Historic run for Tumwater may add to five previous state football championships

Back in 1974, a 30-year old former two-way Weber State All-America lineman, Sid Otton, brought his coaching talents over the mountains from Colfax to take the reins at Tumwater High School from Rip Johnson.

Otton, stressing defense and eventually installing a signature wing-T offense, took the Thunderbirds to the state tournament in just his fourth season, but Tumwater was shut out, 20-0, by West Bremerton in its first game.

Three more fruitless appearances followed before the 1987 T-Birds found a championship-winning formula. Over the years, Tumwater hoisted the biggest trophy four more times, in 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2010.

Eventually, a statue of Otton was installed outside the gates to Tumwater District Stadium and the playing surface now bears his name.

This season’s team, coached by one of Otton’s early players, Bill Beattie, still has a huge hurdle to clear – an explosive Steilacoom team featuring a quick-strike passing game and capable running backs – but so far during the 2019 state tournament, Tumwater’s dominance has compared favorably with record-setting champions of the past.

The T-Birds have beaten their first three opponents – Franklin Pierce, Archbishop Murphy and Hockinson by a combined score of 159-14.

They are unlikely to surpass Meridian’s 1999 record of 230 points scored in a modern 2A tournament. They’d have to hold an offense paced by Steilacoom quarterback Chance McDonald, five-star receiver Emeka Egbuka and running back Ra’Sun Williams to a field goal to break Archbishop Murphy’s 2003 record for defensive stinginess, 18 points.

But a not inconceivable two-touchdown victory in Saturday’s 4 p.m. championship game at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup would give Tumwater the all-time 2A record for point differential in a state tournament. Archbishop Murphy outscored North Kitsap, Tumwater, Lynden and Liberty, 190-38 in 2016.

Meanwhile, here’s a look back at each of Tumwater’s five previous championship seasons:

1987

Jamie Land, the T-Birds nose guard, was lauded before the season as the best player in the AA Black Hills League, but an otherwise inexperienced Tumwater got thumped in its opener, 26-0 by Centralia in a non-league game.

The next week, though, Land almost single-handedly throttled Olympia with 10 tackles, three sacks, a fumble recovery and a blocked punt in 21-14 league win. A second win followed: Gary Moon rushed for 139 yards as the T-Birds edged North Thurston, 7-6, in non-league contest.

But two more losses left Tumwater below .500 until forcing seven turnovers against Elma led to a 21-0 win. Then, sophomore receiver, defensive back and return man Scott Gurnsey had a big night as the T-Birds beat winless Capital 23-6 at Ingersoll Stadium, lifting them to 4-3 and over .500 to stay

The next week, Eric Morrissette kicked a 38-yard field goal in the final minute to lift Tumwater to a 16-14 win over the same Centralia team which had beaten them on opening night, this time in a BHL game.

The T-Birds then stunned league-leading Shelton, 21-0, to force a three-way round robin playoff with the Highclimbers and Chehalis (now known as W.F. West). Tumwater won 12-minute games over Chehalis, 3-0, and Shelton, 7-0, on a Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium in Centralia to enter the AA playoffs as the BHL’s top seed.

After shutting out Lakeside and a Yelm team making its only state appearance until 2018, Tumwater found itself down, 2-0, to Bellingham in a semifinal at the Tacoma Dome when the T-Birds began their opening possession at the seven-yard line and marched backward for a safety.

But the Red Raiders would never score again and a 64-yard pass from Larry Quartano to Gurnsey gave the T-Birds the only touchdown they would need in an 8-2 win.

“The kids in our program are on kind of a roll,” Otton told The Olympian after the game. “They find a way to win. Maybe Lady Luck gets in there, but they find or create ways to win.”

With the WIAA’s marketing department yet to come up with the “Gridiron Classic” tag for the state title game, the T-Birds advanced to what was known as the “King Bowl” and quickly fell behind 14-0 to West Valley of Yakima at the still-standing Kingdome.

“It was no big deal,” Gurnsey said. “I didn’t think we were in that much trouble.”

Sophomore running back Karl Pfaff then shocked fans – and West Valley – by rushing 15 times for 151 yards and the winning fourth quarter touchdown.

“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” he said. “You visualize games like this. When it happens, it’s unreal.”

The next morning it was business as usual in Tumwater. Otton’s name appeared in the newspaper – as one of three assistants to basketball coach Don Kruse.

1989

The 1989 and 1990 seasons marked the high-water mark for Tumwater football, as the T-Birds produced back-to-back 13-0 AA state championship seasons.

With future Weber State and Southern California quarterback Brad Otton, Sid’s son, calling the signals, Tumwater opened ’89 with a 42-0 rout of Elma, then whupped Centralia, 39-8.

A week later, the T-Birds erased an early deficit and downed Olympia, 40-8, behind two touchdown passes from Otton and a 106-yard rushing night from scatback Brad Lowe. Defensive captain and place kicker Lance Martin earned The Olympian’s prep of the week award after the next game, a 56-7 pounding of Centralia.

Winless Capital fell 57-7 in Week 5 before Otton threw three more touchdown passes in a 45-21 non-league victory over White River.

By the time the state playoffs rolled around, Tumwater was itself rolling, blasting North Kitsap, 52-0, in the first round before scoring four-touchdown romps over Renton and O’Dea to set up a King Bowl finale against Cheney.

With Gurnsey, who finished with 4363 career all-purpose yards and 39 touchdowns, and Otton, who finished the season with 29 touchdown passes, two short of the then-state-record 31, leading the way, Tumwater was up 27-0 early in the fourth quarter and won, 27-7.

Sid Otton said he could see the success of his ’89 seniors coming three summers before.

“I took a bunch of them in my old station wagon and went to a football camp at Eastern Washington University,” he said. “Not only could you see the up-and-coming talent in those kids, but they competed in a six-on-seven drill and were beating teams. And they were the youngest team there.”

1990

This time the score of Tumwater’s opening rout of Elma was 59-8. Despite what Sid Otton called a bad week of practice, the T-Birds jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead over another ’89 state participant, Chehalis, and rolled, 42-15, thanks to a strong effort by running back Kevin Clark.

Olympia slowed Clark down during Week 3, but Bryan Lowe sped up, rushing for 168 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-8 Tumwater victory. Capital led early on Week 4, but the T-Birds rallied for a 41-13 homecoming night rout. Chris Doelman connected with Barrett Burbidge on two touchdown passes the next week, earning a 37-19 non-league road win at White River.

Lowe rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Aberdeen.

As the state playoffs began, Tumwater again breezed into the final, knocking off Prairie, Renton and Bremerton by a minimum of three touchdowns each before squaring off with Mt. Rainier at the Kingdome.

The T-Birds trailed early, but with Kevin Clark rushing for 195 yards and Burbidge catching two touchdown passes from Doelman, Tumwater rallied past Mt. Rainier, 32-17.

It was Tumwater’s 26th consecutive victory, dating back to a state semi-final loss to Liberty of Issaquah in 1988. The T-Birds became the first AA or AAA school (now 3A and 4A) to win three state championships. Kevin Clark finished with two then-school single season records (21 touchdowns and 1497 yards) while Lowe amassed 1276 yards.

1993

Re-assigned to AAA and sent south to play in the Greater St. Helen’s League, the 94 players turning out for Tumwater’s ’93 team also had to adjust to new starters in key roles because of graduation.

Didn’t matter. The T-Birds would lose just a single game all season.

A 37-21 win over Mountain View on Week 2 showed the GSHL how the season was going to be as the T-Birds collected 512 yards of total offense, 119 of them rushed for sophomore Anthony Hicks, making his first varsity start. Five different players scored touchdowns and Mountain View didn’t score until the fourth quarter.

Week 4 saw seven forced turnovers result in a 57-6 pasting of Evergreen.

“Our defense was just awesome,” Otton said after the Plainsmen fell. It was no less awe-inspiring in a 39-0 shutout of Columbia River the following week.

Derek Lowe broke the then-Tumwater career rushing record when his 195 yards in a 36-6 win over Hudson’s Bay gave him 3259, surpassing Kevin Clark, who had gone on to play at Southern California.

A 41-7 rout of Ft. Vancouver sent the T-Birds unbeaten into a late-season showdown for GSHL supremacy with a theretofore perfect Kelso. Casey Doyle’s 247 yards passing yards assured Tumwater would be the team walking away with “0” still a part of its record, 24-22 over the Hilanders.

A 35-29 non-league loss to Capital was the T-Birds only blemish and set them up for a redemption story line during the playoffs.

“We stunk in the first half,” Otton said. “But the kids came back and played hard in the second half. Now we have to see if we can lick our wounds.”

They did, crushing Bellevue and Auburn, setting up the closest game of any of Tumwater’s state title runs.

The T-Birds were taken into double overtime by Newport of Bellevue, but blocked a Knights’ PAT attempt on the second sequence. After Derek Lowe, who had dreamed the game would come down to the final play, tied the score with a two-yard touchdown run, Newport twice called time out, trying to ice T-Bird kicker Chet Doughty.

“I was thinking it was kind of cool,” Doughty said. “It was really fun, but I was really nervous.”

Didn’t matter. His kick split the uprights perfectly and the T-Birds were off to the Kingdome to meet and beat Inglemoor, 33-7, for the championship.

Lowe keyed the win with 146 yards rushing and a touchdown to go with a TD pass reception. He finished his career with then-school-records of 4323 yards and 63 touchdowns.

2010

The T-Birds were loaded, eventually placing five players on The Olympian’s all-area first team: wide receiver Kyle Warner, tight end Zach Wimberly, defensive back Joe Aulabuagh, linebacker Grady Brondell and defensive lineman Easton Hargrave.

Warner was the 2A Evergreen Conference MVP League MVP after setting a school record by returning three kickoffs for touchdowns. He led the T-Birds with 19 total touchdowns and caught 26 passes for 507 yards.

Grondell led the team with 74 tackles while Aulabaugh had 54 to go with three interceptions and Hargrave, a two-way starter, had 61 tackles, three sacks and three fumble recoveries.

The T-Birds opened the season with a 27-21 road loss to Olympia, then led by current Tumwater head coach Beattie, but never lost again. The defeat squandered a game-opening kick return to the house by Warner and a huge night by junior linebacker Riley Prentice, who amassed 21 tackles, including 10 solo and three for loss.

Tumwater’s only other close call came during Week 3 in a 15-12 win over defending league champion W.F. West. The Bearcats stifled most of Tumwater’s offense but a rushing touchdown by Ronnie Hastie and a return for a score by Warner gave the T-Birds the points they would need.

When the playoffs arrived, Tumwater got no favors from the bracket, still pre-arranged by district finish and not seeded 1-through-16 by a committee as is the current practice. The T-Birds were sent north to face two-time defending champion Lynden at Civic Stadium.

Tumwater was equal to the task, grabbing a 21-7 lead and coasting home as the only second-half scoring was a Lynden field goal. Daniel Hinkle threw three touchdown passes and Christian Bush rushed for 145 yards on 19 carries.

The T-Birds then crushed Burlington Edison at home, 49-8, as Warner rushed for 171 yards and four touchdowns, then clobbered East Valley at the Tacoma Dome, 63-27, with Hinkle completing 7-of-9 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Hastie received national attention after the East Valley game when he drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for an endzone prayer after a touchdown.

The final pitted Tumwater against a familiar foe, Archbishop Murphy. Through 2019, the T-Birds have played the Wildcats seven times during the state tournament, winning five.

In 2010, Hinkle threw for three touchdowns as Tumwater led throughout to claim a 34-14 victory and its first title in 17 years.

“I knew they were going to do something special tonight,” Otton said. “And they did.”

The T-Birds wore “GT” stickers on their helmets during the title game to honor former assistant coach Gary Taylor, who had died at 63 before the season from prostate cancer.

“He was the greatest one-on-one coach I’ve ever been around,” Otton said of his former offensive line and freshman team coach. “He’s so loyal. We miss him a great deal.”

This was Tumwater’s only 2A title under the modern system. It’s first three championships were in the old AA classification, now considered 3A. It’s fourth came in AAA, now considered 4A.

With the possibility Tumwater may return to 3A next season, the showdown with Steilacoom may be its final game as a 2A school.

Per Bernstein, O.K. Johnson, Darrell Root, Ken Ruppert, Antje Spethmann, Phillip Watness, Meg Wochnick and Gail Wood contributed to this report.

This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 5:00 AM.