High school football scores, roundup: Enumclaw imposes its will against Federal Way
By Jon Manley, Tyler Wicke, Doug Drowley,
8 days ago
Results, recaps and more from Week 4 high school football contests around the South Sound will be posted on this page Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Looking for local scores? Find them at the bottom of this story.
FRIDAY’S RESULTS (SEPT. 27)
ENUMCLAW 42, FEDERAL WAY 25
At one point during the first quarter after another Enumclaw touchdown that felt and looked all too easy, a Federal Way assistant coach turned to his players on the sideline, exasperated, and asked a question.
“Anyone wanna play some big-boy football?”
As much as the sport is over-diagnosed and over-complicated with endless film breakdowns on TV, coaches with giant play call sheets and eye-roll inducing jargon, football at its core remains a simple game. The team that wins up front, on the lines, usually wins the game.
That was the case on Friday night at Pete’s Pool, where the visiting Federal Way Eagles were overmatched up front from the opening kickoff until the final whistle, a 42-25 final. Enumclaw’s offensive line, which emerged from a hog trailer in classic Enumclaw fashion during pregame introductions, was ready and willing to get dirty.
“That’s just Enumclaw,” said linebacker/running back Cooper Rodarte, who scored the game’s opening touchdown with a 34-yard run, had an interception on defense and a handful of tackles in the win. “We play physical, we play hard. We put a fullback in, we run. That’s just how we play. No team can handle that for four quarters.”
Enumclaw scored four times in the first half, three times running the football. After Rodarte’s run, Gavin Trachte connected with Drew Francis for a five-yard score and Louis Chevalier pounded a run in from three yards out, giving the host Hornets a 21-0 lead before the first quarter ended.
Federal Way would answer with an Andy Cortez touchdown pass to Austin May, but Enumclaw responded with a 1-yard run from fullback Seamus Twohey before halftime. Both teams kept scoring in the second half, but Federal Way never seriously threatened.
That was the Enumclaw football Mark Gunderson was expecting to see, especially after the Hornets dropped the Week 1 opener to Decatur in 3A NPSL play.
“There were some key moments in that (Decatur) game that it wasn’t very characteristic of us,” Gunderson said. “It was Week 1. That was a big game to play early in the season… That was our brand of football (tonight). The kids bought in, we knew what we needed to get better at.”
Enumclaw looks like a team on a mission since that Week 1 loss to the Gators, who are now firmly in the driver’s seat to win the 3A NPSL.
Enumclaw is unlikely to be tested the rest of the season, although a non-league tilt against 1A contender Life Christian on Oct. 25 could be interesting.
LINCOLN 26, GIG HARBOR 6
It’s been “a journey” for Lincoln after home losses to 4A-powers Yelm and Camas earlier this month.
That only made Friday night’s win over Gig Harbor all the more sweet.
Star QB Sione Kaho and the Abes have their first win at Lincoln Bowl this season, a 26-6 victory over the Tides, in Friday night’s 3A PSL opener. The four-star signal caller dashed for a 35-yard rushing touchdown on the opening drive, RB Jadeon Scranton bullied his way into the endzone three times, and game-wrecking LB Dre Sio-Fetaui took over the second half with drive-halting stops.
“Just overcoming those little mistakes over time from Week 2 and Week 3… just overcoming it and being the team that we were tonight,” Kaho told The News Tribune.
Lincoln capped an impressive opening drive when Kaho pulled the ball in on an option play, cut to his left, and erupted up the middle for a 35-yard score.
“I’ve been telling everyone… that’s one thing (Sione) really tried to improve on, and I think he did, which is his speed,” Abes head coach Masaki Matsumoto said. “I can just see it. I’m proud of how he was OK with our game plan, running the ball. He’s OK with handing off the ball as long as we win. That’s the type of kid he is.”
Lincoln quarterback Sione Kaho breaks loose from Gig Harbor defensive back Justin Morris for the game’s opening touchdown during Friday night’s 3A South Sound League football game at Lincoln Bowl in Tacoma, Washington, on Sept. 27, 2024. Tony Overman/toverman@theolympian.com
Then, the Scranton show.
The 6-2, 208-pound tailback runs tough, like he’s angry. Scranton burst to the outside for a 10-yard run in the second quarter before adding six- and two-yard runs that pushed Lincoln’s lead to double digits in the third.
“He was hard to take down,” Matsumoto said. “He made some holes for himself. People don’t want to tackle him.
“He’s a great kid and he works hard, so he deserves it.”
Kaho rushed for the 35-yard score and threw two interceptions; the second was tipped in the air after Lincoln’s QB1 threw a seed over the middle through double coverage, perhaps his most impressive throw of the night.
But Lincoln’s defense kept the Tides out of the end zone, who relied heavily on workhorse RB Ryland Geldermann. Gig Harbor kicker Boone Leverett drilled field goals from 34 and 44 yards in the first half.
The Abes (2-2, 1-0) notch an important win in league play and pivot to an exciting rivalry next weekend at Mount Tahoma. The T-Birds won last year’s installment at Mount Tahoma Stadium, 24-20.
Can Lincoln return the favor?
“Everybody’s doing their jobs,” Kaho said. “That’s our biggest quote throughout this whole team. Just doing what we need to do personally, and we’ll get dubs like that again.”
BOX SCORE
GH: 3-3-0-0—6
L: 7-6-13-0—26
THURSDAY’S RESULTS (SEPT. 26)
AUBURN 42, STADIUM 22
The ice bag RJ Conlan held to the back of his left hand near the wrist was conspicuous. The Auburn senior running back insisted he was fine.
It may simply have been that after the night Conlan had at Stadium Bowl on Thursday, he just needed to cool his hands down. Conlan carried the ball 26 times for the Trojans, who traveled down to Tacoma and ran over the Stadium Tigers, 42-22, in a 4A North Puget Sound League contest between two newcomers to the league.
“We felt pretty good about the game plan coming in,” Auburn coach Aaron Chantler said. “We had kind of one option, then the rain came in. We told our guys, we only need three yards a carry. We don’t need 20.”
The Trojans got that and more, especially from Conlan and his brother, Monte. RJ Conlan finished the game with 143 yards and the Trojans third of four rushing touchdowns on those 26 carries. Younger brother Monte added 89 yards and a score on 10 carries.
“I feel like they can’t stop me and my brother,” RJ Conlan said. “They can’t stop it. Coach always wants to get me opportunities.”
For Stadium (3-1 overall, 1-1 league), it was only its second game ever in the NPSL. The Trojans (3-1, 2-0) have been 3A NPSL members until the school moved back up to 4A for the current reclassification cycle.
“One of them runs the ball two times, then the other one comes in and runs two times,” Chantler said of his 1-2 punch. RJ being the senior, I think he runs a little more angry. But Monte will get there.”
On Thursday, these two newbies collided on what began as fairly comfortable overcast evening by Commencement Bay. Eventually, the rain came and at times turned things messy. The Auburn defense helped the weather along, though.
While the Trojan running game was busy scoring touchdowns on four of its five first-half possessions, the Auburn defense was busy turning Stadium over three times in the first 24 minutes of the contest and four times overall.
“Huge,” Chantler said of the turnovers. “That running back is really good over there. I told the kid, I’ve been playing Stadium since I was 14 years old. I believe that’s the best Stadium team I’ve seen.”
The Tigers running back Chantler referenced, of course, is senior Darius Sum, who had run wild over the first three games of the season. Auburn, though, held Sum to just six carries and 16 yards in the first half.
While Sum did get going after the break, the Trojans already held a 28-0 lead. Sum got Stadium on the scoreboard on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, bursting around the left side, turning the corner and racing down the sideline for a 43-yard touchdown.
Sum did still go over 100 yards for the game, carrying the ball 19 times for 104 yards.
But 10 plays later, the Trojans answered back when quarterback Baylen Erdmann went 22 yards to push the lead out again and the Trojans led it 36-6 with 6:37 to play in the quarter.
That all but made two late touchdown passes from Stadium’s backup quarterback, Jacob Reed, nothing but a little window dressing.
FRANKLIN PIERCE 36, ORTING 8
There’s a new 2A SPSL favorite.
One of the TNT’s Games of Week immediately turned one-sided: Franklin Pierce RB Bryson Allen erupted for one of five team rushing touchdowns, and the Cardinals soared over Orting in a rivalry that provided the winner control of its own destiny in the league title chase.
Franklin Pierce’s Power-T offense and Orting’s Pistol-T scheme established the game flow for a physical contest at Orting Cardinal Stadium – but Thursday night’s hosts had no answers opposite Allen and Cardinals RB Junior Teregeyo, who carried the ball for chunk yardage from start to finish.
“For us, we believe four yards a carry is a win,” Franklin Pierce head Trevor Hanson said, “because we’re gonna move the chains, get first downs, and move down the field. It’s about ball control.
“Orting’s a really well coached team, and what they do, they do really well. They’re physical up front. But tonight, we just got a little bit of an edge.”
And Franklin Pierce’s defense routinely bent without breaking. The Cardinals denied multiple goal-line stands and allowed an irrelevant Orting touchdown in the closing minutes, by then nursing a 36-point lead.
Franklin Pierce (2-0, 4-0) remains undefeated and continues play with Eatonville next Thursday.
“I told our boys… it’s just about relentless effort and belief in one another,” Hanson said. “And that’s what got it done tonight.”
GRAHAM-KAPOWSIN 42, BONNEY LAKE 0
Eagles QB AJ Tuivaiave threw four touchdown passes, and Graham-Kapowsin (1-0, 2-2) bulldozed SPSL-rival Bonney Lake in Thursday night’s convincing shutout at Art Crate Field.
Tuivaiave, a 14-year-old freshman, scattered his touchdowns to four different receivers, and feature tailback Blake Pearson handled 12 carries for 70 yards and a score as Graham-Kapowsin’s offense clicked in every facet.
It was all Eagles from the opening minutes, when Tuivaiave hit WR Kase Betz for a 32-yard touchdown on the opening drive. A blowout ensued.
Graham-Kapowsin’s DJ Taape (nine yards) and Mazaia Roberson (20) hauled in touchdowns in the first half, when Pearson added his three-yard touchdown run.
Tuivaiave’s favorite target? WR Khristian Norris, who secured the last of four touchdown passes (11 yards) and finished with a game-high five receptions for 75 yards and a score.
Eagles RB Jayden Mathis punctuated the onslaught with a two-yard touchdown run in the fourth.
Graham-Kapowsin defenders tallied three sacks and recovered two Bonney Lake fumbles. Attention shifts to one of the South Sound’s premier games of the season — a trip to Yelm next Friday night.
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