State football roundup: Sumner’s Isaacs scores 3 TDs to upend Kamiakin, 38-21
Results, recaps and more from Week 11 high school football contests around the South Sound will be posted on this page Friday and Saturday.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS (NOV. 16)
4A State -- Round of 16
NO. 2 SUMNER 38, NO. 15 KAMIAKIN 21
Keith Ross could’ve let the clock run to halftime with his defense on the field, but Sumner’s head coach quickly burned his final timeout with four seconds remaining — almost as if he knew what was coming next.
Knotted at 14, the stoppage forced visiting Kamiakin to run a play on 4th and Forever from their own 20. Some Braves fans shouted at their sideline for a deep pass or go-ball, meant to chuck the football away from danger.
And in hindsight, it would’ve changed everything.
On a designed quick-punt by Braves QB Trent Woodhouse, Ross brought the house. LB Austin Glivar burst through the line with hands extended to swat the kick down, and senior captain Taylor Rebar scooped the ball with a cavalcade of blockers at his side.
“We practiced that exact quarterback quick-kick all week and people think I’m crazy,” Ross told The News Tribune. “But that’s why we did it.
“That was the game right there. That changed all the momentum.”
Rebar dashed home and fell over the goal line for a go-ahead touchdown at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium, the game-changer in Sumner’s 38-21 win over Kamiakin.
Just how they drew it up.
Spartans RB Steele Isaacs ran for three touchdowns, QB Nate Donavan hit TE Ashton Pillard for the game-sealing score in the fourth quarter, and Sumner’s defense swarmed the Braves in a rainy win that pushes Ross and Co. into next weekend’s 4A state quarterfinals.
Isaacs was the bell-cow back who refused to go down, the engine of Sumner’s offense who constantly churned his legs for extra yardage as offensive linemen pushed the pile. The 5-9, 190-pound power-runner scored three touchdowns in his third consecutive game and notched his 11th touchdown this month.
“I just have my groove going. I guess (three) is my lucky number,” Isaacs smiled. “I just have to keep the mindset that my legs are a locomotive. I just have to keep pushing and pushing and pushing. It’s all thanks to my O-line. They’ve developed so much this season, and I truly am grateful for the progressions they’ve made. I’m right there with them.”
Ross overheard one Kamiakin coach: “(Steele) runs angry.”
“Steele’s like the nicest guy in the world, but he does look like he runs angry,” Ross admitted. “And guess what? We’re riding him. He’s our guy. You get deep in the playoffs, you don’t know what weather you’re going to get, and you better be able to run the ball.”
The upset alert only lasted for minutes, but Kamiakin struck first when Donovan’s incomplete screen pass — Sumner’s first offensive play — was ruled a backward lateral and subsequent fumble. Braves DB Michael Kori made the heads-up play to scoop and race some 40 yards for the opening touchdown.
It’s when Isaacs took over, scoring twice from one yard and again from 24.
“It’s all thanks to Coach Ross,” he said. “He’s a great coach. He pushes you hard, and you may hate it in the moment. But in the long run, this is going to be the biggest change of my life, and I have to give all thanks to Keith Ross.”
Sumner hosts No. 7 Skyview in next weekend’s 4A quarterfinals back at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium. Both programs are two wins from a trip to the 4A championship game at Husky Stadium and three wins from a state title.
“We have a goal to go all the way,” Isaacs said. “I think we can do it.”
FRIDAY’S RESULTS (NOV. 15)
3A State -- Round of 16
NO. 10 MOUNT TAHOMA 23, NO. 7 DECATUR 21
Decatur wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Trailing 16-0 at half to visiting Mount Tahoma at Federal Way Memorial Field in the opening round of the Class 3A state football tournament on Friday night, the Gators had mustered just 10 yards of offense at half.
They could’ve just packed the bags and called it a season. But Gators coach Matt Vaeena knew the heart of his group, the one that will forever be remembered as being the first team in program history to play in the state tournament.
And Decatur fought back, scoring two touchdowns in the second half and cutting the lead to two. But Mount Tahoma, which ran the ball at will in the first half, put together a touchdown drive when it mattered most. Quarterback Mikkah Cordero scrambled all over the field, eventually running in for the game-winning, nine-yard score, giving Mount Tahoma a 23-14 lead late in the fourth.
Decatur scored one more but eventually ran out of time and Mount Tahoma hung on for the 23-21 win to advance to the 3A state tournament quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
“I base my athleticism on my speed, so when I don’t see nothing, I try to find my way into the end zone,” Cordero said of his game-winning touchdown run.
Those are the type of plays the junior quarterback can make. He missed most of last season with an injury but has been an integral part of this team’s success this year.
“The kid is special,” Mount Tahoma coach Keith Terry said. “It was unfortunate that he got hurt last year, but he’s trying to make up for it. The biggest part with that kid is he’s the biggest competitor on the field. He plays quarterback but he’s gonna compete harder than everyone else.”
Cordero got the T-Birds on the board first with an eight-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, before Mount Tahoma scored again on a safety thanks to a poor snap on a Decatur punt, with the Gators pinned back into their end zone. Corder connected with receiver Eljah Durr to make it 16-0 at half.
Decatur clawed back with a one-yard quarterback sneak from Spencer Holloway, then a two-point conversion. Decatur cut the lead to two with a nine-yard run from Devin James Caoagdan in the third quarter, but Cordero’s ensuing touchdown for Mount Tahoma effectively put the game out of reach.
After a flat first half, Vaeena was proud to see some fight from his team in the second half.
“It was good to see them come out and kind of get back to who they are, flying around, having fun, swarming to the ball, holding each other up,” he said. “I had no doubt we were going to get back into it.”
It ended in a Decatur loss, but there’s plenty to be proud of: an undefeated league title and the first state tournament appearance in school history.
“It’s hard right now,” Vaeena said. “All I can think about is the 35 broken spirits, the huddle we just broke. It’s been awesome. We set this goal way back when, giving ourselves to be league champs, city champs and make the state tournament. We checked all the boxes but man, it still hurts.”
Mount Tahoma, meanwhile, marches back to the state quarterfinals, evidence that last year’s run wasn’t a flash in the pan.
“We’re back to back now,” Terry said. “We want to keep building, but we want to be a program. We want to be a program like a lot of other schools and in moments like that, we’re building on those things.”
NO. 13 SEATTLE PREP 34, NO. 4 LAKES 14
The drought continues on the south side of Tacoma. For the third time since last advancing to the 3A state quarterfinals in 2016, the Lakes Lancers have failed to get our of the Round of 16.
On Friday at Harry Lang Stadium in Lakewood, the fourth-seeded Lancers showed they could move the football. No. 13 Seattle Prep showed it could score the football.
The Panthers scored on three of their four first-half possessions, built a 13-point halftime lead and pulled away in the second half for the 34-14 upset victory that catapulted the program into the state quarterfinals. Seattle Prep will play the winner of Saturday afternoon’s Federal Way at Roosevelt game either Friday or Saturday next week.
“These guys just really believe in each other,” Seattle Prep coach Aaron Maul said. “It’s been that way all season. We have a special conference. Our losses are to like No. 2, No. 5 and No. 7 in the state.”
Against No. 4, it turned into the “Beau Show,” and the Panthers quarterback heard exactly that chant from his teammates as the final moments ticked off the clock against Lakes (9-2). Beau Oaksmith did just about everything for Seattle Prep (7-3) against the Lancers.
Oaksmith completed 18 of 28 passes for 181 yards and four touchdowns. He ran the ball 20 times for 125 more yards and another touchdown.
He returned the kickoffs and punts all night. And he even recovered a fumble on Lakes last-ditch attempt to climb back in the game with just under five minutes to play in the game.
Oaksmith’s last 11 yards rushing came as he was going to punt the ball away with minutes to play but saw the right side open up and went for a first down instead that allowed the Panthers to run out the final minutes.
“I was a ballboy as a freshman for that team that went to the Round of 16,” Oaksmith said. “But they lost. We’re setting a new standard.”
Trailing 21-8 at the half despite moving the ball up and down the field, at least between the 20s, Lakes got within one score again with 6:33 left in the third quarter. Tateo Moliga scored his second touchdown of the game on a five-yard run to make it 21-14.
But as happened all night, Seattle Prep answered. The Panthers went 65 yards in 15 plays, Oaksmith threw his third of four touchdown passes, this one to Win Chandler, with 2:57 to go in the quarter, and Seattle Prep extended back to a 28-14 lead.
“You’ve got to play your best football in the playoffs,” Lakes coach Dave Miller said. “We didn’t. I’m proud of our kids. But it wasn’t our night.”
The Lancers turned the ball over four times in the game. Willie Nash was intercepted three times and Lakes lost that fumble late in the game that Oaksmith recovered.
“I’ve been asking for the chance to play some defense all four of my years here,” Oaksmith said. “That was cool to get.”
Where the Panthers caught their defensive opportunities, Lakes couldn’t. The Lancers had three potential interceptions of Oaksmith in their hands but dropped each of them. Seattle Prep went on to score touchdowns on two of those three drives to advance to the quarterfinals.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 11:23 PM.
