Tahoma kicked off week seven South Puget Sound League 4A North action Oct. 17 knocking off Kentwood while Kentlake blew out Kentridge the following evening.
Tahoma and Kentwood faced off at French Field with the Bears seeking to upset the Conquerors and give Kentwood its first league loss of the season.
Tahoma struck first on the third drive of the night en route to a 26-14 defeat of Kentwood.
Bears quarterback Shane Nelson threw deep to DeShon Williams, who was brought down at the 34 to move Tahoma into Kentwood territory. Shortly thereafter the Bears were able to carry the ball over the goal line and the extra point put Tahoma up 7-0.
Both teams’ defense kept things bottled up until late in the second quarter when Kentwood quarterback Brian Campbell connected with Terrence Grady who made the catch with nothing but open field in front of him and ran the ball in for a Conks touchdown. The extra point was good tying the game at 7-7.
Tahoma was forced to punt with 1:30 to go in the half but held Kentwood and got the ball back with less than a minute to go.
On the last play of the second quarter, Nelson scrambled to find a receiver before launching a Hail Mary pass into the end zone as time expired. Williams grabbed the ball amid heavy coverage by the Conks and came down in the end zone, scoring a touchdown for the Bears. The extra point was good, putting Tahoma up 14-7 at halftime.
Late in the third quarter the Conquerors duplicated their first scoring drive with Campbell again connecting to Grady downfield who ran the ball in for Kentwood’s second touchdown of the night, tying things up with the extra point at 14-14.
On the next drive a catch by Tahoma’s Julian Sumler put the ball in Kentwood territory. Jerome Woods finished off the Bears’ drive with a touchdown. The kick was no good and Tahoma was up 20-14 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.
Kentwood was forced to punt on its next drive, but got an interception on the subsequent Tahoma drive. Kentwood couldn’t get the ball to the end zone and Tahoma took over on its own 19.
Tahoma pushed downfield and Williams went into the end zone again. The try for two was no good and Tahoma was up 26-14 with less than six minutes to go in the game.
On their next drive, the Bears lost ground when a snap went over Nelson’s head and the Conks got the ball back for one last drive. Tahoma’s Woods snagged the ball for a turnover and Tahoma took a knee to run out the clock. The Bears earned the victory with a final score of 26-14.
Campbell was 12-for-25 for 238 yards and two touchdowns for the Conks. Brandon Sytsma had 11 carries for 43 yards during the game, Terrence Grady had seven catches for 203 yards, and D’Vaughn Wells had two catches for 46 yards.
Tahoma’s Nelson was 22-36 for 347 yards and two touchdowns on the night. Joe Donahue had 16 carries for 66 yards and Woods had 19 carries for 77 yards. Williams had nine catches for 151 yards and Denham Patricelli had eight catches for 138 yards. Seonte Kong had 10.5 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. Blake Donohue had 10 tackles, one tackle for loss, and one sack, and Elijah Suka had 9.5 tackles and one tackle for loss.
The next night Kentlake looked for its second win of the season against north division rival Kentridge. After narrowly beating winless Mount Rainier the week before, Kentlake rolled over Kentridge in a 56-28 win.
The Falcons raced out to a 42-13 lead at halftime and never looked back as they put together the most complete game of the season against the Chargers, who fell to 1-5 in league play.
Kentlake scored its first touchdown of the night little more than two minutes into the game after Daunston Kaunda took the opening kickoff 40 yards on the return. Jordan Axelson and Tyler Harris carried their share of the load in the first half as their back to back runs set up a two-yard score to cap the Falcons first drive.
Kentridge responded quickly though with a Malik McFerrin 53-yard scoring run a few plays later.
On the next drive, Kentlake started on its own 7 yard line, but a pair of big plays including a 54-yard pass from D’marye Dedrick to Harris which moved the ball down to the Kentridge 3 yard line, set up another quick score. Harris took the handoff and followed Axelson to run it into the left corner of the endzone.
John Morasch capped the first quarter with a tip drill interception that he ran back 27 yards to set up Kentlake’s next touchdown — and on his second pick of the night in the third quarter, Morasch returned it 35 yards for the score — when Harris hauled in a 15-yard pass over the middle from Dedrick just four seconds into the second quarter to make it a 21-7 lead.
Falcons wide receiver Matt Burley was responsible for back-to-back touchdowns. After a Kentlake defensive stop, Burley brought in a pass for a 67-yard touchdown, then after the Falcons recovered the onside kick he pulled in a 30-yard strike, pushing the lead to 34-7 with 6:27 left in the first half.
Carter Johnson had a three-yard touchdown run for Kentridge in the second quarter while tight end Matt Fleming pulled in an eight-yard pass in the corner of the end zone early in the fourth quarter. Braiden Beckman pulled in an interception and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown with 4:12 left in the game to cut the Kentlake lead to 56-28.
Kentlake will host Tahoma at 7 p.m. Thursday at French Field. Last year the Falcons crushed the Bears at Bill Maxwell Stadium and Tahoma looks to return the favor with a victory on Kentlake’s home turf this week.
