Defending 4A state champion Graham-Kapowsin set to begin another postseason run
The high school football playoffs begin across Washington this week.
For Graham-Kapowsin, that means getting ready to begin a postseason run in defense of an undefeated Class 4A state championship last December.
The Eagles, after finishing 7-2 in 4A South Puget Sound League play this fall, and checking in at No. 9 in 4A in this week’s Associated Press rankings, are ready for the challenge.
“I think we’re going to do great,” senior defensive lineman Jacob Bowen said as the Eagles kicked off practice on a chilly Wednesday evening in Graham. “I have no doubt in my mind that we have a shot to go and win state.
“I think as long as we stick together, and stay as a team … I think we can succeed.”
Graham-Kapowsin opened the season with a decisive 56-0 shutout of visiting Rogers back in September, only to have a winning streak that reached 21 games snapped a week later, when Puyallup handed the Eagles a 30-13 loss on their home field.
The loss was the Eagles’ first since the 2019 state quarterfinals, but offered an early season look at what postseason games this fall might look like.
Graham-Kapowsin responded with a pair of wins over Olympia and Bellarmine Prep the next two weeks before another home loss to eventual 4A SPSL champion Sumner in a 34-31 contest that wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter.
A second loss provided another opportunity for improvement, and the Eagles answered with four consecutive wins — including three against eventual playoff teams — against Curtis, South Kitsap, Emerald Ridge and Bethel to close out the regular season.
“I feel like (in) every position on our team we’ve improved a lot since the losses,” Graham-Kapowsin junior quarterback Daveon Superales said.
The Eagles have committed to being an assignment-sound defense and narrowing in on what the program does well offensively, first-year coach Jeff Logan said.
Playing against so many playoff-bound 4A SPSL opponents this season also “really helped us develop playing against size, speed and strength,” Superales said.
The 4A SPSL — which sends six teams to this week’s district round — proves one of the toughest leagues statewide each season, and has been perhaps even more competitive this fall, giving programs challenging matchups each week.
“We feel prepared each and every week, but it’s nice that our league is deeper than it’s ever been, it’s top-heavier than it’s ever been, so we’ve played in a lot of games over our year that have really allowed us to play an entire game,” Logan said.
Which has allowed the Eagles to continue to get experience playing significant snaps and build up depth.
“I think we started to mature, and realize that it’s not going to be easy — and that’s what our kids have really bought into, is that we’ve got to just find a way each and every week,” Logan said. “We’ve really grown and matured as a young group.”
In his first season starting, Superales is one of the South Sound’s top passers through nine games, completing 137-of-202 passes for 1,594 yards and 16 touchdowns to three interceptions, while also rushing for 207 yards and a pair of scores on 39 carries.
Junior Jabez Woods (38 catches, 537 yards, eight TDs) leads an Eagles receiving group that includes six receivers with at least one touchdown this fall, and five with 100-plus yards at the end of the regular season.
Graham-Kapowsin has nine players who have combined for 17 rushing touchdowns, six with 100-plus rushing yards this fall, and have built depth up front on an offensive line that graduated all five starters last season.
Junior Levi Turner has a team-leading four sacks, and Bowen a team-leading 10 tackles for loss on a defensive line that has “played incredibly well,” Logan said, and seniors Vinicio Hansen and Caden Smith each have a pair of interceptions in the Eagles’ secondary.
Graham-Kapowsin also returned last season’s 4A SPSL co-MVP in senior Jalen Davenport from a knee injury in Week 6. The two-way standout continues to make an impact for the Eagles in the backfield and at linebacker.
“We had a lot of energy going forward, but it was nice to kind of get that spark,” Logan said of Davenport’s return. “Being at 3-2, having lost that game to Sumner, and then getting him back that following week to play Curtis, it was just kind of big for our kids to rally around somebody that was such an important piece of our run last year.”
Last year, the Eagles finished a perfect 15-0, including winning the program’s first state title before besting a nationally-ranked opponent in the GEICO State Champions Bowl Series. This year, Graham-Kapowsin will look to challenge for the 4A trophy again.
“We want to go out there every week and go 1-0, and play until the first weekend in December,” Logan said. “ … The message this week was we should aim to play five more weeks. We want to practice on Thanksgiving and then go play for a state title game.
“And that’s always going to be the goal. That’s always going to kind of be what we strive for here. So, yes, in a sense our defense does start now, but we’re still focused one week at a time.”
This week, that means preparing for a Mount Si (4-4) program that finished fourth in the 4A KingCo this fall and is looking to return to the 4A state playoffs for the first time since 2019.
The Eagles enter this weekend’s contest, which is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Art Crate Field in Spanaway, as the No. 9 seed in the District 1/2/3/4 field, while the Wildcats are the No. 14 seed.
Graham-Kapowsin has advanced to each of the past seven 4A state brackets, and this week will try to extend that streak to eight.
“Just take it one week at a time,” Davenport said.
“I’d say that’s really our mentality right now — is 1-0 for the next week, and for every week,” Superales said. “Just keep going 1-0.”
