High school football state roundup: Emerald Ridge stuns top-seeded Chiawana on road

As each weekend comes, Emerald Ridge’s football team continues to set new records.

On Saturday, the Jaguars rallied hard to beat top-ranked Chiawana 40-37 to advance to the 4A semifinals in the WIAA state high school football playoffs.

Last week’s 21-9 victory over Eastlake gave the No. 8 Jaguars their first ever state playoff victory.

Now, after Saturday’s win, Emerald Ridge advances to the 4A state semifinals for the first time.

And it was impressive how the Jaguars did it: digging out of a 21-0 hole they had just a little over 5 minutes into the game.

In fact, the host Riverhawks held a lead over the Jaguars for 47 minutes and 56 seconds of their Class 4A state quarterfinal football game at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Unfortunately for Chiawana, a high school football game lasts 48 minutes.

It was in those final seconds that Jags quarterback Jake Schakel hit Mitchell Condon for a 6-yard touchdown pass — with 3.7 seconds remaining.

With the win, the Jaguars (10-2) will play host to No. 4 Kennedy Catholic — a 38-10 win over No. 5 Skyline in its quarterfinal — next weekend in the state semifinals.

Just 5:34 into Saturday’s contest, Emerald Ridge trailed Chiawana 21-0. The Jaguars spent the rest of the game chasing the Riverhawks, closing within 2 points two different times in the second half before overtaking them at the end.

“I don’t believe we’ve ever had a comeback like this,” said Schakel, who passed for 378 yards and four touchdown passes. “Even when we were down 21-0, we didn’t panic. We had to make some small adjustments.”

Schakel said he and his teammates felt Chiawana wasn’t beating them, that they were beating themselves.

But the Riverhawks were handling the Jaguars early, thanks to a 92-yard kickoff return by the Riverhawks’ Justin Webber to open the game.

After a 3-and-out punt, the Riverhawks drove 90 yards on five plays, with Ian Mohl sprinting in from 20 yards for a TD and 14-0 lead.

After the Jags were forced to punt again, Chiawana’s Cooper MacPherson blocked Brady Peterson’s punt, and the Riverhawks’ Judah Bishop picked up the ball and rambled 25 yards for another touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

But rather than get desperate, Emerald Ridge stayed calm.

“There was a lot of game left,” said Jaguars head coach Adam Schakel. “I’ve been on that other end before. Not this year. But a lead like that can be a lot like Fool’s Gold, because there is a lot of football left.”

So Coach Schakel’s son the quarterback started taking what the Riverhawks defense gave him.

“We knew they ran a different type of defense that we hadn’t seen before,” said Jake Schakel. “Their defensive backs are really lined up far off of the receivers. So I just kept throwing those short routes.”

In fact, 24 of Schakel’s 39 completions were 9 yards or less.

A 10-yard TD pass to backup receiver Mitchell Condon here, a 3-yard TD strike to Jacob Lane there — sandwiched around a 4-yard scoring run by Logan Lisherness — and the Jaguars had cut the Riverhawks’ lead to 28-20 at halftime.

In the first half, Emerald Ridge had compiled 218 offensive yards to Chiawana’s 123. But the Riverhawks led at intermission.

Chiawana head coach Scott Bond could see what Jake Schakel was doing in the first half.

“They did a great job of finding the little holes in our defense that we have,” said Bond. “We gave them that understuff.”

Tayshaun Micks rushed in from 2 yards out in the third quarter for the Jaguars. But they couldn’t get the 2-point conversion and still trailed at 28-26.

To Chiawana’s credit, the Riverhawks kept answering score for score — never relinquishing the lead.

But in the end, the Jaguars had the ball last. And Jake Schakel marched his team downfield, moving 45 yards in eight plays — the final a 6-yard scoring strike to Condon for the duo’s second scoring connection.

“Mitch doesn’t get to play as much, but when Gio (Kafentzis) got hurt early, he came in,” said Jake Schakel. “That just shows how much trust we have in each other.”

Andy Schakel was excited for Condon.

“He’s such a terrific kid,” said Andy Schakel. “I love to see kids get a chance to make a big play.”Jake Schakel finished by completing 39 passes out of 49 attempts for those 378 yards.

Tony Harste was Schakel’s main target, catching 14 of his passes for 180 yards.

In the end, Emerald Ridge had 396 yards of offense on 71 plays. Chiawana had 226 yards of offense on just 36 plays.

Lisherness (7 tackles, a quarterback sack and a forced fumble) and Sean Tutty (6 tackles, 3 for losses) led the Jaguars defensively.

Bishop led Chiawana with 7 tackles (3 for loss), a hurry, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.

Braxton Feldman added 10 tackles for the Riverhawks, whose season ends with a 10-1 record.

SATURDAY (NOV. 19)

CLASS 2A

NO. 4 ENUMCLAW 20, NO. 5 OTHELLO 17

Enumclaw outlasted Othello at Pete’s Pool, punching a ticket to the state semifinals for the first time in school history.

An undefeated run continues: Now 12-0, Enumclaw nearly quadrupled the scoring output of opponents and allowed more than 14 points only four times.

Up next is top-ranked and defending-champion Lynden in the 2A semifinal next Saturday at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.

No. 2 W.F. West and No. 3 North Kitsap meet at Tumwater District Stadium in next weekend’s neighboring semifinal.

CLASS 1A

NO. 12 FREEMAN 23, NO. 4 EATONVILLE 17

The Cruisers came out and played two very different halves of football in their loss to the Scotties in the quarter finals of the 1A state tournament.

Eatonville got an early three point lead off a 37-yard field goal made by senior Job Kralik. And as the resident playmaker for Eatonville, he was poised to make big plays with his versatility. However, Kralik was knocked out of the game for a while after a big hit from Freeman senior free safety Ryan Delcour.

After Kralik was sidelined for a bit, the Scotties went on a scoring streak of 13 unanswered points. Their first score came off a 53-yard pass from senior quarterback Boen Phelps to junior receiver Luke Whitaker, and the second was on a junior Kanoa Rogan 10-yard run.

Entering the second quarter, Freeman held a 13-3 lead. However, Eatonville would answer back as Kralik came back into the game. Essentially having the offense flow through him, Kralik was responsible for the Cruisers’ two touchdowns that came in the second quarter.

“It was a back and forth game in the first half. Freeman made some big plays in the passing game. They played well,” said Eatonville coach Gavin Kralik. “We were able to put a couple drives together in the first half. Job is a very versatile athlete. All game we were trying to figure out different ways to move the ball, utilize [Job’s] versatility among other kids, and to present different challenges to them.”

Kralik’s first score was on a 47-yard pass from sophomore receiver Ky Nation, and the other was a one-year run. The Freeman defense notched a safety in the second quarter, but the score heading into halftime was 17-15.

After a scoreless third quarter, Whitaker and Phelps hooked up again, this time for 13 yards as the Scotties’ offense took the final lead with about 11 minutes left in the contest. To rub some salt in the wound, Phelps took it himself for the two-point conversion.

Although the Cruisers’ defense didn’t allow too many big plays from Freeman, they couldn’t capitalize on two drives within the Scotties’ 30-yard line. Eatonville couldn’t score in the second half due to penalties and being put in long situations. Although they kept fighting until the clock hit triple-zero, the Cruisers ultimately fell to Freeman.

The loss to the Scotties ends the Cruisers’ season.

This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 8:41 PM.