Week 4: What we learned from high school football in Olympia area

Parity has not been the order of the day in Thurston County high school football this season. This week featured running clock victories for Black Hills, Capital and Yelm. Rainier was on the receiving end of the mercy rule while Tumwater shut out yet another 2A Evergreen Conference contender.

YELM HAS AREA’S LONGEST WINNING STREAK AND SHARES 3A SSC LEAD

After a 50-6 road rout of River Ridge on Friday, night, fourth-ranked Yelm extended what is now Thurston County’s longest ongoing football win streak to 10 games.

With the crown comes a bit of heat, but not the kind that’s liable to get the best of the 4-0 Tornados.

“It definitely puts a target on our backs,” said coach Jason Ronquillo. “I don’t necessarily think our kids feel the pressure of it. We are going to get teams’ best games on Friday nights.”

Senior quarterback Palaina Hooper says the players have big goals, including making a run at a state title after reaching the 3A state tournament the last two times it was played.

“We’re a lot faster and more competitive than a lot of the other guys,” he said. “We need to work, keep practicing hard and keep hitting the gym.”

Against the Hawks, Hooper passed for 130 yards and two touchdowns, both to fleet slotback Kyler Ronquillo.

“I noticed they were playing a lot of man,” Hooper said. “No one can guard No. 5. I have a lot of faith in Kyler.”

Sophomore running back Brayden Platt had another strong game, rushing for 75 yards and two touchdowns, both on draw plays made more effective by opponents’ need to defend the pass. Ray Wright turned his only carry of the night into a 50-yard touchdown run. Linebackers Dylan Conklin and Cael Gendron each returned fumbles — the Hawks turned the ball over four times — for touchdowns.

River Ridge had its moments, totaling 298 yards of total offense, led by hard charging running backs Jarek Berg and Ronaldo Gonzalez. Jonathon Mapu scored the Hawks lone touchdown on a quarterback sneak.

The Tornados next 3A South Sound Conference foe, Capital (2-2), lit up the scoreboard in a 71-0 Thursday night rout of visiting North Thurston (0-4).

“We had a good game plan on defense. The kids played it to perfection,” Cougars coach Terry Rose said. “We knew if we were flying around we could get some turnovers. We turned those turnovers into touchdowns.”

Two Capital backs rushed for more than 100 yards. Jake Kennedy had 139 yards and three touchdowns while Solid Heaston scored once and gained 139 yards. Blake Ostrander had a 56-yard touchdown run while quarterback Angus Hubbard completed all six of his passes, including two touchdowns to Deonte Brown and one to Luke Jenson, who also scored on a fumble recovery, as did Jabrayan Richburg.

“The game absolutely gives us a good direction heading into Yelm,” Rose said. “We now how we can play flying around and making plays. We can’t make mistakes against Yelm.”

Ronquillo is also a bit wary, though his team is in a tie for the SSC lead with Peninsula and Central Kitsap.

“Obviously Capital has weapons if they can score like that.”

Timberline started the season with a challenging schedule, playing two still winless teams in Cleveland and Kent-Meridian, then being confronted with the SSC’s top contenders Yelm and Peninsula back to back.

A 38-20 loss at Yelm last week didn’t discourage the Blazers as they headed across the Narrows Bridge to take on the Seahawks.

Suffering through a tough third quarter, Timberline (2-2) rallied to within a missed two-point conversion of forcing Peninsula (3-1, its only loss to undefeated Bellevue) into overtime in a 35-33 defeat.

Junior quarterback Jackson Brown threw for four touchdowns, including two to Franco Segura. Sophomore Darrell Gipson and Nate Nadeau anchored the defense at linebacker.

“The rest of our games are winnable,” said coach James Jones. “We need to continue to compete to win those games.”

BALDWIN CLAIMS FIRST HEAD COACHING WIN AS BLACK HILLS ROLLS

The Wolves (1-3) had struggled in short-handed losses the first two weeks of the season before playing tough on Week 3 in a narrow loss to Rochester. Friday, they broke through to crush Centralia, 51-8, in a 2A Evergreen Conference game as 29-year old Garrett Baldwin got the first victory of his head coaching career.

“It feels great. I’m just happy for the kids,” Baldwin said. “They worked hard and I’m glad they finally got one.”

He credited his players with cleaning up an array of mistakes they’d made in earlier games.

“They made big leaps,” Baldwin said. “We’ll keep challenging them to rise to the occasion.”

Freshman quarterback Jaxsen Beck completed 6-of-10 passes for 188 yards while running back Johnnie Stallings carried for 166 yards.

The Wolves impressed Centralia coach Jeremy Thibault.

“They did things offensively they didn’t do the first three weeks,” he said. “Their line is very physical. You can tell they lift weights. They picked us apart.”

Meanwhile Tumwater’s other team routed the Twin Cities’ other team as the top-ranked Thunderbirds bounced back from a heart stopping overtime loss to Portland’s Central Catholic to blank W.F. West, 34-0.

With a four-touchdown performance that brings his season total to 14, Tumwater running back Payton Hoyt may be in line for a nickname similar to that of former Stanford back “Touchdown Tommy” Vardell: “Paydirt Payton.”

The T-Birds broke what was a narrow 7-0 game open after the first quarter as they outgained the Bearcats, 363 yards of total offense to 127.

In another EvCo game, Shelton (2-2) kept its short win streak alive with a 37-14 rout of previously unbeaten Rochester.

TENINO QUIETS NAYSAYERS, ELMA RETURNS WITH A VENGEANCE

Tenino may have been playing point-a-minute football, rolling up 198 points during the first three weeks of the season, but some questioned the Beavers’ opposition and wondered how they’d fare against a tougher foe.

Quite well it turned out as 1A Tenino (4-0) rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat visiting Onalaska, the state’s No. 4 2B school, 20-14.

“Our defense played extremely physical and offensively we found some holes,” Beavers coach Cary Nagel said. “The kids kept grinding. Onalaska came extremely prepared, the ball just bounced our way.”

Dylan Spicer starred on both sides of the ball, making a touchdown saving tackle on the final play of the first half, then scoring the decisive touchdown on a 60-yard run. Takari Hickle and Triston Whitaker also ran for scores.

Tenino faces an even sterner test this week, traveling to No. 2 Eatonville.

Meanwhile, Elma returned from a two week COVID-forced absence and crushed Kings way Christian at home, 66-25. Jarred Bailey and Conan Baxter each rushed for more than 100 yards and two touchdowns.

“They we’re ready to go,” coach Ron Clark told Ryan Sparks of the Daily World. “But not playing for two weeks, you’re rusty in some areas, too. There was good and bad.”

DELAY WORTH THE WAIT FOR NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN

The Wolverines had to delay the start of their 8-man season to Week 4, but doubled their fun, downing Lake Quinalt, 33-18, on Tuesday and Wishkah Valley, 54-14 on Saturday.

Junior Babber and Dig Zilla starred in both games. Against Wishkah, Babber ran for two touchdowns and returned an interception for another while Zilla ran a kickoff and an interception back. Minjoo Kim rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown while Daniel Babber rushed for 100 yards and a score.

In 2B, Rainier was back after its own two week COVID break, but was crushed 66-6 by No. 2 Napavine on the road Saturday night. Logan Bowers scored the Mountaineers touchdown on a two-yard second quarter run.

BEARS THUMP ROGERS 42-7 TO GET OFF THE SCHNEID

Olympia (1-3) needed a win to keep their hopes of a big finish and a possible district playoff berth alive and got one with a 42-7 blowout of visiting Rogers in a 4A South Puget Sound League game.

Kenyatta McNeese Jr, rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown and intercepted a pass on defense. Mason Juergens scored four touchdowns receiving. Max Tuitele led Olympia’s defense with 13 tackles, including two sacks.

“This is a big one,” said Bears coach Nick Mullen, whose team should be favored again this week when it travels to South Kitsap. “We want to get on a roll and get that fifth or sixth playoff spot.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM.