Yelm’s defense squashes Mount Tahoma’s offense to advance to 3A state semifinals
Mount Tahoma had the ball at the Yelm 1-yard line in the closing seconds of the first half, 4th and goal, a chance to maybe tie the game going into the halftime break. It would’ve given the ninth-seeded T-Birds all the momentum against the No. 1 undefeated Yelm Tornados, the reigning 3A state champion.
Instead, T-Birds’ running back Brison Bailey ran into a wall — a 6-foot-2, 305-pound wall in the form of senior defensive tackle Landen Barger, who blew the play up from the start.
Stuffed and denied.
“Obviously, I felt like it was a very big momentum for our team,” Barger said. “I had it in my mind that I was stopping that play. And I knew the other 10 guys on the field were gonna help me make that play. Without them, I wouldn’t have made that play. That was obviously a very big turning point in the game for us.”
Yelm went into halftime with a 7-0 lead, the Tornados’ defense making several key stops. Just like the week prior, Yelm pulled away in the second half, ultimately winning 29-12 to advance to the 3A state tournament semifinals. Mount Tahoma had the size to match Yelm’s line, but Barger and co. were up for the challenge.
“All the game, the entire game we won up front,” Barger said. “Offense, defense, special teams, we won up front because that’s what Yelm does. The scoreboard shows we handled business.”
Mount Tahoma did eventually close the gap, scoring in the second half to make it a one-point game at 7-6, but Yelm quarterback Damian Aalona made clutch plays down the stretch, including a 22-yard touchdown pass to brother Marius Aalona on a 4th and 14. Then he produced the play of the game, throwing across his body and across the field and finding a wide open Jameson Patin, who ran untouched down the sideline for a 40-yard score, giving Yelm a 22-6 lead and putting the game out of reach.
“Big player, showed up at the right time when we needed that,” said Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo. “He’s a gamer, he’s great with his feet and his arm. We love having him behind the center.”
Aalona finished 12-of-17 passing for 152 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Brayden Platt added a game-high 110 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. Perhaps the most noteworthy stat came on the other side: Mount Tahoma quarterback Tre Walker was held to just three rushing yards.
Yelm spied Walker with linebackers Platt, Isaiah Patterson and others, not wanting to let Walker beat them with his legs, as he’s done to so many teams this year. It worked.
“Our gameplan (as a defensive line) was to target the running back and let our linebackers handle the quarterback,” Barger said. “With the amount of pressure me, Chris Hauss, Jacob Tracy and Kenji (Scanlan) bring, the linebackers were just eating the quarterback up all day.”
Yelm has the longest active winning streak of any team in any of the state’s six classifications, now at 26 games. The defending 3A state champion Tornados have not lost a game since the 2021 state quarterfinals.
Mount Tahoma coach Keith Terry is building something at the south Tacoma school. The T-Birds reached the state tournament for the first time in 39 years this fall.
“It was huge for Mount Tahoma,” Terry said. “This is some success, especially in football, that they haven’t seen in four decades. It’s a great foundational point for us. To show up here tonight, to already see alumni here before we get here and then to see our visitors section packed tonight, it’s huge.
“It’s support that we haven’t got from the community in a long time, but just like being here in the playoffs, we want to make that regular. We want to give the alumni something to come back to. We want to make the south end of Tacoma proud.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 11:26 PM.
