State football notes: Spurbeck returns to backfield as Sumner gets set for 4A bracket
Matthew Spurbeck is back on the football field, and taking in every second of this Sumner High School postseason run.
“I take advantage of every moment,” he said during practice Wednesday at Sunset Chev Stadium, as the Spartans get set for the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs. “It feels so good to be out here.”
The Spartans’ standout senior running back, who rushed for 1,946 yards and 20 touchdowns last season — on the way to 4A SPSL MVP honors, and TNT All-Area and all-state selections — was posting stellar numbers again early on this fall.
He scored three touchdowns in Sumner’s season-opening shut out of Bellarmine Prep in September, and added two more scores against Curtis and Emerald Ridge the following two weeks, while also rushing for 100-plus yards in both contests.
Then, late in the first half of Sumner’s valley rivalry game against Puyallup, it seemed his final high school season would abruptly end. Spurbeck remembers the play — Sumner rushed to the right on second-and-goal, and he was tackled on the sideline as he stretched for the end zone.
“It felt like a pop,” he said. “I’ve never felt it before.”
Teammates immediately signaled to the Spartans’ sideline, and training staff and longtime coach Keith Ross hurried over.
“We were thinking the worst,” Spurbeck said. “Torn ACL. Done for the season. Get ready for college.”
The Spartans rallied around their senior captain in the days and weeks that followed, and he returned Sumner’s sideline as the regular season progressed to continue to cheer on his team.
“My teammates were there for me the entire time,” he said. “ … Everybody came and hung out with me, and just kept me positive.”
Then, in October, Spurbeck made a return to the practice field. Test results did not reveal any torn ligaments, and he was eventually cleared to return to Sumner’s backfield.
“I was practicing in four weeks, and then I was back five weeks later, and now we’re here,” Spurbeck said. “It just took a lot of hard work.”
His first game back for the Spartans was another impressive performance — 13 carries, 108 yards and a touchdown, helping Sumner secure a return trip to the state bracket with a 48-6 win over Battle Ground in the district round last Friday.
“It was a big emotional boost,” Ross said following the victory. “The O-linemen were super excited to have him back. The whole team was excited to have him back.
“When he got hurt we were totally devastated, and everyone felt horrible. And then he was better, and then all the sudden he gets cleared and he’s back and he’s practicing and being our leader.”
Spurbeck said he’s “loving every moment” of being back on the field with the Spartans.
“We’re just happy he’s back,” Ross said at practice this week. “He earned that much respect that it’s emotional for us that he gets to come back and play.”
Sumner can secure a third consecutive trip to the state quarterfinals with a win in the first round this weekend, and the Spartans are looking to make another run in the bracket.
“We’re just going to worry about getting better each week and hit our maximum potential,” Spurbeck said. “ … We’re getting healthy, we’re getting more excited, we’re getting ready to rock.”
The Spartans (7-3) are on a six-game winning streak following early losses to three more state contenders in 4A SPSL opponents Graham-Kapowsin, Curtis and Emerald Ridge. They travel to play No. 6 seed Eastlake (9-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“We’re battle tested, and we’re healthy and we’re hungry,” Ross said. “So, we’re in a great place right now. I think we’re still getting better every week.”
4A SPSL SENDS FOUR TO BRACKET
How tough was the 4A SPSL this season?
The league makes up a quarter of the 4A state bracket, sending four teams to the Round of 16.
Undefeated league champion Graham-Kapowsin (10-0) is the bracket’s top seed following a 63-15 rout of Kamiak in the district round last week. Curtis (8-2) is the No. 7 seed following a 45-3 win over Tahoma, Emerald Ridge (8-2) is the No. 11 seed following a 50-36 victory over Bothell and Sumner (7-3) the No. 13 seed after the 48-6 win over Battle Ground. The league also nearly sent a fifth program to the state playoffs in Puyallup, which lost a close contest to Skyline, 25-22 in overtime, in the district round.
Graham-Kapowsin coach Jeff Logan said following Friday’s win the tough nine-game 4A SPSL stretch “really kind of set us up for success” heading into the postseason.
“I think just going through that gauntlet has really, really prepared us,” he said. “We’ve played in games where we had to grind and scrap it out late, in overtime, hold off a high-scoring offense in the red zone late. So, I think that our league schedule has prepared us really, really well to be able to execute in close games, and perform at a high level when we’re playing other good teams.”
This is the first time the 4A SPSL, now a 10-team league, has sent four programs to the state bracket since 2011, when Bethel, Federal Way, Kentlake and Kentwood advanced from the 18-team 4A SPSL, which was split into nine-team divisions.
There is a scenario this season in which the 4A state semifinals could feature only 4A SPSL teams, with Graham-Kapowsin, Curtis, Emerald Ridge and Sumner all in separate quadrants.
EXTRA POINTS
▪ There are 15 remaining undefeated teams in 11-man classifications, and four are South Sound programs, in 4A SPSL champion Graham-Kapowsin, 3A SSC champion Yelm, 2A SPSL champion Enumclaw and 2A EvCo champion Tumwater.
▪ Three of four remaining 4A teams scoring 40-plus points per game are South Sound programs. Kennedy Catholic (454 points) is second in total scoring in the classification, while Graham-Kapowsin (410) is third and Curtis (404) is fourth. Lake Stevens leads classification with 493 points.
▪ Defending 3A state champion Yelm (10-0) is leading 3A in scoring with 529 points, and is the only 3A team with 500-plus points this season. Highline (539 points in 2A), Tumwater (534 points in 2A) and Okanogan (504 points in 2B) are the only other 11-man football programs in the state with 500-plus points so far this season.
▪ Enumclaw leads 2A with the fewest points allowed this season (46 in 10 games), while Tumwater ranks third in that category (89). Yelm ranks second in 3A in total points allowed at 91 (in 10 games), trailing only Eastside Catholic, which as allowed 66 in nine games.
