FOOTBALL: Kentlake wins shootout over TJ, 49-34, for SPSL North lead

Published 10:45 am Monday, September 26, 2011

It was like watching a game of ping pong. Back and forth and then back again.

But it was the fifth-ranked Kentlake Falcons (4-0) who had the final answer and beat the Thomas Jefferson Raiders Friday night in a South Puget Sound League North Division shootout, 49-34. The game, which was for first place in the division, was played in front of a raucous pro-TJ crowd at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

“This game was everything I expected,” said the Raiders’ senior quarterback K.W. Williams. “Kentlake is a very good team and we expected hard-hitting football.”

The loss dropped Jefferson to 2-2 on the season and ends its four-game gauntlet to start the season. The Raiders lost to Tahoma in their opener, before beating perennial powers Kentwood and Auburn in consecutive weeks.

“This was the toughest part of our schedule,” Williams said. “A lot of people thought that we would start 0-4, but we are 2-2. That isn’t that bad.”

It was Williams that kept TJ in the game Friday night against a fast and explosive Kentlake squad. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder finished with 413 yards of total offense, which included several jaw-dropping runs and throws throughout the game.

Williams ran the ball 20 times for 165 yards, including an impossible 84-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter where he broke several tackles. He also finished 15 for 28 through the air for 248 yards and three touchdown passes.

But it was the one interception that Williams threw, that proved to be the turning point in the game. With 55.4 seconds remaining in the game, Kentlake’s Steffin Church picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown, finalizing the score and thwarting a possible TJ game-tying touchdown.

“Church, he’s a pretty smart kid,” said Kentlake head coach Chris Paulson. “He makes me a better coach.”

The Falcons actually tallied the final 16 points of the contest Friday night in front of the largest and loudest crowd at Federal Way Memorial Stadium in recent memory. Jefferson took a 34-33 lead with 4.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a Williams to Gunner Sonnenfeld TD pass.

But Kentlake got a 23-yard field goal from Mitchell Habryle with 7:20 left in the game to go back on top, 36-34.

Then, after holding the Raiders to a rare three-and-out, the Falcons put together a 71-yard drive that was culminated with a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Caleb Saulo to put Kentlake up 43-34.

“We’ve been talking for the past couple weeks about finishing,” Paulson said. “So, to see them come out in the second half and finish, it was great. If you can turn over that many times and still score 49 points, that’s great. We did a lot better job of finishing. This is the first time in four games we’ve played all 48 minutes.”

Kentlake started the game in impressive fashion and looked like they would win going away.

The Falcons struck first on a Saulo to Austin Pernell 43-yard touchdown pass just 55 seconds into the game. Kentlake followed that up with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Tanner Lucas to put the Falcons up 13-0 after the opening quarter.

Lucas picked up his second touchdown of the night with 5:01 left in the first half to give Kentlake a commanding 19-0 lead with little resistance by Jefferson.

But the Raiders got on the board with a McKay Owsley field goal later in the second quarter then closed the gap even further when Williams threw a 40-yard bomb to Rithvik Lagisetti for TJ’s first touchdown of the game. Williams hit senior tight end Tim Luafatasaga with the two-point conversion, cutting the lead to 19-11.

Owsley cut the lead to just 19-14 at half with another field goal that was set up by a 23-yard run by Williams.

The second half is when the offensive fireworks really started to erupt.

Just over a minute into the third quarter, a Williams fumble was recovered by Kentlake and just a play later Pernell took a pitch 53 yards to put the Falcons up 26-14.

But Jefferson turned right around and put together a drive that ended with a 15-yard strike from Williams to Lagisetti cut the lead to six. Lagisetti finished with three catches for 98 yards and two TDs.

Not to be outdone, Saulo took the snap on the first play of Kentlake’s next drive and ran 80 yards for the score to extend the Falcon lead to 33-20.

But Williams wasn’t going to be outdone. On the Raiders’ next drive, Williams slipped away from eight Falcons defenders and danced his way 84 yards for the touchdown, closing to 33-27.

In a rare show of defense, both teams’ ensuing drives were stymied.

Then with 1:07 left in the third quarter, Jefferson’s Yobel Mengistu hauled in an interception, setting up the Sonnenfeld TD catch, which gave TJ its first and only lead of the night. The senior tight end finished with eight catches for 108 yards.

“We just have to forget about this one,” Williams said. “After our two wins over Auburn and Kentwood, we celebrated for the first day and the next day we were on the next one.”

The Raiders will have a chance to get back on track Thursday night when they travel to French Field to take on the Kent-Meridian Royals (1-3). Jefferson is hoping to qualify for the postseason for the first time in school history.

“The seniors have been together for four years,” Williams said. “We were 7-2 when we were freshman and as seniors, we wanted to show everybody that we are a good football team.”