No. 6 Tumwater outlasts Woodland to return to state playoffs for ninth consecutive season

It would be ridiculous to look at the eight touchdowns Tumwater High School scored on its way to a 58-38 district playoff win over Woodland on Saturday night and attribute the victory to defense.

But, the sixth-ranked T-Birds (9-1) blew past the 500-yard mark in total offense, rushing for 537.

Dylan Loftis, sprinting around the edges, carried the ball 22 times for 242 yards and three touchdowns.

Hunter Baker, banging inside, rushed 26 times for 193 yards and two touchdowns.

“Constant work in practice, countless film sessions, our offensive line,” said Baker, ticking off the reasons Tumwater’s offense could stay in high gear against as strong as an opponent as the Beavers (8-2).

There was enough left of the ball for Zane Murphy, Rico Spiegner and Turner Allen to make it five T-Birds running backs that found the end zone. Baker’s work between the tackles is helped by the speed of Tumwater’s other backs.

“Dylan and Rico are so fast, teams are worried about them,” Baker said. “They just burn them. That opens up things inside.”

Allen’s full return from an ankle injury adds to Tumwater’s depth.

But the game’s momentum shifted for good on back-to-back defensive plays midway through the fourth quarter.

Woodland quarterback Tyler Flanagan had been the story during the first half, carrying the ball nearly every play after running the opening kickoff back 92 yards for a touchdown.

He had 201 yards of offense at the break despite several sacks and bad shotgun snaps forcing him to take negative yardage.

Limping noticeably after intermission, he turned to the air and eventually completed 12 of 23 passes for 231 yards. His total yards at the end — passing, rushing, return — totaled 518.

“He’s the real deal, he can play,” Tumwater coach Bill Beattie said of Flanagan, who is being recruited by Mountain West and FCS schools. “It took us awhile to adjust to what he does. Obviously, we couldn’t simulate him very well in practice.”

After Tumwater had gone up 42-32 on a 6-yard run by Baker, Flanagan engineered a rapid six-play, 80-yard drive centered on passes to receiver Christian Yager.

When Reid Hope culminated the drive with a 9-yard run that cut Tumwater’s lead to 42-38, the Beavers succeeded in recovering an onside kick. Mark Morales plucked the ball cleanly out of the air at the Tumwater 49.

But, led by sophomore lineman Jacob Schuster, a mob of T-Birds sacked Flanagan for a loss of 11 on first-and-10. On the next play, Tumwater defensive back De-Juan Freeman snared his second interception of he night, setting up Loftis’ third touchdown, a 62-yard sprint.

“I saw the ball in the air and I said, ‘It’s mine,’ and went to go get it,” Freeman said.

After that, the T-Birds were never in danger, and Beattie could turn his attention to the uncertainty of the state playoff seeding meeting Sunday at WIAA headquarters in Renton.

“This was a tough district matchup,” he said. “We’re excited to move on. This is a good example of why the seeding committee is a good idea. You’ve got two teams that would be a number No. 3 seed under the old allocation system.

“Now we’ll see what happens with the committee.”

W – Tyler Flanagan 92 kickoff return (kick failed)

T – Dylan Loftis 10 run (Nathan Vani kick)

T – Hunter Baker 24 run (Vani kick)

W – Flanagan 5 run (Flanagan run)

T – Zane Murphy 1 run (Vani kick)

W – Flanagan 31 run (kick failed)

W – Flanagan 5 run (pass failed)

T – Rico Spiegner 18 run (Vani kick)

W – Isaiah Flanagan 93 pass from Tyler Flanagan (pass failed)

T – Turner Allen 19 run (Vani kick)

T – Baker 6 run (Vani kick)

W – Reid Hope 9 run (pass failed)

T – Loftis 62 run (Vani kick)

T – Safety

T – Loftis 14 run (Vani kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing: W – Tyler Flanagan 12-23-2-241. T – Cody Whalen 4-7-0-21; Loftis 0-1-0-0.

Rushing: W – Tyler Flanagan 27-185; Hope 4-7; Kenyon Guy 1-3; Wyatt Wooden 1-1. T – Baker 26-193; Loftis 21-180; Spiegner 4-46; Allen 3-27; Mason Burbidge 2-21; Whalen 6-8; Murphy 4-0.

Receiving: W – Isaiah Flanagan 1-93; Christian Yager 5-61; Wooden 3-55; Hope 2-19; Guy 1-13. T – Scott Duboiski 2-13; Spiegner 1-5; Murphy 1-3.

This story was originally published November 4, 2018 at 12:38 AM with the headline "No. 6 Tumwater outlasts Woodland to return to state playoffs for ninth consecutive season."