Week 13: What we learned from state semifinals football games in the South Sound
Three South Sound high school football programs are on the way to the state semifinals following wins in the semifinals on Saturday: Graham-Kapowsin in 4A, Yelm in 3A and Tumwater in 2A.
Here’s what we learned from the 13th week of action in the South Sound and beyond.
TOP SEEDS ADVANCE
Each of the three top-seeded South Sound programs will play for state championships at Husky Stadium this weekend. The South Sound will be represented in the Class 4A, 3A and 2A title games in Seattle, with No. 1 Graham-Kapowsin advancing to the 4A championship game, No. 1 Yelm to the 3A title game and No. 1 Tumwater to the 2A final. Graham-Kapowsin won a back-and-forth contest against visiting No. 4 Eastlake in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at Art Crate Field in Spanaway, advancing on a 25-yard field goal from Aidan Skolrud as time expired in a 27-24 victory. In a rematch of last season’s 3A state title game, Yelm won a defensive battle against No. 4 Eastside Catholic in the second game of a semifinals doubleheader at Art Crate Field, taking the decisive 7-0 lead late in the third on a 54-yard touchdown run by Brayden Platt. Playing North Kitsap for the second time this season, Tumwater won a close contest against last year’s 2A state runner-up Saturday evening at Tumwater District Stadium. Kooper Clark rushed for three touchdowns in the T-Birds’ 19-17 win. The top seeds in the 1A, 2B and 1B classifications — three-time defending 1A champion Royal, defending 2B champion Napavine and defending 1B champion Liberty Bell — are also set to play in this weekend’s title games.
DEFENSE THE RECIPE FOR YELM, TUMWATER
Yelm needed just one score — a 54-yard Brayden Platt touchdown run on fourth down in the third quarter — to beat Eastside Catholic on Saturday night, 7-0. Yelm held Eastside Catholic to 24 net yards of total offense in the win, a complete and thorough beatdown on the defensive end. Yelm’s offense hasn’t been quite as explosive this year without Kyler Ronquillo in the fold, but the Tornados are even better up front and on defense than they were during last season’s undefeated state championship run. Tumwater’s defense kept it in the game until its offense started clicking in the second half of its 19-17 win over North Kitsap in the 2A semifinals. The T-Birds drove 75 yards for the lead in the fourth quarter and then held on, getting a sack on third down and then stopping a North Kitsap fake field goal attempt.
STILL UNDEFEATED
And then there were three. Three South Sound programs, all league champions and the top-seeded teams in their respective tournaments — Graham-Kapowsin (13-0), Yelm (13-0) and Tumwater (13-0) — remain undefeated and need one more win to secure perfect seasons and lift state championship trophies at Husky Stadium next weekend. Enumclaw (12-1) saw its season end at the hands of Anacortes in the semifinals. In fact, with O’Dea’s loss to Bellevue in the 3A bracket, Anacortes is the only remaining undefeated team in brackets with South Sound teams, taking a perfect mark into the 2A championship game against Tumwater. Yelm has the longest active winning streak of any team in any of the state’s six classifications, now at 27 games. The defending 3A state champion Tornados have not lost a game since the 2021 state quarterfinals.
TITLE GAME HISTORY
Graham-Kapowsin, Yelm and Tumwater have all been to state championship games before — and all three programs have at least one title. The Eagles won the first football championship in program history in their first title game trip in 2021, routing Lake Stevens, 44-7, for the 4A trophy as part of a perfect 15-0 season that also included a GEICO State Champions Bowl Series win. Yelm is the defending 3A state champion, having won the program’s first title in the Tornados’ first trip last season, when Kyler Ronquillo ripped a sure interception away from an Eastside Catholic defender and ran into the end zone for the game-winning score in a 20-13 thriller. Tumwater has made 11 title game trips before this season, and won six championships, most recently in 2019 with a 48-34 win over Steilacoom. The T-Birds also won titles in 1987 (21-14 win over West Valley of Yakima), 1989 (27-7 win over Cheney), 1990 (32-17 win over Mount Rainier), 1993 (33-7 win over Inglemoor) and 2010 (34-14 over Archbishop Murphy).
FAMILIAR OPPONENTS
Two state powers in Graham-Kapowsin and Lake Stevens are set to meet again this weekend — for the sixth time in the past eight 4A state brackets. The programs first met in the state playoffs in 2015, when Lake Stevens won a quarterfinals matchup, 49-14. Graham-Kapowsin won the next meeting, 38-31, in the first round in 2017. Lake Stevens answered with a 45-29 victory over the Eagles in the 2018 state quarterfinals. Then Graham-Kapowsin routed the Vikings, 44-7, for the 4A state title in 2021. Lake Stevens won the most recent meeting, 42-28, in last season’s semifinals. What happens when the two meet again? We’ll find out Saturday. The 4A state title game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium. Yelm also faces a familiar opponent at 7 p.m. Friday in the 3A championship game in Bellevue. The Tornados and Wolverines are set to meet in the state bracket for the third time. Bellevue won the first state meeting between the two, with a 37-20 victory in the 2018 quarterfinals. Yelm edged Bellevue, 28-27, in last season’s 3A semifinals on the way to an undefeated state title. Tumwater is set to play No. 2 Anacortes in the state bracket for the first time. The T-Birds are making their 12th championship game appearance, while the Seahawks are making the first in program history after upending Enumclaw, 34-20, in the 2A semifinals Saturday evening in Anacortes.
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
