Olympia area high school football state tournament preview

The state tournament is here, and three Olympia area teams, Yelm, Tumwater and Rainier, are looking to win first-round games this weekend. A preview of each game:

Class 3A

No. 12 Yelm (7-3) at No. 5 Kennewick (9-1)

1 p.m. Saturday at Lampson Stadium, Kennewick

Yelm will have to survive a 237-mile trip and a low seeding to reach the state 3A semifinals as it did a year ago.

The Tornados lost an early lead then rallied late to put away Edmonds-Woodway, 27-17, at home in last week’s district round.

Ben 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. Auzzie Schaler, who would finish with four catches for a team-high 76 yards receiving, caught the touchdown pass on one of a half dozen new or seldom-used plays the Tornados put into the game plan. Schaler also extended his single-season team record for interceptions to nine.

Carson Amendt rushed 12 times for 74 yards. Sylas Franklin’s 52-yard return of the opening kickoff helped set Yelm’s first touchdown.

A youthful Kennewick qualified for state with a 24-7 win over Shadle Park.

Junior quarterback Elijah Tanner completed 13 of 21 passes for 199 yards and touchdowns to sophomore wide receiver Simeon Howard and soph tight end Bronson Childs. Yet another soph, Myles Mayovsky, led the Lions in rushing with 81 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.

The teams have not met during the past 16 seasons and had no common opponents this season. Neither team has ever won a state title. While Yelm has reached the Sweet Sixteen two years in a row, Kennewick last reached state in 2015 when they made the quarterfinals.

Class 2A

No. 16 Franklin Pierce (8-2) at No. 1 Tumwater (10-0)

7 p.m. Friday at Tumwater District Stadium

For the sixth time in its 10 games, Tumwater ran up enough points to cause game officials to start the mercy rule running clock that comes with a 40-point lead as they walloped Columbia River, 66-13, in a district playoff last week.

The T-Birds led 40-0 after just nine minutes and forty seconds of play.

By the time it was over, Dylan Paine was once again the standout offensive player for the T-Birds with six carries for 105 yards and three touchdowns. Turner Allen, Hunter Baker and Jake Niebaur also scored rushing touchdowns for Tumwater.

Wide receiver Danny Goodburn and tight end Ryan Otton both caught touchdowns passes from Cody Whalen. Allen and Niebauer also scored on interception returns.

Meanwhile, the Franklin Pierce offense is run through senior quarterback Claudell Quinland, who has completed 57 percent of his passes for 1,897 yards and 21 touchdowns. He has a quarterback rating of 103.5.

His top receivers are senior Daylon Lambert (43 catches for 664 yards and nine touchdowns), and Angel Contreras (25-368, 3 TDs). Senior Willie Coleman and junior Delaquan Wood each rush for just under five yards per game.

Defensively, inside linebacker Dylan Pratt leads the Cardinals with nearly 12 tackles per game, while junior ILB Masum Real contributes just over 10. Junior cornerback Percy Williams III leads the secondary with three interceptions and nine passes broken up.

The T-Birds and Cardinals opened the 2016 season with a non-league slugfest in Tacoma that Tumwater won, 77-42. Franklin Pierce didn’t play in state last season but had three consecutive one-and-done appearances from 2015-17. The T-Birds eliminated Franklin Pierce, 55-14, in 2015.

Franklin Pierce has never won a state championship but finished second in 1982, losing to Arlington 16-3. Tumwater was won five titles, the last coming in 2010. The T-Birds have reached the final and lost four times since last raising the biggest trophy, most recently in 2017, when Hockinson beat them, 35-22, at the Tacoma Dome.

Class 2B

No. 14 Rainier (6-4) at No. 3 Kalama (7-2)

7 p.m. Friday at Kalama High School

The Mountaineers will be taking on a rested group of Chinooks as Ilwaco forfeited last week’s district playoff game to Kalama.

Kalama comes off back-to-back state 2B titles and scored at least 54 points in four of their five Pacific League River Division regular-season games. Rainier scored a 28-20 district round victory over Pe Ella/Willapa Valley.

Brody 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.

Kalama’s strength caused an injury-plagued Ilwaco to concede its district game to the defending champs. In their regular-season finale, the Chinooks crushed Toutle Lake, 56-8, as quarterback Jackson Esary completed 13 of 16 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns.

Brennon Vance caught six of those passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Essary was the top rusher with three carries for 44 yards and a score.

Against common opponents this season, Kalama in 3-1, Rainier 1-3. Both beat Toutle Lake handily, but Kalama beat two teams, Adna and Toledo, that defeated the Mountaineers. Both lost to Napavine, but the Chinooks fell by just six on the road while Rainier was defeated 51-6 at home.

The teams have not met since Kalama won, 20-7, at Rainier in a game in the old Southwest Washington League in October of 2005. The Chinooks won the league championship that season and advanced to state while Rainier was 3-7 overall.

Rainier has never won a state title, its best effort back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1991 and 1992. In addition to the past two seasons, Kalama also finished first in 1999 when the Chinooks beat Okanogan.