No gap between Yelm’s state appearances this time after 27-17 win over Edmonds-Woodway

A year ago, it seemed like it had been forever since Yelm High School reached the 3A state football playoffs. Thirty-one years to be exact, since 1987.

Tornado fans won’t have to wait as long this time. With a come-from-behind 27-17 comeback victory over visiting Edmonds-Woodway in the district round on Friday night, Yelm will be making its first back-to-back trips to state.

The Tornados’ first round opponent in state won’t be determined until Sunday and coach Jason Ronquillo wouldn’t hazard a guess as to where Yelm will be seeded in the field of 16 teams.

Needing to rally a week ago to beat cross-prairie rival Timberline, 35-30, the Tornados had something big to fix coming out of that game. They didn’t complete a pass in seven tries against the Blazers, were outgained by a significant chunk of yardage and won in part because two Timberline runovers rapidly turned into Yelm touchdowns.

Anyone seeing the Tornados, and senior quarterback Ben Hoffmann for the first time Friday night wouldn’t have guessed passing was ever an issue.

Hoffmann completed 14 of 17 passes for 190 and a touchdown. His first five completions of the night went to different receivers. He also rushed for 69 yards and a pair of TDs.

“We saw some things we could exploit,” said Ronquillo. “We kept it simple at first. They were giving us the coverage we thought they would. They never adjusted to what we were doing so we took advantage of it.”

Yelm used a 52-yard return of the opening kickoff by Sylas Franklin and a deeper dive into the playbook to set up its first touchdown. Franklin returned the ball to the Edmonds-Woodway 35.

On the second play from scrimmage, the Tornados leading rusher, Carson Amendt, went in motion to the right and caught a screen pass he turned into a 35-yard gain. On the next play, Hoffmann sprinted into the right corner of the end zone.

“We were all a little more dialed in,” said Hoffmann “We had more variety in some passing plays we decided to pull out.”

The screen pass to Amendt in motion was a play Yelm ran at the beginning of the season, but not recently and was one of around a half dozen plays the Tornados dusted off for their playoff opener.

Edmonds-Woodway’s ensuing drive stalled, but they managed a 28-yard field goal by Jacob Sanchez-Arias to make it 7-3.

Early in the second quarter, Yelm got out to its longest lead of the night, 14-3, when Auzzie Schaler, who would finish with four catches for a team-high 76 yards receiving, got wide open behind the Warriors’ secondary and trotted into the end zone with a 38-yard score.

“We got them on a little trick play they weren’t ready for and I snuck right by them,” said Schaler, who was reluctant to go into detail in case Yelm wants to run the play again.

But Edmonds-Woodway drove 86 yards on nine plays to immediately cut Yelm’s lead to 14-10, on a Read Carr pass to a speeding Nathan Tesfatsion over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown. They were driving again, threatening to seize the momentum in the final minute of the half, when Schaler, the Yelm record-holder for interceptions in a season, extended his mark with his ninth.

“They had a go-to guy and a go-to concept, so we put Auzzie on that side, which seemed to help,” Ronquillo said.

Carr threw deep, looking again for Tesfatsion but Schaler stepped in front and snagged the ball at the Yelm 10-yard line.

“In the game plan all week, we knew that they were going to target number 12’s (Tesfatsion’s) side. They did exactly that,” said Schaler. “What we saw on film is what they did. The coaches prepared us for it.”

After a scoreless third quarter by both teams, Edmonds-Woodway finally did claim the lead on the second play of the fourth quarter when Steele Swinton ran the ball in from five yards out.

A bit of individual toughness by Hoffmann got Yelm the lead back. On the fourth play of their next drive, he ran a quarterback draw, running into a gang of tacklers at about the Edmonds-Woodway 35. Hoffmann broke threw and finished a 44-yard touchdown dash.

A sustained 11-play, 68-yard drive – ended by a six-yard touchdown run by Amendt – on their last possession gave the Tornados a 10-point lead with two minutes to play.

The game ended with a Bradley McGannon sack of Carr and ecstatic Yelm players rushed to midfield. Hoffmann, who played in Yelm’s two 2018 state games as a defensive back, looks forward to quarterbacking the Tornados after watching All-Area passer Kyle Robinson run the team last season.

“I know what it means to be in a playoff game and how much it means to me and my team mates,” he said.

BOX SCORE

Edmonds-Woodway 3 7 0 7 - 17

Yelm 7 7 0 13 - 27

Y – Ben Hoffmann 3-yard run (Braden Hill kick)

E – Jacob Sanchez-Arias 28 field goal

Y – Auzzie Schaler 38 pass from Hoffmann (Hill kick)

E – Nathan Tesfatsion 29 pass from Read Carr (Sanchez-Arias kick)

E – Steele Swinton 5 run (Sanchez-Arias kick)

Y – Carson Amendt 6 run (Hill kick)

Y – Hoffmann 44 run (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

PASSING

E – Carr 12-21-1-133.

Y – Hoffmann 14-17-1-190.

RUSHING

E – Swinton 10-59, Ben Grimes 9-12, Desmond Morgan 2-7, Carr 8-9.

Y– Anthony Chipres 1-(-3), Hoffmann 13-69, Amendt 12-74, McGannon 1-0.

RECEIVING

E – Swinton 3-19, Tesfatsion 4-85, Forrest Newton 2-22, Dillon Rundorff 3-18.

Y – Amendt 1-35, Chipres 3-31, Sylas Franklin 4-16, Schaler 4-76, Richard Romo 2-32.