‘Our kids played their hearts out’ — Graham-Kapowsin falls to Lake Stevens in title game
It felt like Graham-Kapowsin was going to need to be at its very best on Saturday night against a blazing-hot Lake Stevens squad in the Class 4A state championship game at Husky Stadium, putting together something near a perfect effort.
It didn’t come to fruition. Lake Stevens bottled up Graham-Kapowsin’s high-flying passing attack and eventually ran away with the contest, winning 31-6. It’s Lake Stevens’ second consecutive state title.
There were chances for the Eagles to make the game more interesting. Down just four points close to halftime, Graham-Kapowsin was going to get the ball first in the second half. Then Lake Stevens quarterback Kolton Matson found a wide-open Paul Varela for a 45-yard touchdown, giving the Vikings a 17-6 lead and all the momentum heading into the halftime break.
“We drew it up,” Matson said. “We knew it was going to bite them back because we ran it earlier in the game and we knew we could execute it way better than we did. I overthrew the first one but the second, we connected.”
Midway through the third quarter, Graham-Kapowsin was moving the ball, then faced a fourth down near the red zone. G-K ran a reverse to Jabez Woods, but he was stopped a yard short of the line.
“Momentum’s a big thing in sports,” Graham-Kapowsin coach Jeff Logan said. “You can apply it to life, you can apply it to anything. It’s a tough one to swallow. Our kids played their hearts out. At the end of the day, a play here, a play there, but at the end of the day, it’s my job to make sure to prepare them well and get them in the right spots to succeed. It starts at the top from myself and our staff.”
The miscues piled up and Lake Stevens took advantage, moving the ball methodically in the second half and pulling away from the top-seeded Eagles. Matson connected with Jesse Lewis on a 61-yard pass in the third quarter, before adding another score in the period on a Matson pass to David Brown to put the game out of reach.
The teams have met six times in the past eight state tournaments and the game has turned into something of a rivalry. Lake Stevens has now won two out of the last three matchups, including a win last year in the semifinals. Some of the coaches and players on the Lake Stevens staff felt the Vikings should’ve been the tournament’s top seed this year, including head coach Tom Tri.
“We felt like we were the one seed all along,” he said. “We used that the last few weeks, the ‘Hey, we’re not getting out respect’ and it worked. Whatever we can do to fire up our kids, we’ll take every advantage we can.”
Matson completed 13-of-25 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns in the win. G-K quarterback Daveon Superales completed 31-of-48 passes for 306 yards but threw a pair of interceptions. Lake Stevens converted 50 percent of its third downs, while G-K converted just 4-of-14.
Graham-Kapowsin actually totaled more offense than Lake Stevens, with 405 yards compared to Lake Stevens’ 365, but couldn’t find the end zone more than once. It added up to just six Eagles points on the scoreboard when the clock struck zero, uncharacteristic for an offense that has been among the state’s most explosive all season.
“Yeah, we’ve been really good offensively all year,” Logan said. “And that all goes back to having a game plan, an identity. Admittedly, I think we got away from that. That’s a staff thing, a me thing. Failure is a great opportunity to take a deep dive and take a look at what you can do better or what you may have done wrong.
“We moved the ball. We got into positions where we needed one, maybe two more yards and we didn’t get them. They made plays to keep us from getting it.”
Graham-Kapowsin ends its season at 13-1.
This story was originally published December 2, 2023 at 10:45 PM.
