No cupcakes: Puyallup, Graham-Kapowsin schedule heavyweights in 2026 non-league
Puyallup and Graham-Kapowsin aren’t backing down from anyone in the fall.
The football programs, both 4A SPSL contenders and 4A state championship contenders, have released their 2026 schedules. There are some legitimate heavyweight matchups in the non-league portions.
Puyallup hits the road to face Idaho power Rocky Mountain in Week 1, faces perennial 3A power Bellevue at home in Week 2 and hits the road again to face last year’s 4A runner-up Lake Stevens, which returns electric dual-threat quarterback Blake Moser.
Graham-Kapowsin, meanwhile, hits the road for all three of its non-league games: Week 1 at Lake Stevens, Week 2 at Richland in what’s sure to be a crazy environment and Week 3 in Portland against Oregon power Central Catholic.
“We’re gonna find out if we’re a mature group, that we think we should be, pretty quick,” Graham-Kapowsin coach Jeff Logan told The News Tribune over the phone on Thursday afternoon. “We’ll see what we’re made of.”
Back-to-back 4A state champion Sumner boasted the state’s most difficult non-league schedules the past two seasons. Now the other 4A SPSL contenders are taking a page from coach Keith Ross’ book.
“Sumner (lost to) us, West Linn and Lake Stevens last year and then ran the slate and won state,” Puyallup coach DJ Mims said. “There’s something to be said about playing those tough games early. Keith Terry did it at Mount Tahoma, too. You get a lot of respect in the committee rooms when state seeding comes around, too.”
Logan said he had meetings with a few of the leaders of his team after the season ended and in those talks, learned that marquee matchups mattered to them.
“They wanted to play good competition,” Logan said. “It’s what the kids want and it’ll test our abilities.”
Graham-Kapowsin has been young since playing in the 2023 state championship game. With junior quarterback AJ Tuivaiave, senior receiver Kase Betz and junior receiver Jayce Halasz all returning in the fall, as well as nine starters back on defense, it feels like the Eagles are all in this year.
“We’ll be older, pretty experienced,” Logan said. “That plays a little bit into the part of scheduling tough teams.”
Sumner, the two-time defending 4A champion, also has another challenging schedule, facing Eagle (Idaho) and 3A state runner-up Mount Tahoma in the non-league slate. Maybe the biggest benefit to all of these games, though? The bigtime matchups create buzz around the programs. The stadiums will be packed. Media attention will be focused on the games.
“It’s good for the state of Washington, the fanbases for these programs, the media,” Mims said. “There were 7,000 people at our (state semifinal) game against Sumner, the second time. It’s good for high school football. I’m excited to be part of these matchups.”
Logan shared similar thoughts.
“I think the state, the community, the fans will be excited to watch these,” Logan said. “It’s a good way for us to motivate our kids.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
