Defeating crosstown rival Black Hills in the annual Pioneer Bowl, capturing the program’s 19th league championship since 1986 and advancing to the state playoffs for the 22nd time in school history were all achieved with the Thunderbirds’ convincing 41-13 victory Friday over the Wolves at Tumwater District Stadium.
But most of the fanfare circled around 300 – the number of victories coach Sid Otton has amassed at Tumwater since arriving in 1974.
Otton, who also coached at Coupeville (1967-68) and Colfax (1970-73), is 300-104 at Tumwater and has a career mark of 333-123 during his 45 years, ranking him first all-time in wins in the state.
Otton’s latest victory was in typical Tumwater fashion – a smash-mouth defense combined with a punishing ground game.
“It was just another super effort from our defense,” said Otton, who has guided Tumwater to state titles in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2010. “It took a little while for this team to find its chemistry, but I think they are there.”
Tumwater (6-1 overall, 5-0 Evergreen Conference) forced three fumbles and recovered an onside kick to post a commanding 35-0 halftime lead.
Bryant was a terror from his defensive tackle position, returning a fumble 35 yards for a touchdown to open up the scoring before recovering a second fumble deep in Black Hills territory, which Tumwater converted into another TD.
“We just love to stop the run,” Bryant said. “The defense has been stepping it up the last few weeks.”
Daniel Hinkle was 6-for-7 in the first half, throwing for 98 yards and hitting Zach Wimberly on a 19-yard scoring strike and Connor Smith on a 22-yard TD pass.
The T-Birds also received TD runs of 1 and 17 yards in the second quarter from Andrew Brown, who finished with 111 rushing yards on nine carries.
The win gives Tumwater, which closes out its regular season by hosting Aberdeen next week, a bye during Week 10’s state play-in games and advancement to the Class 2A state playoffs as the No. 1 seed out of District 4. The T-Birds will face District 1’s No. 3 seed in the first round.
Quarterback Josh Freeto had a hand in both TDs for Black Hills (3-3, 3-5), hitting Marquies Wall for a 3-yard scoring strike early in the fourth quarter and adding an 11-yard TD run late in the game.
