‘It hurts’ — early ejection of Yelm’s Brayden Platt changes course of 3A state title game
Yelm High School football’s run at a repeat Class 3A state championship ended in heartbreak at Husky Stadium.
Moments after No. 6 Bellevue closed out a 14-0 upset victory over the top-seeded and undefeated defending champion Tornados on Friday night — ending what was the state’s longest active winning streak in the process — Yelm’s players and coaches gathered at midfield.
“My message to them was, losing hurts,” longtime Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo said. “We didn’t lose as individuals, we lost as a team. The most important thing is you can turn towards each other, not against each other and learn that although sometimes you fall, we’ve all got to get back up together and love each other when we do, take care of one another. … And although we fell short, in life we’re going to rebound.”
Yelm (13-1) entered Friday night’s final in Seattle on a 27-game winning streak — having last lost in the 2021 state quarterfinals — and looking to add a second consecutive state trophy after winning the program’s first last December.
What set up to be another close contest between state powers suddenly changed midway through the first quarter. Yelm punted on the game-opening drive, then recovered a fumble on Bellevue’s first series, but four plays later, the Tornados lost their star running back and linebacker for the remainder of the game.
On a third-and-4 play on Bellevue’s 37-yard line, four-star senior Brayden Platt took a carry up the middle, and was met for no gain by several Wolverines defenders. Platt’s helmet came off during the play, with defenders still in pursuit, and he was ejected moments later, at the 5:50 mark in the first quarter, for throwing a punch.
Platt, an Oregon commit who is considered the state’s top recruit in the 2024 class by 247Sports.com, was Yelm’s leading rusher entering the contest, and a top performer at the center of the Tornados defense.
Platt left the field after the ejection. The News Tribune spoke to Coach Ronquillo about the effect of his absence on the team.
“It hurts,” Ronquillo said. “You can’t lose a player like Brayden, and think that it doesn’t hurt on both sides of the ball, and all three phases. Best player in Washington, maybe even the best player on the West Coast. When you lose a player like that, of that caliber, and not only his playing skills, his leadership ability on the field and on the sideline, it hurts.
“I thought our kids responded well once he was out, and once they got their groove back. And I thought they started playing like champions, and did a really good job when he was out.”
Yelm punted on the following play, the Tornados’ defense then got a turnover on downs on Bellevue’s next series, and the offense drove to the Wolverines’ 24 late in the second.
But, Yelm also turned the ball over on downs, and five plays later, Max Jones rushed for what turned out to be the game-deciding 1-yard touchdown with 3:30 left in the half.
Another Tornados punt followed, and Bellevue ran out the clock on the half, taking the 7-0 lead into the break.
The Wolverines then pushed the lead to two scores on the opening series of the second half, completing a 15-play, 75-yard drive on a 1-yard run from Carson Rubin, in a series that took more than seven minutes off the clock.
Yelm reached Bellevue territory again on the ensuing drive, but fumbled just outside of the red zone seconds into the fourth quarter.
Bellevue eventually punted, but Yelm fumbled inside the red zone. The Tornados defense forced one more punt, but Bellevue answered with an interception just outside of the red zone, and ran out the clock from there.
“Not taking care of the ball at the end there, we’ve got to score when we’re in the red zone,” Ronquillo said. “We’re down in the red zone twice, we’ve got to be able to score while we’re down there. Turning the ball over like we did, that’s not necessarily typical for us, and that hurt us.”
Yelm was limited to a season-low 206 yards — 158 passing yards and 48 rushing yards — and the three turnovers in the loss.
“We buckled down,” Bellevue tight end and defensive end Hogan Hansen said of the Wolverines’ defensive effort. “We had belief. We locked in and found our identity through the season, and it showed tonight.”
Bellevue’s Wing-T piled up 339 yards of offense in the win, all on the ground. Rubin led the way with 26 carries for 155 yards and the touchdown, while Jones had 13 carries for 71 yards and a score, Ryken Moon added five carries for 48 yards, and Hansen three carries for 28.
Bellevue (11-2), adds the 12th state championship in program history with the win — the program’s 2012 and 2013 titles were vacated — and the second in the past three seasons, after also winning the 3A title in 2021.
The Wolverines upended each of the top three seeds on the way to this season’s championship, including No. 3 Arlington in the quarterfinals (35-17), No. 2 O’Dea in last week’s semifinals (21-17) and the Tornados on Friday night in Seattle.
This story was originally published December 1, 2023 at 10:58 PM.
