What we learned from Week 8 of high school football season in Olympia area

Likely top seeds Yelm and Tumwater are in, so are W.F. West, Tenino and Northwest Christian. But for several other contending area teams – Elma, Rochester, Shelton and Timberline – earning a place in the first round of post-season play isn’t certain.

AFTER YELM AND PENINSULA, CONFUSION REIGNS IN 3A SSC

Yelm was ready and willing to play each of its scheduled 3A South Sound Conference football games. The Tornados are undefeated both overall (7-0) and in SSC (5-0) play.

Pending the outcome of their Week 9 game at Central Kitsap, they’ll almost certainly be awarded the league’s top seed to the playoffs.

Peninsula cancelled its game at Yelm last week because of COVID-19 protocols. Heading into their league finale at home against Capital on Thursday, the Seahawks are also considered unbeaten at 4-0 by the league, which is not counting COVID cancellations as forfeits. They should get the second of the SSC’s four postseason berths.

After that it gets dicey, or whatever game of chance three teams vying for the final two spots could be metaphorically said to be playing. League coaches and athletic directors will be playing a high stakes game of rock-paper-scissors when they are polled on the matter next weekend.

Gig Harbor held off Timberline, 31-26, on Friday night to even the two schools at 3-3 in league play. But Timberline rallied past Central Kitsap earlier in the season, 31-28, while the Cougars beat the Tides, 20-14.

“There’s no clear cut answer right now,” said Gig Harbor coach George Fairhart after the Tides beat the Blazers. “Somebody’s going to feel left out.”

“It’s not clear to me, either,” said Timberline coach James Jones, who is resigned to playing one of the state’s top teams in the first round if the Blazers do make it in after losing to the Tides.

Central Kitsap has a higher league winning percentage with a 3-1 mark entering Friday’s home game with Yelm. But the Cougars cancelled their game with Peninsula, which narrowly beat both Gig Harbor and Timberline.

With the Blazers meeting winless North Thurston and Gig Harbor hosting 2-3 River Ridge this week, the season could end with all three contenders a game over .500. The Hawks could play spoiler on behalf of their crosstown rivals since a win for them would drop the Tides below.500.

Though CK hopes a slight edge in point spread in the games between it, Gig Harbor and Timberline will help its case, coach Mark Keel knows the most direct route for his team would be to upset the Tornados.

“What we’re focused on right now is beating Yelm,” Keel told the Kitsap Sun after the Cougars routed North Thurston, 61-7, Friday night.

Gig Harbor gave itself an edge over Timberline in any polls with its win in a hectic game fueled on both sides by opponent’s mistakes and the teams’ own big plays. Each team scored on drives started by defensive takeaways and the decisive play may have been Colin Montgomery’s kickoff return that gave Gig Harbor a 31-20 lead in the final minute of the third quarter.

Timberline pulled to within five with just under three minutes to play when Brown scrambled 17 yards for a touchdown, making it 31-26. He ran 12 times for a team-high 48 yards and three touchdowns overall.

The Blazers did everything they could to get a final chance at the win. Using all three of their second-half time outs, they forced Gig Harbor into a three and out and got the ball back with plenty of time, two minutes and 27 seconds, to perhaps go ahead.

“Our kids don’t give up. They believe in each other,” Jones said. “They gave us a shot.”

But Tides’ quarterback Will Landram boomed a 42-yard punt that died at the Blazers’ one. Brown completed three of four passes to start the drive, getting Timberline out from the shadow of its own goal posts but four consecutive passes then fell incomplete and the Tides took over for three final kneel-downs.

“We got a little greedy,” Jones said. “We tried to go deep when some short ones were there. We need to take what they give us.”

Meanwhile, in its thumping at the hands of Central Kitsap, North Thurston scored just once, on a 44-yard second quarter pick six by junior defensive lineman Julian Lee. In the other SSC game, River Ridge snapped a three-game losing streak with a 36-14 home victory over Capital.

In 4A South Puget Sound League action, Olympia was eliminated, losing its fourth straight, 41-35, at Bethel in a game that went down to the wire before the Braves tallied the final touchdown to break a 35-35 tie.

Kenyatta McNeese, Jr. led the Bears with 25 carries for 129 yards and a touchdown. He also had a receiving touchdown as quarterback Gabe Downing threw for three scores, including two to Mason Juergens.

TUMWATER, W.F. WEST LOCK UP BERTHS, OTHER 2A EVCO SPOTS TBD

Tumwater (5-2) bounced back from a narrow out-of-conference loss to 4A Camas to make quick work of rival Black Hills (1-7) in the annual Pioneer Bowl, 50-7, at Tumwater District Stadium.

The Thunderbirds will be the 2A Evergreen Conference’s top seed to the playoffs, followed by W.F. West, which won its 13th consecutive Swamp Cup over Twin Cities’ rival Centralia, 42-8.

A logjam exists after that, with this week’s Aberdeen and Shelton matchup holding the key for those teams and Rochester, which also bounced back off a non-league loss to topple Aberdeen, 21-8, Friday.

If Shelton wins at Aberdeen, the Highclimbers gain the 2A EvCo’s third playoff berth and Rochester the fourth. An Aberdeen win would force a Kansas tiebreaker between the Bobcats, Climbers and Warriors.

Tumwater spread the wealth in ringing up at least 50 points for the third time this season, causing the mercy rule running clock to be in effect the entire second half.

Five T-Birds – Carlos Matheney, Payton Hoyt, Ashton Paine, Ryan Otton and Zach Simmons – ran for touchdowns while junior quarterback Alex Overbay, making his first start, threw touchdown passes to Austin Terry and Seth Weller.

Freshman quarterback Jaxsen Beck tallied Black Hills’ lone touchdown on an 8-yard third quarter run, despite twisting an ankle early in the game.

First-year coach Garrett Baldwin, who played for the Wolves in one of only two Pioneer Bowls that Black Hills has won in the last 17 seasons, praised Tumwater but thought his team could have played better.

“Our guys will tell you they didn’t compete, didn’t play as well as they wanted to,” Baldwin told The Chronicle’s Eric Rosane. “But they had fun and made memories.”

W.F. West prevailed in the area’s other lopsided rivalry on the strength of its passing game. Gavin Fugate completed 15 of 26 passes for 220 yards and four touchdowns, two to Gage Brumfield and one each to Christo Parriott and Evan Stajduhar.

Jacob Fuller and Brock Guyette each ran for a Bearcats’ touchdown.

W.F. West coach Dan Hill hasn’t lost the Swamp Cup during his four years in charge.

“All wins feel good,” he said. “But keeping Swampy at our place is always a good feeling.”

Blake Seymour hauled in a 44-yard fourth quarter pass from Tommy Billings, a last minute starter, for Centralia’s only touchdown.

Rochester set aside a 41-0 loss at Ellensburg on what was to be their homecoming week to ride three Talon Betts’ touchdown runs to victory over Aberdeen.

Betts totaled 120 yards on 21 carries while quarterback Landon Hawes completed five of seven passes for 83 yards.

Coach A.J. Easley also praised linebacker Palmer Watt and his team’s linemen. With a bye this week, Rochester will be closely following the Aberdeen-Shelton game.

“We’re Highclimber fans next week,” Easley said.

Shelton won a non-league game on the road over Highline, 21-13, on Friday.

TENINO ENDS PLAYOFF DROUGHT, ELMA STILL HAS WORK TO DO

Tenino (7-1) locked up the 1A Evergreen Conference’s second seed with a bittersweet 44-16 road win at Elma.

The decisive triumph insured the Beavers’ first post-season appearance in eight years, but came without head coach Cary Nagel, who underwent an emergency appendectomy earlier Friday.

Oregon State-bound Takari Hickle rushed for three touchdowns, Gavin Watson two and Brady Noonan one.

“We were able to pound the ball,” Tenino offensive coordinator Patrick Johnson told The Chronicle’s Eric Trent. “It was pretty damn muddy and our line played excellent. Our backs ran hard.”

Quarterback Carter Studer led Elma’s offense with eight completions in 17 attempts for 153 yards and a first quarter touchdown to Kyren Hackney.

Tenino has a non-league contest remaining at Columbia (2-6) in White Salmon on Saturday, then will host either Castle Rock (4-2) or La Center (5-2) of the Trico League in the first round of the playoffs.

Elma (3-3) still has a simple path to the playoffs – beat Montesano (4-3) at home in Friday’s East County Rivalry game.

NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN WINS AGAIN TO SOLIDIFY 6-MAN TOP SEED

Eleven-man football never really worked out for Northwest Christian, either standing alone or as a hybrid team paired with Life Christian of Tacoma. Eight-man wasn’t perfect, either.

Finding their football niche, the Wolverines have risen to the top of the 6-man ranks, securing home field advantage through the two-round post-season playoffs with a 4-0 record, including a 47-26 win over Washington School for the Deaf on Thursday despite some nagging injuries.

Northwest was up by just a point heading to the fourth quarter, then ran away from the Terriers.

“We came into the game down a couple of starters and got even more banged up during the game,” said coach Kyle Dunn.

Dig Zilla scored four touchdowns as he, Junior Babber and Isaac Appadurai paced Northwest’s rushing offense.

Freshman linebacker Joseph Meier and junior safety Musie Dunning excelled defensively.

“They stepped up in a big way when we needed them most,” said Dunn.

Northwest will conclude its regular season with a home game against Wishkah Valley on the Blacktop at Tenino High School on Friday night at 7 p.m. It will be the second meeting between the two teams after the Wolverines rolled, 54-14, earlier.