High school football scores, roundup: Mount Tahoma stacks yards on way to 3A playoffs
Results, recaps and more from Week 10 high school football contests around the South Sound will be posted on this page Friday and Saturday.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS (NOV. 9)
MOUNT TAHOMA 35, MOUNT SPOKANE 13
Early on in a winner-to-state playoff game against Mount Spokane on Saturday afternoon, Mount Tahoma coach Keith Terry rolled the dice a couple times.
They rolled his way. On two occasions, Mount Tahoma faced fourth downs in the red zone and the T-Birds kept the offense on the field. Quarterback Mikkah Cordero found star recruit Elijah Durr for a touchdown on the first, then Cordero rolled out and kept it for a touchdown run on the second.
Aggressive play calling in a high stakes game.
“I just love being an athlete,” Cordero said. “I just love scoring touchdowns and trying to see what I can get.”
Cordero and the T-Birds got whatever they wanted after trailing 7-0 early, scoring 35 unanswered in a dominant 35-13 victory. The win sends Mount Tahoma back to the state tournament for the second straight year.
Mount Tahoma racked up 496 yards of total offense, running the ball at will against the visiting Wildcats. Jonny Comoza rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Cordero completed an efficient 10-of-15 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for another. And Durr caught three passes for 86 yards, two of which went for touchdowns.
“We really saw some things on film that we thought we could exploit,” Mount Tahoma coach Keith Terry said. “In terms of us playing our brand of football, being physical. So when we got in those short-yardage situations on fourth down, early on in the season we weren’t converting on those.”
Now the T-Birds are converting in all sorts of situations. In fact, everything is humming along better than it did in the early going, when Mount Tahoma got out to a 1-4 start. Since then, the T-Birds have won five straight and are headed back to the state tournament.
“Pressure makes diamonds,” Cordero said. “We’ve always had pressure on our backs.”
For those who wrote the T-Birds off a month ago, Terry had a message.
“If you think we’re gonna quit, you don’t know me,” he said. “I knew the team that we were and that we were gonna be by the end of the season.”
Mount Tahoma is expected to be a middle-seeded team in the 16-team state bracket, maybe somewhere in the eight to 12 range. If the T-Birds can put together efforts as complete as the one they put together at home on Saturday, they could be a tough out.
“We most definitely gonna be back,” Cordero said. “We know what we’ve got going on.”
FRIDAY’S RESULTS (NOV. 8)
RICHLAND 24, YELM 20
Richland receiver Colson Mackey dashed for the endzone, looked over his shoulder, and there it was — a beautifully-placed ball by QB Jackson Woodard into the bread basket.
The 6-3 Mackey secured the perfect, 17-yard pass from a crowded pocket, tapped the required one foot on the turf, and jumped with two hands to the sky. A pair of endzone referees conferred and eventually agreed: Mackey came down with the catch (and throw) of the game.
“I’ve got to give props to No. 2 on that one,” Mackey said, a nod to his QB. “We had that planned out. We wanted to target the guy who was guarding me. He knew it was going to be there, I knew it was going to be there. That chemistry (made) something special happen.”
Mackey was Woodard’s favorite target on Friday night, the go-to playmaker in the game’s biggest moments. And he wasn’t done — the senior wideout finished the night with two touchdowns, scampering some 64 yards in the third quarter for another score on a catch-and-run over the middle.
“Colson’s a hard-nosed player,” Richland head coach Josh Jelinek told The News Tribune. “I think some people underestimate what he can do.
“He played like a dawg tonight, that’s for sure.”
Mackey caught both of Woodard’s two touchdown passes, RB Jakob Brannon erupted for a 34-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Richland’s defense rejected a Tornados comeback effort as time expired for a dramatic, 24-20 road win in Friday night’s 4A Round of 32 at Yelm High School.
Consider Richland’s state ticket punched. The Bombers, in Jelinek’s first year at the helm, are dancing.
“Hats off to Yelm,” Jelinek said. “They played all night long… that’s a dang good football team led by a quarterback that can’t be stopped.”
Tornados QB Parker Myers rushed for three touchdowns, a dynamic dual-threat in the huddle — but Richland’s late splash plays were the difference.
And perhaps lost in their lethal second-half offense was a Richland defense that constantly forced Myers outside of the pocket. Yelm’s freshman RB Marcus Ronquillo (25 carries, 160 yards) moved the sticks and WR Jay Sumich busted Richland coverage for a 60-yard catch in the third quarter, but never did the Tornados regain their early lead.
“Its just so special because people are finally seeing us for the whole picture,” Mackey said. “It’s really been Richland-offense this, Richland-offense that in the past. Now, it’s Richland, the football team that came up to Yelm after a seven-hour bus ride and won a game to (get) to state.”
Mackey secured seven catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Yelm’ Myers completed 12-of-25 passes for 133 yards (no touchdowns or interceptions) and carried 17 times for 73 yards and three touchdowns.
When Richland’s defense forced a late Yelm turnover on downs, the Bombers needed one first down to ice the game with under two minutes in regulation. They couldn’t convert on three runs, leading to 4th and 3 on Yelm’s side of the field.
Instead of going for the win, Richland punted for a touchback. Yelm, without timeouts, needed to drive 80 yards in just under 90 seconds for a heroic comeback.
Myers and Co. reached midfield, and with only one play before time expired, the signal-caller’s pass between the hashes fell short. Cue the Richland field-storming.
“It means more than you know,” Mackey said. “We were doubted in this game. We were the underdogs. It means a lot, because usually when you think of schools from the east side, you don’t think of them as highly with the talent here (out west).
“But I promise you… we’re going to make a run, man. We’ve got a special team. We’ve got guys all across the board that played their hearts out tonight. I’m just so proud of everyone that made this happen.”
EMERALD RIDGE 37, SKYLINE 22
In the visitor’s corner, Cameron Weir. In the home corner, the Emerald Ridge defense.
In what could have been billed as a heavyweight bout between man and unit, the unit finally outdid the man in a Week 10 contest that catapulted the Jaguars into their third consecutive WIAA state 4A playoff bracket on Friday night at Carl Sparks Stadium.
Emerald Ridge intercepted Skyline quarterback Mason Pirello four times, and batted away a pitch attempt for a fifth turnover, scored on two of those, recorded four sacks of Pirello and built on a halftime lead to advance to the Round of 16 with a 37-22 victory.
“They’ve been great all year,” Emerald Ridge coach Torey Donovan said of his defense. “They’ve been shutting teams down and giving our team a chance to go win games. Really, we take away the couple of big plays they had and we shut them out.”
Ah, those big plays. They came courtesy of Skyline receiver Weir. The senior concluded his high school career with touchdown catches of 56 and 47 yards, the second of which gave the Spartans (6-4) their only, short-lived lead of the game, 22-21, with 5 minutes, 2 seconds left in the third quarter.
Weir’s third huge play came after Emerald Ridge had extended its lead to 21-7 earlier in the third. He picked up the ensuing kickoff at the 4-yard line and deftly weaved his way down the sideline for 96 yards to get Skyline back in the game, 21-15, with 6:46 to go in the quarter.
The Jaguars (7-3) drove 51 yards to take the lead, then Sean Barber created Emerald Ridge’s second defensive touchdown of the game on the first play from scrimmage for the Spartans after that. Barber got into the backfield and knocked a pitch intended for Seyler Jones to the ground at the 20.
The ball bounced big toward the end zone. Barber got up, scooped the ball at the 1 and fell into the end zone with 2:14 left in the quarter and Emerald Ridge led again by two scores, 34-22.
It was all they would need.
“Our defense is our strong points,” said defensive back Logan Lipscomb, who had a 60-yard interception return for a score earlier in the game. “We knew what we had to do. All week we were putting in the work, learning to jump screens and that is exactly what happened tonight.”
It did take Emerald Ridge and Skyline some time to settle in. A short burst of offense, though, was trumped by Lipscomb’s big defensive play to stake the home-standing Jaguars to a halftime lead.
Emerald Ridge didn’t earn a first down until there was less than a minute left in the first quarter. The deficiency was due in no small part to some sloppy special teams play.
Despite the Jaguars defense holding Skyline to minus-10 yards on an extended second possession, the Spartans held the ball for nearly six minutes thanks to a running into the punter penalty and a muffed punt return.
Still, Emerald Ridge allowed no points. It took two more possessions before either team dented the scoreboard.
Finally, Carson Cody paid off a seven-play, 74-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Jaguars a 7-0 lead with 7:42 remaining in the second quarter.
Skyline, which until that point had generated all of three total yards of offense when it took over after the touchdown, got a quick run for seven. Then Pirello got the ball out to Weir on the edge. Weir weaved through defenders, broke two tackles, and raced 56 yards to tie the game at 7-7 with 6:43 left in the half.
Lipscomb then made a huge defensive play for Emerald Ridge, intercepting a Pirello pass and racing 60 yards for a score and the lead at the half, 14-7.
SOUTH SOUND SCOREBOARD
SATURDAY (NOV. 9)
CLASS 4A — Round of 32
Graham-Kapowsin 48, Jackson 6
CLASS 3A — Round of 32
Monroe 41, Bellarmine Prep 35
Mount Tahoma 35, Mount Spokane 13
Federal Way 38, Ferndale 10
CLASS 2A — Round of 32
Franklin Pierce 76, Columbia River 14
Fife 34, Ridgefield 7
Orting 24, Toppenish 6
CLASS 1A — Round of 32
Life Christian 36, Rochester 22
FRIDAY (NOV. 8)
CLASS 4A — Round of 32
Sumner 52, Auburn 14
Camas 56, Stadium 3
Bothell 52, Olympia 14
Richland 24, Yelm 20
Emerald Ridge 37, Skyline 22
Curtis 28, Glacier Peak 0
Lake Stevens 56, Tahoma 24
Puyallup 27, Eastlake 14
CLASS 3A — Round of 32
Lincoln 33, Rainier Beach 20
Lakes 52, White River 0
Kennewick 29, Peninsula 9
Decatur 39, Bishop Blanchet 29
Roosevelt 48, Capital 23
CLASS 2A — Round of 32
Prosser 51, Steilacoom 35
Enumclaw 77, Southridge 0
Tumwater 70, Renton 8
This story was originally published November 8, 2024 at 11:21 PM.
