Mount Tahoma’s Jones brothers power T-Birds into 3A state championship game
No disrespect to the club, grilled cheese, turkey, BLT or PB&J, but Mount Tahoma football coach Keith Terry’s favorite sandwich isn’t piled high with deli meats or savory fillings.
No, Terry’s favorite sandwich is a different variety: hard-hitting brothers Teaven and Shan Jones, colliding with whichever opposing player happens to be carrying the football.
“There’s been a lot of games this year where it’s a tackle for loss (by one of them) and all of the sudden, it’s this Jones sandwich in the backfield,” Terry said during practice on Wednesday, laughing.
The numbers back it up: Senior linebacker Shan Jones (pronounced “Shane”) leads the team in tackles with 134 on the season. Teaven, a junior defensive end, is second on the team with 79. Teaven has 34 tackles for loss and 20.5 sacks; Shan has 25.5 tackles for loss.
The brothers have lived in opposing backfields all season. They’ve been an integral part of one of the state’s elite defenses and a major reason why the undefeated T-Birds are in the Class 3A state championship game against O’Dea at Husky Stadium on Friday night.
“We always push each other hard in this defense,” Teaven Jones said. “It’s not just us two, it’s the whole. It’s just a great team effort.”
Believe it or not, these two tackling machines didn’t always love contact. When their parents Shan and Taleasha signed them up for the Tacoma Panthers youth football program in third grade, it took them a while to warm up to the sport.
“We didn’t like it at first,” Shan said, laughing.
“I didn’t really like hitting and all that stuff,” Teaven added.
How things have changed.
“They’re each dynamic in their own way,” Terry said. “That’s what makes them really special. … They’re two of the pieces that really make us elite defensively.”
Terry and his coaching staff moved Teaven around to different spots, but once he settled in at defensive end last summer, everything clicked.
“He’s a freakish athlete, fast, has great bend but he’s really strong,” Terry said. “He’s really developed.”
And Shan, a three-year starter, has been the rock of the defense at middle linebacker.
“He’s really skyrocketed,” Terry said. “We have a really good front but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have someone that can clean up everything behind it. He’s been really good for us sideline to sideline and just being able to run, cover, do all the things that you need to be able to do at that linebacker position.”
They’re competitive, but the vibe is friendly and supportive between the two. Asked jokingly who they think is the better football player, they didn’t entertain the debate.
“We’re both great players,” Shan said.
Against O’Dea, Mount Tahoma faces a perennial 3A title contender coached by Monte Kohler, who became the state’s all-time winningest high school football coach this fall, passing legendary former Tumwater coach Sid Otton.
The Irish defense is littered with talented players with stars next to their names on recruiting websites. Mount Tahoma’s players, meanwhile, have flown under the radar, comparatively. An undefeated season and a 21-6 win over Eastside Catholic in last week’s semifinal round, though, tells the story of a pretty good defense in Tacoma, too.
“We already saw what happened when we played Eastside Catholic, we already know,” Shan said.
“We dominated the whole game,” Teaven interjected.
“We wanna show the whole state that we’re the best team in Washington,” Shan added.
Coincidentally, Mount Tahoma was the last Tacoma Public Schools program to win a state title, in 1980. It’s been 45 years, and now the T-Birds get another shot at glory.
“For us, let the stars align how they may,” Terry said. “Let’s line up, let’s play and let’s really see.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
