By ERICK WALKER
The Reporter
The Kentwood football team was in need of an offensive spark Friday night at French Field.
Trailing 7-6 in the third quarter against Kentlake of a loser-out South Puget Sound League North Division game, the Conquerors needed something. Anything.
In a season in which new heroes seem to be sprouting up weekly for the Conquerors, another one emerged.
Running back Joseph Banks, who hadn’t seen the ball the entire first half, delivered the spark Kentwood had been waiting all night for. On Kentwood’s second possession of the third quarter, the shifty 185-pounder split the right side of Kentlake’s defense, then outran a host of Falcons for an 86-yard touchdown.
The run keyed Kentwood’s 24-13 win over the Falcons, a victory that helped the Conquerors seal their league-best 10th-straight playoff berth.
“I felt that if I get (the ball), I need to make the best of it. And that’s what I did,” said Banks, who finished the night with 102 yards rushing and the touchdown on just six carries.
Teammate Darrius Coleman added 193 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. But the difference on Friday proved to be Banks’ big play.
“It was really key,” said Coleman, who eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season in the win. “He sparked our whole team up again and that’s what we needed. We needed a spark. And he found a way to do it.”
With the win, Kentwood (6-2 in league, 7-2 overall) clinched the North Division’s No. 2 seed to the district playoffs. The Conquerors will play Edmonds-Woodway (7-2), the No. 2 seed from the Wesco South, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at French Field. The Warriors knocked off Shorecrest on Friday, 41-17.
Auburn, Kentwood, Federal Way and Tahoma nabbed the SPSL North’s four playoff berths. Kentwood’s victory dropped Tahoma down to the division’s No. 4 seed. The Bears (5-3, 6-3) play at Jackson (8-1), the No. 1 seed from the Wesco South, next Friday or Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The win over Kentlake was Kentwood’s sixth straight.
Considering the situation, Kentwood coach Rex Norris and the Conquerors felt a certain level of relief after the win.
“I can’t think of a team that doesn’t feel that way,” said Norris, whose team started 0-2 in league play. “We’ve had to go loser-out for six straight weeks. We came through some tough opponents and we’ve come through some adversity. We answered some questions.
“We’re going to celebrate this tonight.”
On the flipside was Kentlake (4-4, 4-5), a team that hasn’t qualified for the postseason since 2003.
But Friday night, the Falcons certainly put themselves in position for the program’s biggest win in years.
The Falcons took a 7-6 lead into halftime after linebacker Carson Crooks returned an interception 71 yards for a score. Offensively, however, the Falcons simply couldn’t get into gear. They managed just 24 yards of total offense in the first half and 98 for the game.
“Once again offensively we weren’t able to help our defense out,” said Kentlake coach Mike Shepard.
Despite its stagnant offense, the Falcons remained alive well into the third quarter.
“I think it was a game until that (86-yard run). That kind of broke our back,” Shepard lamented. “I think that was the straw that set the house of cards falling.”
Banks’ touchdown followed by a 2-point conversion run from Devin St. Clair gave Kentwood a 14-7 lead with 4:11 remaining in the third.
On Kentlake’s next possession, running back Tayler Angevine was stripped of the ball at the Falcons’ 8-yard line. Kentwood’s Taylor Hughes swooped in for the recovery, setting up a 25-yard field goal from Matt Bell.
The Conquerors pushed their lead to 24-17 midway through the fourth on a 36-yard touchdown run from Coleman.
“He’s been a workhorse for us all season,” Norris said.
Kentlake finally got its offense going with less than seven minutes remaining when quarterback Lewi Larson engineered a 10-play, 86-yard drive capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Wright.
But it was too little, too late for the Falcons.
“We were feeling pretty good coming into this game,” Shepard said. “We felt we could run our offense, but clearly didn’t do it.”
