High school football roundup: Enumclaw secures return trip to 2A state semifinals
Results, recaps and more from the Week 12 high school football quarterfinals around the South Sound will be posted on this page Friday and Saturday.
Find Week 12 scores from games across Washington on our statewide scoring sheet, which will be updated live throughout the weekend.
FRIDAY’S RESULTS (NOV. 17)
2A STATE QUARTERFINALS
NO. 3 ENUMCLAW 41, NO. 6 HIGHLINE 30
Next stop, Anacortes.
The Enumclaw Hornets matched on Friday the feat they accomplished for the first time in school history a year ago, advancing to the 2A state semifinals. The Hornets will be looking for a little more when they face second-seeded Anacortes, likely up north at the Seahawks next Friday or Saturday.
Enumclaw (12-0) earned its second straight semifinals berth with a dominating 41-30 quarterfinals victory over visiting Highline at Pete’s Pool on Friday night.
“We didn’t want this to end,” Enumclaw coach Mark Gunderson said. “And I think that’s going to be the same theme next week. Anacortes has a great group. We have a great group. Should be a tremendous high school football game.”
The Seahawks (11-0) earned their semifinals spot with a big 42-0 victory on Friday over Orting.
Led by Tristan Donovan’s 176 yards on the ground, the Hornets offset the quick strike offense from Highline with clock-eating drives, mostly. Donovan ground out all but 59 of those yards on 18 carries.
He did have that 19th carry that he broke on the Hornets first offensive play of the third quarter.
“Big-fashioned plays aren’t always the way to win a game,” Donovan said. “And we got it done in a good way. But (on the 59-yarder) I saw a cutback lane and immediately saw that green grass. I knew somebody was coming up behind me, I felt that ankle bite, but got right through it and got to the end zone.”
Enumclaw set itself up with a couple of short fields early on that helped the Hornets build a lead and play from ahead all night. Leading just 7-6 after Roman Rasmussen found Adam Estrada-Varela for a 64-yard touchdown strike with one minute, 44 seconds left in the first quarter, Enumclaw got a big kickoff return that set the team up with a first down at midfield.
Six plays later, Seamus Twohey shoved his way into the end zone on fourth-and-2 just 19 seconds into the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-6. Three plays later, Alec Johnson made the play of the half for the Enumclaw defense.
Stalking Rasmussen’s eyes from his defensive back position, the senior broke on a pass over the middle and made the interception, getting tackled at the Pirate 33-yard line. The Hornets took seven plays and nearly three minutes off the clock as they traversed those 33 yards to make this one a two-score game on the first of Donovan’s two touchdowns (2 yards) with 7:56 to go in the first half.
“I saw the receiver, one, kind of coming in the middle,” Johnson said. “I kind of read the quarterback. I just trusted my instincts and my technique, did what my coaches taught me, and I just made a play on the ball.”
Enumclaw held at least a two-score advantage the remainder of the game.
When it mattered, the entire Enumclaw defense managed to hold down the Pirates offense. Jamaine Matthews eventually got to 100 yards rushing, but 58 of those yards came on Highline’s last two drives with the Hornets already leading it 41-18.
The Pirates scored on both of those drives, yes. But those points were little more than window dressing for the final.
“The point totals weren’t exactly what we like to see,” Gunderson said. “But if they wanted to run down the field at the end there, that’s OK. We just wanted to limit and disrupt them a little bit. That was the game plan and the kids did a great job executing.”
NO. 2 ANACORTES 42, NO. 7 ORTING 0
The Seahawks piled up 453 yards of total offense, and kept visiting Orting out of the end zone for four quarters Friday night at Anacortes High School to advance to the state semifinals for the first time in program history.
Anacortes (11-0) never trailed in the contest, forcing a three-and-out on Orting’s game-opening drive, and scoring the first of six touchdowns four plays later on a 6-yard run from Brock Beaner.
Beaner added a 26-yard scoring run two drives later, and the final of his three first-half rushing scores midway through the second quarter on a 3-yard run, moments after a Micah Dickison interception.
Rylin Lang also connected with Cooper Barton for a 74-yard touchdown on a third-and-12 play earlier in the quarter.
Anacortes took a 28-0 lead into the break, added a 12-yard quarterback keeper from Rex Larson on the opening drive of the second half and sent the game to a running clock midway through the third on a 22-yard pass from Larson to Lang that made it 42-0.
Larson finished 17-of-20 passing for 274 yards and one touchdown, and added 21 yards and a rushing score on four carries. Lang had the on 74-yard pass for a touchdown, and added four catches for 49 yards and a score. Barton led the Seahawks in receiving with four catches for 93 yards and the one touchdown.
Beaner led the Seahawks in rushing with nine carries for 52 yards and the three touchdowns, and added three catches for 45 yards.
Dickison had a 66-yard catch on the second play of the Seahawks’ first drive that set up their first touchdown, and the interception that immediately set Anacortes up at the Orting 3 in the third.
Orting was limited to 104 yards of offense in the contest, and 41 before the clock started to run less than seven minutes into the third quarter.
Anacortes will play No. 3 Enumclaw (12-0) in the semifinals next weekend. Both teams enter the game undefeated, looking for the first trip to a state championship game in program history.
The Cardinals, who finished second in the 2A SPSL to Enumclaw, and were making their first state quarterfinals appearance since 2005, end the season at 10-2.
4A STATE QUARTERFINALS
NO. 2 LAKE STEVENS 44, NO. 10 KENNEDY CATHOLIC 21
Last December, these two programs met in the 4A championship game at Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma, with Lake Stevens eventually winning the first state title in program history with a close 24-22 victory.
Eleven months later, the Vikings eclipsed that title-winning points total midway through the second quarter, built a 44-0 lead by the halftime break, and ran away with a 44-21 win Friday night at Lake Stevens High School to secure a third consecutive trip to the state semifinals.
Jayshon Limar opened scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run on the game’s first drive to give the Vikings a lead they never lost, and Lake Stevens added five more touchdowns before the break.
Lake Stevens added a safety later in the first quarter, and Kolton Matson tossed the first of his four touchdowns on the ensuing drive on a 10-yard pass to tight end Keagan Howard.
Talha Rai added a 2-yard rushing score to give the Vikings a 23-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Matson threw three more touchdowns in the second quarter, on passes to Howard (7 yards), David Brown (64 yards) and Paul Valera (34 yards), to extend the lead to 44-0 and signal a running clock at the break.
The Lancers scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter — on an 84-yard pass from Devon Forehand to JoJo Paaga, 1-yard run from Indiana Jones and 90-yard pass from Forehand to Mason Moriarty — to make it 44-21, but the lead was out of reach by then.
Lake Stevens (11-1) will play the winner of Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinals matchup between No. 6 Kamiakin (9-2) and No. 14 Mount Si (8-3) in the semifinals next weekend.
Friday night’s loss was the first in-state loss for Kennedy Catholic this season. The 4A NPSL champion Lancers entered the contest on a 10-game winning streak. They end the season at 10-2.
3A STATE QUARTERFINALS
NO. 1 YELM 29, NO. 9 MOUNT TAHOMA 12
SATURDAY’S RESULTS (NOV. 18)
4A STATE QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 Graham-Kapowsin 20, No. 8 Gonzaga Prep 14
2A STATE QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 Tumwater 42, No. 8 Clarkston 6
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 10:52 PM.
