Raise the Black Flag: Sumner defense restores identity, rolls into 4A playoffs
For a Sumner program built on its defense and defined by its dominance, Week 5 felt like a dream gone sideways.
In their marquee rivalry with Puyallup on Oct. 4, the defending 4A champions were run over, thrown past, and left searching for answers in the kind of blowout loss head coach Keith Ross hasn’t experienced in a decade. Senior linebacker Austin Glivar said it best: “All of the bad came together in one game.”
After postgame handshakes and Puyallup’s celebratory photos, the scoreboard at a jam-packed Sparks Stadium told the story of Sumner’s worst nightmare: Puyallup 58, Sumner 22. They were stunned, as if a loss of this magnitude was something foreign. Because it was.
But Glivar knew there was time to turn the ship around. Their defense lacked energy and juice, they said, forced to overcome the reality that last year’s rings can’t win this year’s games. A wake-up call, a lesson learned, call it whatever you want — it was time to “flip the switch.”
“We had to look in the mirror,” Ross told The News Tribune. “We all got humbled — the coaches, the players, the town. We talked to the kids about, ‘We’re not playing Sumner football.’ Especially not Black Flag football. We’re not honoring the legacy of playing good defense here.
“You can pout for about 24 hours, and then you’ve got to either fix it or not fix it.
“We decided to fix it.”
And so Sumner’s longtime head coach went back to the drawing board. Ross deemed it a return to their roots, implementing the base defensive scheme he’s directed for more than two decades and the identity that has kept the Spartans in contention year after year. Nothing fancy, he insisted.
“We weren’t bringing that much effort to the table because we already thought we made it,” All-State defensive lineman Shaun Griffith said. “Over the last four games, we’ve really shown that we need to bring the energy… and we have.”
Six days after their nightmare ended, Sumner blanked Rogers in a 50-0 rout. They returned home to Sunset Chev Stadium in Week 7, refusing a Curtis touchdown in another blowout, 49-3. They’ve shut out Emerald Ridge and Bethel in the weeks since, a return to reality for one of the state’s top defenses.
In the four weeks since that nightmarish loss at Sparks Stadium, Sumner is 4-0. They have outscored opponents by a combined score of 198-3, surging from 10th to second in total defense among the 4A SPSL.
It’s like they never left. Perhaps they didn’t.
“It was broken. We were broken,” Ross said. “We were riding our coattails from last year. We thought we just had the personnel, that we were just going to line up and play football. The other two No. 1 teams in their states (Lake Stevens, West Linn), we played within one series.
“But the Puyallup game exposed us. You’ve got to play good football against good football teams, or you’re going to get exposed. It was a good lesson for us.”
Senior free safety Elias Isaacs spearheads the secondary and its coverages. And Glivar, a three-year starter, knows Ross’ standard as well as anyone. The high-motor linebacker has taken charge in this senior-year turnaround, a veteran who knows the system like the back of his hand.
“Seeing my teammates grow is what’s great about this season,” Isaacs said. “Taking a certain pride in yourself, that self-confidence… I get to see all of my guys grow that self-confidence. It’s really nice to see.”
Defensive back Izear Ferguson leads Sumner with two interceptions, and Griffith is the anchor of Sumner’s defensive line — a disruptor where all of it starts.
“In all my years, (Griffith) is the guy,” Ross said. “He plays the hardest of anyone I’ve ever coached, and it shows.”
Sumner’s resurgence awarded them Class 4A’s No. 6 seed ahead of the district playoffs, also known as the Round of 32. Winners advance to the state tournament, where the WIAA’s final bracket is reseeded.
It’s win-or-go-home at Sunset Chev Stadium on Friday night when Sumner hosts No. 27 Eastmont with a state berth on the line.
“The way I’ve thought about it… there’s two, three thousand kids in this school,” Sumner RB Lance McGee said. “Only 11 of them are wearing the Black Flag, so you’ve got to be a dawg. The 11 out there right now, they’re all dawgs.”
McGEE PRIMED FOR FEATURE-BACK ROLE
Menacing storm clouds and an unrelenting downpour converged on Wednesday’s practice at Sunset Chev Stadium — but Ross wouldn’t mind if the gray skies stuck around for two more days.
“It’s playoff weather,” he said.
In other words, it’s time to run the rock. Sumner has relied on RB Lance McGee all season — the focal point of a run-heavy offense with 22 touchdowns and more than 1,300 rushing yards — but when playoff football rolls around each fall, it isn’t a secret that the Spartans take “run-heavy” to a completely new level.
Expect a large dose of the three-star recruit Friday night.
“I love it,” McGee said. “I always like a new challenge. I love that my teammates give me the opportunity to perform on a Friday night. I just give my all for them, and go out there and perform each time I get the chance to.”
McGee hasn’t played much defense for the Spartans despite the monster, 115-tackle junior season he enjoyed at linebacker for Davis (Yakima) High School last year, much in part due to his offensive prowess. He’s shed nearly 30 pounds since the offseason, enough for Ross to call him a “completely different player” from Week 1 to Week 10. And his backfield presence has paid massive dividends, setting the table for his defense to control the clock and win games.
“The (offense and defense) have to match,” Ross said. “You can’t throw the ball every down and play good defense.”
It’s what Sumner’s head coach expects when Eastmont rolls into Sunset Chev, even with less rain in the forecast than Wednesday’s downpour: Tone-setting defense and smash-mouth football with McGee’s blend of size and speed.
Eastmont’s Wing-T offense offers deceptive misdirection with multiple running backs, a scheme Sumner saw (and shut out) with their 28-0 win over Kennedy Catholic in Week 2. The Spartans expect similar success Friday night.
“We got our edge back,” Ross said. “We found our niche. We’re running the ball and the defense is just playing inspired football. I’m super impressed with them.
“It’s been a fun month.”
