Week 10: Takeaways from high school football in the Olympia area

Eight Olympia-area high school football teams walked onto fields Friday night for district-round playoff games. Just three emerged triumphant, and they weren’t all the obvious choices. Here are five takeaways from Week 10 of the season.

Tumwater tests scoreboard’s strength; W.F. West stunned

In a cartoon, when one team is beating another mercilessly, the scoreboard’s numbers eventually spin into an unreadable blur. Tumwater came close to creating a crisis for its state-of-the-art video scoreboard early in its game with visiting Columbia River.

Across the state, Twitter readers were stunned. With 2:20 still to play in the first quarter, the Thunderbirds (10-0) were up on the Chieftains (3-7), 40-0. Tumwater ultimately ran off 66 unanswered points before winning, 66-13.

Ranked all season as the state’s No. 1 Class 2A team in every poll, the T-Birds will almost certainly receive the top seed to the state playoffs, which begin next week. Committees will meet Sunday to seed all six classifications and announce first round matchups.

Tumwater flashed signs of dominance early and often. Their first three plays included touchdown runs by Dylan Paine and Turner Allen, who dashed 49 yards for his score.

Then quarterback Cody Whalen lofted a play-action pass over the top to Ryan Otton and the 6-foot-6 sophomore tight end sprinted the final 35 yards of a 98-yard scoring play.

Next came an eight-yard touchdown run by Paine, followed by Allen snatching a pass from Columbia River quarterback Mason Priddy and eluding 40 yards worth of tacklers for a pick six. Senior running back Hunter Baker completed the first quarter carnage, splitting two tacklers at the goal line for a 16-yard scoring run.

Just after the start of the second quarter, Danny Goodburn caught a pass from Whalen in traffic and moved the pile over the goal line. Three minutes later, Paine scored his third touchdown with a 35-yard sprint up the middle.

Finally, a junior running back and linebacker who doesn’t often see his name in media reports wrote it down twice. First, Jake Niebauer carried 10 yards for a touchdown that gave Tumwater a surreal 59-0 halftime lead. Then, he turned a third quarter interception into the T-Birds’ second pick six of the night before the Chieftains scored late on a TD pass and a defensive score.

Columbia River players will not carry fond memories of Tumwater District Stadium. Combined with last season’s 45-7 playoff loss to Black Hills, the Chieftains have been outscored 111-20 at TDS in the last 12 months.

Meanwhile, Washougal almost exactly reversed the results of an earlier non-league game in Chehalis to dismiss No. 8 W.F. West from the post-season. Losers of a 23-7 Week 4 game on the Bearcats’ field, the Panthers prevailed this time in a 28-7 upset.

W.F. West (8-2) scored first, on a 30-yard pass from Josiah Johnson to Carter McCoy, but would never find the end zone again. Meanwhile, Washougal’s 6-foot-3 junior quarterback Dalton Payne, who was absent from the first game, put on a show.

Payne threw touchdowns passes to Jakob Davis and Brevan Bea, while rushing for two touchdowns himself. He completed 20 of 25 passes for 207 yards as the Panthers (6-4) outgained W.F. West, 414 yards to 190.

Johnson passed for 158 yards, including seven receptions for 105 yards by McCoy, but the Panther defense choked off the Bearcats running attack — with senior star Jaiyden Camoza still hampered by an ankle injury suffered three weeks before against Tumwater — on barely more than 30 yards.

Leandre Gaines, W.F. West’s all-purpose receiver, runner and punter, missed the game with a knee injury.

River Ridge (5-5) also saw its season come to an end. The Hawks lost to Sequim (9-1) on a neutral field at Bremerton, 37-21.

The Hawks broke out to a 14-0 lead during the first quarter. First, Jevon Brown and Dontae Owens — who connected for two touchdowns in River Ridge’s 2A SPSL playoff victory over Highline last week — did it again, Brown finding Owens for a six-yard score.

Then, junior running back Darion Brown, who missed the Highline game with a concussion, returned to score from a yard out.

The Wolves scored the next three touchdowns, but River Ridge had a final gasp of life when Owens tied the game at 21 with an 83-yard kickoff return to start the second half. But the Hawks would not score again.

Jevon Brown passed for 129 yards and Darion Brown nudged past the 1,000 yards rushing mark for a season that really only encompassed seven games as a running back, picking up 54 more on a tough 20 carries.

Centralia played at Hockinson on Saturday afternoon.

Yelm returns for second state 3A bid in 2 years; Capital sent home

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.

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 turnovers 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 yards and a touchdown. His first five completions went to different receivers. He also rushed for 69 yards and a pair of TDs.

“We saw some things we could exploit,” said coach Jason 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.”

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.

The screen pass to Amendt 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.

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

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.”

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.

Meanwhile, there was no joy in Battle Ground for followers of Capital, as the Cougars dropped a 73-35 neutral site slugfest to Prairie, which gained its first state bid since 1992.

Capital (3-7) never led. The Cougars were down 14-0 before Jake Kennedy scored on a five-yard touchdown run.

Senior running back Clayton Grady had an explosive finale for the Cougars, rushing nine times for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Tristan Redman also recorded big numbers in a memorable final game, completing 16-of-27 for 235 yards and touchdowns to Troy Collard from 31 yards out and Grady Lindekugel from 43.

Rainier moves forward; Elma knocked out

As so often happens, Brody Klein did most of the damage as Rainier (6-4) earned its second state 2B playoff bid in three years with a 28-20 victory over the Pe Ell/Willapa Valley co-op team (6-4) in Menlo.

Klein figured in all four Mountaineer touchdowns. He caught three touchdown passes from Mike Green and rushed for the other. Klein totaled five catches for 91 yards and rushed 18 times for 113 yards.

Green completed 13 of 26 passes for 182 yards and the three touchdowns.

Last season, Elma drove down to La Center and came away with a 33-21 1A playoff victory. The Wildcats (10-0) didn’t forget. Seeking payback, they eliminated the Eagles (3-7), 42-14, this season.

La Center never trailed, grabbing a 14-0 lead before quarterback Cody Vollan scored on a 60-yard first quarter run. Elma’s other score came in the third quarter when Vollan, who would finish with 118 yards passing and a team-high 67 yards rushing, connected with Tysen Richardson on a 15-yard TD pass.

NO. 3 Papermakers give Bears a whiff of defeat

Unbeaten Camas (10-0) turned up the defensive pressure on Olympia (4-6), using three takeaways and three sacks to fuel a 48-13 home victory.

The Bears scored touchdowns on a final repetition of the deadly Nathan Hermann to Will Anderson passing combination, connecting for an 80-yard second-quarter score. Olympia tallied again in the third on a 22-yard run by Alfredo Ramirez-Cortes.

Ramirez-Cortes, a junior, turned in a strong performance, rushing 20 times for 144 yards.

North Thurston, Timberline witn non-playoff crossovers

Scheduling a Week 10 non-league game allowed North Thurston and Timberline to finish their seasons on a high note. Not so much for Shelton.

Andy Ros rushed 14 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns while Jase Marcott carried 13 times for 103 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Rams (3-7) to a 49-6 road rout of Mt. Tahoma (1-9), snapping a seven-game losing streak.

Marcott ran a T-Birds’ kickoff back 78 yards for a second-quarter touchdown.

Junior Gabriel Smith also scored a pair of rushing touchdowns for North Thurston, which outgained Mt. Tahoma, 346-151, and rolled to 21 first downs.

The Blazers got some nice downfield passing from a sophomore quarterback and a pick six of epic proportions to bring down a 3-7 Wilson team, 20-13, on Thursday night at Lincoln Bowl in Tacoma.

Tmberline (5-5) opened the scoring when senior defensive back Keola Allison snatched the ball from a Wilson receiver a yard deep in the end zone and sprinted untouched up the right side for a 101-yard touchdown.

According to the Hudl statistical website, 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore Palaina Hooper’s debut at quarterback was a success, with 8-of-13 completions for 181 yards and touchdown passes to Noah Cunningham and Max Aunese of 61 and 44 yards.

Jaden Gorman led the Blazers in rushing with 15 carries for 62 yards.

Meanwhile, Week 10 wasn’t as kind to the other 3A SSC team to schedule a non-league game.

Shelton (1-9) fell 37-8 at Stadium (2-8).

The Highclimbers’ points came during the fourth quarter when Charlie Hurt caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Danny Mendiola-Lopez. Zack Jonker ran for two-point conversion. Mendiola-Lopez, a junior, completed 10-of-27 passes for 158 yards.

Gavin Gould was again the leading Shelton rusher with 61 yards on 14 carries.

This story was originally published November 9, 2019 at 9:37 AM.