Week 6: What we learned from high school football in Olympia area

Two-thirds of the regular season is over with teams reaching the “it is what it is” point. Enough results have accumulated to see whether 2021 will be a season long remembered or one teams will want to forget. Timberline, Yelm and Tenino were among those seeing positive returns this past weekend.

TIMBERLINE SHOWS IT HAS DEPTH AND VERSATILITY OF A PLAYOFF TEAM

Timberline has no state trophies in football despite 14 tournament appearances, but going back to the glory days of eventual NFL running back Jonathan Stewart in the early years of the century, the Blazers have had talent enough to win an occasional league title or make it hard on the teams that finished ahead of them.

Stewart, Washington’s all-time individual rushing leader, would sometimes go to the bench at halftime, only to have one or two of his understudies rush for 100-plus yards.

This season, quarterback has brought Timberline’s tradition of depth into focus.

One time Blazer starter Palaina Hooper now plays for Yelm. No problem, junior Jackson Brown has been a standout this season. Then, Brown suffered a concussion and had to sit out a couple of games.

Timberline could have gone to a one-time contender for QB1, Adam Ahlf, but he’s busy starring on the defensive line, sacking opposing quarterbacks. The choice became senior wide receiver Franco Segura, with the results two straight victories closed out late behind a player who hadn’t taken snaps in a game since sixth grade.

Segura’s first win as a starter, 28-14 over visiting Capital on Friday night, gives the Blazers a 4-2 record overall, 2-2 in the 3A South Sound Conference with the league leaders already played.

“We control out own destiny,” said Timberline coach James Jones. “If we win the rest of the way out, then we go to the playoffs.”

Not a bad position to be in after an 0-2 league start. Still left on the schedule are River Ridge (1-2 in league, or 2-2 if Friday night’s cancellation by Central Kitsap is considered a forfeit) Gig Harbor (1-3) and winless North Thurston.

The SSC has three slots to the opening round of the playoffs guaranteed with a possible fourth depending upon how Bainbridge, a 3A school playing in the 2A Olympic League, fares. Thus far, the Spartans are 2-4.

Segura felt some pressure taking over at quarterback but didn’t shy away from the assignment.

“I was ready when Jackson went down, I knew I had to step up,” said Segura. “I had to learn a lot. When it came time for the (Capital) game I was super nervous, but I was also super excited.”

Segura’s success at quarterback isn’t the only example of the Blazers’ depth.

Kaleb McNeely, the Blazers designated workhorse back, carried 24 times for 130 yards and a touchdown against Capital. But the week before, against the other Cougars, Tanner Skorna led the way with 67 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

Seven receivers caught at least one pass against Capital.

Defensively, Timberline alternated nose tackles, with both CC Williams and Cameron Sanders making plays.

Meanwhile, defending champion Yelm controlled the second half for a 29-14 win at Gig Harbor to remain perfect at 6-0, extending their area-best 12-game winning streak.

Hooper completed 13 of 19 passes for 119 yards and a 20-yard third quarter touchdown pass to Kyler Ronquillo that gave the No. 3 Tornados their first two-score lead. Ronquillo would finish with nine catches for 82 yards while also making seven tackles on defense.

Brayden Platt carried 20 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns while picking off a Tides’ pass defensively. Ray Wright, who carried just four times, but averaged more than 10 yards per attempt, ran for Yelm’s other touchdown.

Up next for the Tornados is winless North Thurston in Lacey on Thursday night before its biggest game of the year, a showdown with SSC co-leader Peninsula at home on October 22.

In the other SSC game played, North Thurston (0-6) fell to Peninsula, 48-6, but did snap a four-game streak of being shut out when Eli Anglin scored on a 24-yard fourth quarter run.

TUMWATER STAYS PERFECT IN 2A EVCO AHEAD OF MARQUEE MATCHUP

With 12 different players carrying the ball at least once, Tumwater piled up 315 yards of rushing offense to make quick work of Shelton, 58-0. The mercy rule clock ran the entire second half.

Tumwater (4-1) had a 44-0 lead at intermission as its defense also shined, holding the Highclimbers to just 62 yards of total offense.

For the second time this season, Tumwater is getting ready to meet a team that was the champion of the largest classification in its state in 2019.

Having dropped a hastily-schedule game to defending Oregon 6A champion Central Catholic of Portland last month, 42-35, in overtime, the Thunderbirds host Washington’s defending 4A champ Camas on Friday night in likely their final challenging match-up before the post-season.

Both Tumwater and Camas are unbeaten against Washington schools. The Papermakers opened with four consecutive losses to Oregon schools Central Catholic, Clackamas, Jesuit and West Linn before blowing out Greater Saint Helen’s League foes Battle Ground and Mountain View.

Left on the league docket for Tumwater are one-win Black Hills and winless Centralia.

Tumwater’s rival Black Hills (1-5) stepped up to meet a strong 3A school in Prairie but came out on the short end of a 50-0 score as the Falcons scored in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams.

Freshman quarterback Jaxsen Beck completed 7 of 13 passes for 58 yards, including four receptions by Marcos Elliott. The Wolves’ usually effective ground game was held in check, though, as they gained only 25 yards overland.

W.F. West broke loose for three second quarter touchdowns to overcome an early deficit and down visiting Rochester, 38-20.

For the game, Bearcat running back Brock Guyette carried 13 times for 109 yards and three touchdowns while quarterback Gavin Fugate completed 14 of 24 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for another.

“The guys are continuing to grow each week. It’s exciting to see,” said W.F. West coach Dan Hill.

Talon Betts, who rushed for 65 yards on 19 carries and Tate Quarnstrom, who completed 3 of 5 passes for 78 yards, paced the Warriors’ offense.

Centralia has yet to win, but showed signs of life in a 28-12 home loss to Aberdeen.

Chase Sobolesky led the offense with 93 yards on 12 carries, while Gabe Seymour added 58 yards on 13 carries. The Tigers defense limited Aberdeen to 12 points across the final three quarters.

“Our defense flew around and hit people all night and made Aberdeen work hard,” Centralia coach Jeremy Thibault said. “We’ve been preaching to them that they can do it and they finally believe it.”

TENINO, ELMA AGAIN PUT UP BIG NUMBERS IN 1A

Seventh-ranked Tenino began the season as an offensive juggernaut before matchups with two other state-ranked squads resulted in a win and a loss in which the Beavers “only” scored in the 20s.

Takari Hickle rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries as Tenino (5-1) celebrated homecoming with a 50-6 thrashing of Hoquiam. Hickle also recorded a pair of sacks.

Seven other players scored touchdowns for a Beavers team deep as it has been in years: Randall Marti, Dylan Spicer, Shawn Nicholson, Gavin Watson, Chris Butcher, Bryan Budsberg and Kysen Knox.

Clearly, there was no hangover from Tenino’s 24-22 loss in a showdown at No. 2 Eatonville the week before.

“That game was a nailbiter,” coach Cary Nagel said. “We flushed it quickly and responded well.”

Elma went through a similar process. The Eagles had taken on then No. 5 Mt. Baker at home a week before and lost.

Friday night, Elma (3-1) rang up its highest point total in at least 18 years in walloping Seton Catholic, 69-26, on the road in Vancouver.

Conan Baxter broke a school record with 308 yards rushing on just 18 carries, scoring six touchdowns. Todd Basler set the previous record with 263 yards during a 2002 game.

There was still room enough for Elma’s other quality running back, Jarred Bailey, to shine as he ran ten times for 80 yards and scored on two long touchdowns, one on a 27-yard run and one on a 68-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Carter Studer.

OLYMPIA’S RESURGENCE HITS SNAG VS. VIKINGS

Olympia’s two-game winning streak ended as the Bears fell, 54-14, to visiting Puyallup.

The next two weeks will tell the story for Olympia which currently sits in the sixth and final 3A South Puget Sound League playoff spot at 2-4. They’ll face two of the teams chasing them, Curtis and Bethel, before closing out the season against powerhouse Sumner.

Bears’ quarterback Gabe Downing passed for 262 yards and touchdowns to both Mason Juergens – who finished with eight catches for 134 yards – and Connor Johnson, but the Bears couldn’t get anything going on the ground, finishing with just 10 yards rushing.