Week 5: High school football takeaways in the Olympia area
Week five of the high school football season is in the books. Here are some five takeaways from this week’s Friday Night Lights action in the Olympia area.
YELM MIXES IN NEW PIECES WITHOUT SKIPPING A BEAT
The sign of an established football program is an ability to keep winning even after key players graduate.
Yelm High School lost all-area quarterback Kyle Robinson to college ball at Pacific Lutheran. Senior Ben Hoffmann has made his wait for the starting job worthwhile, running the offense and delivering on-target deep balls.
His receivers? Not last year’s stars Kodee Gifford, now at Linfield College, and Austin Osso. But seniors Sylas Franklin and Auzzie Schaler – a basketball player who didn’t even play football the past two seasons – have filled the role in often-dazzling fashion.
Defensively, starting linebackers Derrick Platt, the 3A South Sound Conference defensive player of the year in 2018, and Peyton Gendron are both at Whitworth University. New playmakers, among them linebacker Eli Osso and Schaler at a defensive back spot, have stepped up.
As a result, the Tornados are very much in contention for a second straight state playoff berth after a 49-20 victory on Capital’s homecoming Friday night at Ingersoll Stadium in Olympia.
Yelm (3-2) found every which way to score – running, passing, returning – to jump out to a five-touchdown first half advantage.
Yelm’s win keeps it in a tie for first place with Peninsula (3-2), which survived overtime to beat host Timberline on Thursday night, at 3-0 in league play.
“It feels really good to be tied for first,” said senior running back Carson Amendt, who has helped the Tornados transition as a returning starter. “Yelm hasn’t had a league title for a while. That’s what we’re striving for.”
“We executed pretty well, though our second-half execution wasn’t as clean as I would have liked,” said Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo. “We also had some penalties we wish we could take back. We were being a little overaggressive.”
Yelm led 14-0 before the game was a minute old.
Franklin ran the opening kickoff back 96 yards for a touchdown. Capital fumbled the ball away on the second play of its ensuing possession – the first of four times the Cougars would lose a fumble – and Amendt scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns from 11 yards out.
Amendt would carry 19 times for 222 yards. Capital running back Clayton Grady would be even more of a workhorse, carrying 33 times for 141 yards.
The second of Amendt’s touchdowns, this one from two yards, made it 21-0 before the first quarter ended.
“Carson’s got great feet, he’ll cut two or three times before he hits full speed,” Ronquillo said.
“A lot of it’s passion and a lot of it is our line opening up big holes for me,” Amendt said. Yelm’s offensive line is one unit manned primarily by veterans.
The Tornados lost Jacob Dimond to NCAA Division I Idaho State, but still have juniors Dylan Jemtegaard, Josh Piland and Slade Edwards joining senior starters Bradley McGannon and Hunter Mohl.
Hoffmann, who would complete 7-of-12 passes for 139 yards, threw for two second-quarter touchdowns.
The first came on a circus catch by wide receiver Auzzie Schaler, who would also record two interceptions plus long returns on defense. Schaler was well-defended by Capital defensive back Gabe Taylor and bobbled the ball, but caught it laying on his back in the end zone for a 27-yard score.
Then, Hoffmann gave Yelm its largest lead, 35-0, tossing a two-yard TD pass to George Packard in the back left corner of the end zone.
Capital had no intention of allowing Yelm to go up by 40 and get the game clock running.
On the first possession of the second half, the Cougars drove 80 yards on nine plays to score for the first time on a 19-yard run by Grady. On its next drive, Capital got as close as it would the rest of the way, 35-14, when, aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty against Yelm, they moved the ball to midfield and scored on a 53-yard strike from Redman to Grady Lindekugel.
But Yelm shook off its post-halftime doldrums and moved downfield, handing the ball off time and again to Amendt, until he broke a play up the middle outside to the right, sprinting 40 yards for a touchdown that was enough to put the game out of reach.
Yelm takes on North Thurston next week before traveling to Peninsula in Week 7 for what may be the game of the year in the 3A SSC. Capital is at Gig Harbor next week.
“It feels good. We’ll enjoy the win tonight, but we know who’s coming up. We’ve got a long road ahead of us,” Ronquillo said.
TIMBERLINE REVIVAL FALLS SHORT IN OT
Timberline coach Nick Mullen doesn’t believe in moral victories but acknowledged vast improvement in his team’s third 3A SSC game.
After scoring just a single touchdown in losing their first two league games, the Blazers (1-4) showed their good side to a homecoming crowd and a regional TV audience on Root Sports, forcing league co-leader Peninsula into overtime before falling, 27-24, Thursday night at South Sound Stadium.
“If we’d played all season like we did against Peninsula we’d be 3-2,” Mullen said. “The last few weeks, we weren’t taking care of the details. So, we didn’t give the kids a lot of scout on Peninsula the way we usually do. The coaches and I said ‘let’s just do us.’”
The result was a demonstrable offensive edge for Timberline, which gained 227 yards to Peninsula’s 209 and had more first downs, 16-11. The Blazers converted 5-of-14 third downs and made it all three times they went for it on fourth down.
“It was an offensive game for us. We keep their offense off the field,” Mullen said. “The best defense can be a good offense because your defense is coming on the field fresh, able to blitz and make plays.”
The scoring was a duel of running backs. Timberline’s Jaden Gorman, who finished with 82 yards on 24 carries, scored all three Blazer touchdowns from one yard out. Peninsula’s Sean Skladany scored on runs of 7, 3 and 13 yards. He totaled 62 yards on 13 carries.
The Blazers also reduced their penalty yardage from 107 in last week’s 5-0 loss to Central Kitsap to just 40.
For the second consecutive year the teams went into overtime. Last season, Peninsula prevailed 28-27 in Purdy when a long two-point conversion try by Timberline in OT ended in an incomplete pass by Hunter Campau that was just out of the reach of Trevor Joubert. This time, the Seahawks went up by the final score on an overtime field goal and Blazers’ quarterback Adam Dafoe then threw his only interception of the game.
With three league losses, catching Peninsula or Yelm for the 3A SSC title is unlikely. But if Timberline won out and got the right breaks, Mullen can see a 5-4 team reaching the district playoff round.
“I’ve never focused as much on league championships as getting to Week 10 with a chance to get into the state playoffs,” Mullen said.
The Blazers appear to get a break next week when winless Shelton comes to South Sound Stadium before a tough road matchup against Capital on Oct. 18.
In other games involving local large schools, Olympia fell to 4A’s fifth-ranked team, Graham-Kapowsin, 40-7, on the road; North Thurston was shutout at home, 46-0 by Gig Harbor and Shelton dropped a close 13-6 contest to visiting Central Kitsap.
NO. 8 WF WEST CALLS ‘NEXT’ WITH HUGE WIN OVER DEFENDING CHAMPS
Scoring six touchdowns in the second quarter alone, undefeated and eighth-ranked W.F. West crushed defending 2A Evergreen Conference champion Black Hills, 66-7, Friday night in Chehalis.
The Bearcats victory in the 2A EvCo opener over an injury-plagued Wolves’ squad leaves W.F. West the only logical contender to potentially deprive top-ranked and perennial champion Tumwater of the league title for a second straight year. Black Hills went unbeaten in league a year ago, knocking the Thunderbirds out of the top spot for the first time in nine years.
Quarterback Josiah Johnson passed for four W.F. West touchdowns, two to Max Taylor and one each to Britt Lusk and Leandre Grimes. Taylor also intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown.
Jaiyden Camoza, who totaled 191 yards on 13 carries, rushed for a pair of touchdowns. An interception return by Carter McCoy plus a field goal and nine PATs without a miss by Bryce Laufenberg accounted for W.F. West’s other points.
Black Hills split quarterback duties between Ryan Moloney and Julian Kennedy, with Kennedy putting up the Wolves only points on a 69-yard fourth quarter touchdown pass to Dausen Fields. Zach Loveless cracked triple digits in rushing, gaining 124 yards on 16 carries.
The Bearcats travel to Rochester next week before their crucial Week 7 matchup at home against Tumwater. Black Hills will try to snap a four-game losing streak Friday at Centralia.
NO SURPRISE AS NO. 1 TUMWATER COASTS PAST ROCHESTER
Starting the scoring with a safety that turned into eight points when Danny Goodburn ran the ensuring free kick back 60 yards for a touchdown, top-ranked Tumwater rolled to an expected 64-6 victory over visiting Rochester (1-4) on Friday at Tumwater District Stadium.
Dylan Paine rushed for three touchdowns as the T-Birds (5-0) took a 58-6 lead before the half. Turner Allen scored twice, once on a 50-yard punt return and once on a 29-yard pass from Cody Whalen.
Hunter Baker and Andrew Lowe also rushed for Tumwater scores.
The T-Birds host Aberdeen next week before traveling to W.F. West for the showdown with the Bearcats on Oct. 18.
In other games involving local 2A schools, River Ridge lost a 42-40 heartbreaker at home to Eatonville and Centralia lost on the road at Aberdeen, 46-30.
2B RAINIER SHUTS OUT 3A FOE FORT VANCOUVER
Fort Vancouver, whose participation numbers and experience have plummeted in recent years, is on a leave of absence from the 3A Greater St. Helen’s League, playing an independent schedule of much-smaller schools.
Later this season, the Trappers will even play first-year 2B program Northwest Christian of Lacey.
There’s a lot of know-how at the top as head coach Neil Lomax was a star at both Portland State and in the NFL for eight years with the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, but Friday night in Rainier, Fort Vancouver showed it’s still in the early stages of its rebuild, falling 41-0 to Rainier.
Brody Klein rushed for three touchdowns on as many carries for the Mountaineers. Mike Green completed 5-of-6 passes for 136 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown to Riffe Holmes.
In other local small school games, Elma snapped a two-game losing streak with a 62-7 rout of 2A R.A. Long, Hoquiam blasted Tenino, 62-0, and Ocosta outscored visiting Northwest Christian, 53-22.
This story was originally published October 5, 2019 at 9:35 AM.