Eagles trounce Jaguars, 56-0, stake early claim to SPSL South league title

Graham-Kapowsin High School’s only regular season loss last year was a tough one, with Emerald Ridge pulling off an upset over the Eagles at Sparks Stadium. Emerald Ridge would go undefeated in league play to claim their first South Puget Sound League South title — with Graham-Kapowsin coming in second.

“No, we talked about (last year) during practice this week,” Eagles coach Eric Kurle said. “ER is a great team, they have great coaches. They run a great program, and we were excited we got to play them.”

History wasn’t repeated this year after the Class 4A’s No. 4-ranked Graham-Kapowsin (3-0) blew out Emerald Ridge (0-3), 56-0, at Art Crate Stadium to stake an early claim as favorites for the SPSL South title.

Especially if senior tailback Kobe Meriweather runs the way he did Friday.

“He had a tough week. We were upset with some cuts he made last week,” Kurle said. “Worked hard on him and talked about that.”

The hard work paid off, and the senior finished with three rushing touchdowns on 16 carries for 110 yards.

“We have a great line — I give it all to the line,” Meriweather said. “Coach Kurle has been getting me all week about how I haven’t been playing to my potential … this game I just wanted to perform for my team and contribute as much as I could.”

Meriweather got the scoring going on the Eagles’ first drive, after the 5-foot-8 senior pinballed his way through the heart of Emerald Ridge’s defense for an easy 31-yard TD dash and a quick 7-0 Graham-Kapowsin lead.

“To just be league champion, with it being my senior year, that’s all that matters,” Meriweather said.

For the second straight week, Emerald Ridge’s defense had no answer to stop the inside rush. The Jaguars looked overmatched by the physicality of the Eagles’ line, and Meriweather had plenty of space to run.

The line collapsing will be a major concern for Emerald Ridge the rest of the season.

“We really don’t have a choice — we just have to get better,” Emerald Ridge co-coach Brian Anderson said. “These guys came out ready to play. They had us dialed in … Eric does what he does, and he did everything we thought he would do. We just didn’t perform.”

The defenses traded blows to close out the first quarter before Meriweather and the Eagles offense broke out in the second.

Meriweather added two of his scores (7 and 2 yards) in the quarter, while freshman quarterback Dylan Morris hit Jeremiah Kakoa for a 41-yard score to close out the half with Graham-Kapowsin leading, 28-0.

After the rout, Graham-Kapowsin ready to capture another South league title.

“Hopefully we had our wake-up call last week against (Thomas) Jefferson,” Kurle said of the Eagles’ 20-7 Week 2 nonleague win. “We had to wake up and have a good week of practice, and we finally did.”

Graham-Kapowsin will travel to Curtis (3-0) next Friday in a battle of undefeated teams. Emerald Ridge hosts Puyallup (0-3) in their home opener at Sparks Stadium.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Eagles trounce Jaguars, 56-0, stake early claim to SPSL South league title."