and shut out the Cardinals the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Hornets’ offense continued to put up points.
“We expected a dog fight and it was like that in the first quarter,” Enumclaw coach Mark Gunderson said. “Things turned a little quicker than we thought, though.
“We definitely wanted to run the ball, and we have a lot of confidence in our passing game. The offense sustained and finished drives, and that gives us a lot of confidence in (junior quarterback) Gunnar Trachte.”
Trachte led the Enumclaw offense, completing 13-of-17 passes for 240 yards and five touchdowns. Karson Holt led the Hornets with four catches for 102 yards and three scores.
Running back Emmit Otero added 109 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.
“Otero is our workhorse because he is not fun to defend. When you got those kinds of weapons to defend, opposing defensive coordinators are rolling the dice quite a bit,” Gunderson said. “Coach Loren Standiford has done an outstanding job preparing our offense. We are really balanced.
“We’ve got a lot of press about (Otero), but there’s talent everywhere. Our kids are bought in and we are trying to go 1-0 every week. We knew they put up points and how, but we were creative in how we stopped them.”
The Cardinals couldn’t get their offense going, as the Hornets swarmed the line of scrimmage, and caused a pair of turnovers. Both Franklin Pierce turnovers were interceptions, one by Otero and the other by sophomore defensive back Dac Harrell.
Enumclaw (6-0) will look to keep its undefeated season rolling next week at home against Orting. Franklin Pierce (3-3) is set to visit Clover Park.
FRIDAY (OCT. 7)
EMERALD RIDGE 28, BETHEL 7
Quarterback Jake Schakel collected four total touchdowns, and Emerald Ridge’s defense silenced any Bethel attempt to respond at Sparks Stadium on Friday night.
The Jaguars defense, which shut out the Bison until the fourth quarter, was “phenomenal,” said head coach Adam Schakel.
“They were very tough all game long,” he added. “It was kind of a bend-but-don’t-break defense, and I was real proud of the effort.”
Emerald Ridge improved to 5-1 following Friday’s meeting between the pair of 4-1 programs in a competitive 4A SPSL.
The younger Schakel tossed a trio of touchdowns and rushed for another, finishing 17-for-20 with 258 yards through the air.
“(Jake) wasn’t feeling his best,” Adam admitted. “It was kind of one of those games where he needed to really dig deep, and trust his teammates and not try to force things, to take what they gave us.
“I thought he did a good job managing the offense tonight.”
Schakel added a seven-yard rushing score in the final minute of the first half, and the Jaguars jogged into the locker room up 21.
Bethel collected 159 yards on the ground, but mustered only five completions for 79 yards of passing offense.
Emerald Ridge receiver Gio Kafentzis grabbed six receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. Tony Harste logged seven catches for 94 yards.
The Jaguars host Bellarmine Prep next on Sat., Oct. 15.
BOX SCORE
B: 0-0-0-7--7
ER: 14-7-7-0--28
YELM 71, CAPITAL 0
The Tornado offense was firing on all cylinders as players like junior quarterback Damien Aalona, senior running back Ray Wright, and junior running back Brayden Platt helped contribute to 419 yards of total offense.
More than half of their total points came in the first quarter as Yelm hung 39 in the opening period. In that time, Wright and Platt each scored on a one-yard run and a 75-yard run, respectively.
Aalona, on the other hand, connected with senior Aden Schaler twice for touchdown passes. The first was a 48-yard catch, and the second was good for 22 yards.
Senior receiver and defensive back Tre Smith would score twice in the game as well. Once on a pick-six for 102 yards, and again on Aalona’s third touchdown pass of the game that was good for 46 yards.
The Tornados’ next game will prove to be pivotal in the standings in the 3A South Sound Conference. They will host Timberline, and the winner of the game will undoubtedly be in the driver’s seat for a conference championship.
That game will happen at 7 p.m. Friday, October 14 at Yelm High School.
BOX SCORE
Y: 39-13-13-6--71
C: 0-0-0-0--0
TIMBERLINE 41, NORTH THURSTON 14
So what if the Blazers are running on their third-string quarterback in junior Cedric Ragland? Both sides of the ball went out and took care of business, and that’s all that coach James Jones wants from his team.
“We were able to throw the ball really well tonight. [Senior receiver] Jerrell Larkins is a hard guy to cover,” he said. “We got him the ball, and [junior running back] Ramar Reid did a great job with the ball today as well. We are running with our third quarterback and [Ragland] is in his second game. He’s only going to get better. Our team’s depth is great and the offensive staff does a great job tailoring the offensive scheme to them.”
Ragland in the game had over 150 yards passing, while the defense suffocated any chance the Rams had in trying to get things going.
In fact, the second score of the game for Timberline was a 55-yard fumble recovery made by junior defensive end Darrell Gipson. Sophomore defensive back Sunny Nguyen and senior linebacker Tanner Skorna both had interceptions returned for touchdowns as well.
Cruising to victory against North Thurston, the Blazers are now square for a showdown against Yelm for first place in the 3A South Sound Conference next week.
That game will happen at 7 p.m. Friday, October 14 at Yelm High School.
BOX SCORE
T: 13-14-14-0--41
NT: 7-7-0-0--14
MONTESANO 42, EATONVILLE 21
Turnovers and no answers for getting stops on defense were the killers for the Cruisers as they dropped their contest against the Bulldogs.
Entering the game, Eatonville had only turned the ball over three times in the first five games. Unfortunately, they turned the ball over three times in this game alone.
The first came when Montesano’s junior defensiveback Tucker Eaton intercepted the pass from senior Cruiser quarterback Job Kralik. Although the Bulldogs didn’t convert any points off of the pick, it still stalled the opening drive for Eatonville.
“We turned the ball over three times tonight. Coming into the game tonight, we had only turned it over three times in the first five games,” said coach Gavin Kralik. “It was a factor. They played really well, and couldn’t get stops on defense. They executed their plan really well.”
There were bright spots for the Cruisers when rushing the ball, however. Their first score was a four-yard run from senior lineman Kyle Cox , and Kralik ran one in from 30 yards out as well.
Sophomore receiver also got in on the running for a touchdown game, with a 15-yarder for himself.
However, there was just no answer for the Bulldog offense. Senior quarterback Jayden McElravy had four total touchdowns against Eatonville: two passing and two rushing.
Montesano’s defense also found a way to completely shut out the Cruiser offense in the second half as, again, costly turnovers fizzled out drives for Eatonville.
With a lot of miscues on the tape Kralik can work on with his team, Eatonville should come out firing in their next game against W.F. West at 7 p.m. Friday, October 14.
M: 7-21-7-7--42
E: 7-14-0-0--21
This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 11:28 PM.
