Week 8: High school football games of the week in the Olympia area

Week eight of the high school football season is here. Here are some of the top games to keep an eye on this week in the Olympia area.

Centralia (5-2) at No. 8 W.F. West (6-1)

7 p.m. Friday at W.F. West High School

This is the most important Swamp Cup in terms of the 2A Evergreen Conference standings in nine years.

In 2010, Centralia hosted W.F. West in the annual rivalry game with both teams 2-1. Their only losses were to Tumwater. The Bearcats won, 14-0, and finished second in the standings at season’s end, the Tigers third.

In 2019, both teams are 2-1 in league. W.F. West comes off a 34-0 loss to Tumwater while Centralia will finish the regular season with a home game against the Thunderbirds. A win over W.F. West would send the Tigers into that game with a league championship still possible.

The health of the Bearcats has a large bearing on Friday’s game. W.F. West held Tumwater to a scoreless tie through the first 21 minutes, only to see running back Jaiyden Camoza suffer an ankle injury and quarterback Josiah Johnson a concussion within a few plays of each other just before halftime.

The T-Birds broke through for a 7-0 halftime lead they extended to 14-0 after a Bearcat turnover on the first play of the second half, then added 20 insurance points in the fourth quarter.

Whether Camoza or Johnson can play this week will make a difference. Promising freshman quarterback Gavin Fugate has size and a strong arm but could benefit from experience. Do-everything rusher, receiver and punter Leandre Gaines becomes an even more vital factor if the others are out.

Wide receiver Max Taylor, who caught five passes for 91 yards, intercepted two passes and scored three touchdowns two weeks ago against Black Hills could be featured more along with sophomore running back Luke Wichert.

Centralia bounced back from an EvCo opening loss at Aberdeen to beat both Black Hills and Rochester. A pair of young running backs fuel the Tigers’ attack.

Sophomore Chase Sobolesky-Reynolds rushed 17 times for 186 yards to go with four receptions for 63 yards against Black Hills and had 13 carries for 154 yards last week against the Warriors. Junior Braidyn Hoyt scored two touchdowns against the Wolves and carried 25 times for 93 yards against Rochester.

The game will be broadcast live over KELA-AM 1470 and video streamed online over the ESN/NFHS network, with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 p.m.

No. 3 Steilacoom (5-2) vs. River Ridge (3-4)

7 p.m. Thursday at South Sound Stadium

Offense should be the name of the game in this one as Steilacoom, 3-0 in 2A South Puget Sound League play, tries to keep River Ridge, 2-1, from grabbing a piece of first place.

Steilacoom’s star is nationally recruited junior receiver Emeka Egbuka, who has caught 43 passes for 971 yards – a 22.6 yards per catch average -- and 13 touchdowns.

Egbuka has an array of other yardages from kickoff, punt and interception returns to go with one rushing attempt to bring his total yardage to 1260, fully a third of the Sentinels’ total.

Junior quarterback Chance McDonald is a first-year starter who threw only nine passes last season, awaiting his turn behind JJ Lemming, now at Central Washington University. McDonald has a 118.9 quarterback rating, having completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 2094 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Running backs Ra’Sun Williams, Jr., Logan Brady and Deandre Napier each average at least 6.7 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, River Ridge has caught fire offensively of late – scoring 40 or more points in four of its last five games – in large part thanks to the emergence of 5-7, 145-pound running back Darion Brown. Coach Steve Schultz calls Brown pound-for-pound the strongest Hawk.

Primarily a defensive back until three weeks ago, Brown broke out for 243 yards in a loss to Eatonville, then eclipsed the River Ridge school rushing record for a single game with 284 yards against Fife, good for four touchdowns. Last week, in a rout of Washington, Brown carried only 12 times, but still gained 177 yards and scored four touchdowns.

Juniors preside over the River Ridge passing game as well. Quarterback Jevon Brown’s two favorite targets are Dontae Owens and Sean Brost.

The game will be video streamed online over the ESN/NFHS network, with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 p.m.

Black Hills (2-5) vs. No. 1 Tumwater (7-0)

7 p.m. Friday at Tumwater District Stadium

T-Bird players have obsessed over their 22-17 loss to Black Hills last fall that ended an eight-year unbeaten streak in 2A Evergreen Conference play, using the defeat as motivation through off-season workouts and into the 2019 campaign.

Though Tumwater will be a heavy favorite this time, the cross-freeway rivalry known as the Pioneer Bowl is the most intense in Thurston County, since Olympia and Capital discontinued the old Spaghetti Bowl and River Ridge moved to the 2A SPSL ending its annual game with Timberline.

Tumwater has depth, using a running back corps that includes, but isn’t limited to, record-breaking line-buster Dylan Paine, Hunter Baker, Turner Allen, Jaylen Clay and Jack Jones. The T-Birds have also expanded their vision this season to feature the passing skills of junior quarterback Cody Whalen.

Whalen’s downfield targets include senior wide receiver Danny Goodburn and sophomore tight end Austin Terry.

Black Hills has relied more in recent weeks on fullback Zach Loveless, who gained 205 yards on just 14 carries and scored four touchdowns in last week’s 49-28 win over visiting Aberdeen.

North Thurston (2-5) vs. Timberline (3-4)

7 p.m. Friday at South Sound Stadium

Both the Rams and Blazers came to forks in their 2019 road against 3A South Sound Conference-leading Peninsula.

North Thurston had rolled to dominant victories over its two non-league foes and appeared poised to improve on last season’s winless 3A SSC record. The Rams lost a hard-fought league opener to Peninsula, 38-12, then were edged by Capital by a single touchdown, 30-23.

Since, however, North Thurston has been hampered by injuries and outscored 134-7 in its most recent three games, including shutout losses to Yelm and Central Kitsap the last two weeks. Zach Porter has stepped in at quarterback and been the focal point of both the passing and rushing games.

Against Central Kitsap, linebacker Nathan Hulett was in on nine tackles and lineman Armani Tonauo eight.

Timberline split its non-league games, both away, then opened league play with road losses to Gig Harbor and Central Kitsap. Finally coming home during week five, the Blazers forced Peninsula into overtime before losing, just as they had a year ago when the two tied atop the final standings with 6-1 records.

That seemed to spark Timberline, which followed up with two very different victories, 55-14 over Shelton and 7-6 over Capital. Jaden Gorman rushed for 201 yards on 32 carries against the Cougars while Adam Dafoe completed 7 of 13 passes for 63 yards.

The Blazers have a three-game winning streak in the series, dating back to a 38-24 Rams’ triumph on the opening night of the 2015 season, a non-league game because Timberline was then in Class 4A and North Thurston 3A.

With no championship implications, Friday’s game may not be as heated as some other crosstown rivalries but does have an interesting note: North Thurston coach Terry Shaw is a long-time teacher at Timberline and director of the school’s award-winning choirs.

This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 6:00 AM.