Decatur falls to Tahoma at Federal Way Memorial Stadium

Published 6:47 pm Wednesday, September 30, 2015

It was another rough week for the Decatur Gators as they fell to the Tahoma Bears 50-10 on Sept. 24.

Tahoma came into the game undefeated with wins against Mount Rainier, Rogers and Federal Way. They are led by University of Washington-commit Amandre Williams.

Despite the large margin of victory for the Bears, Decatur showed more promise than in previous weeks.

The first drive of the game for Tahoma ended with a Decatur takeaway. Donye’a Turner, Tyler Swanson and J.J. Dixon combined on a tackle to force Tahoma running back Caleb Brown to fumble. The Gators recovered.

Their first Gators’ drive did not capitalize on the takeaway, however. Only one of the Gators’ three passes was completed and garnered only three yards. They punted.

Tahoma responded this time by driving 89 yards down the field. Bears’ running back Dylan Stewart scored the first touchdown of the game on a one-yard run. The missed two-point conversion gave the Bears a 6-0 lead.

Decatur quarterback Jake Cassaday was swarmed by defenders on the first play of the following drive and sacked for a 6-yard loss. The drive went three-and-out and they were forced to punt.

The Bears used Brown’s legs for the majority of the next drive to get down the field. He finished with 143 yards rushing on 15 carries. The drive was capped off by a three-yard touchdown pass from Williams to wide receiver Aidan Harmon.

The two-point conversion was once again stopped by Decatur, giving Tahoma a 12-0 lead.

After another stalled drive by their offense, the Gators’ defense finally gave the team some more life. With Tahoma threatening in the redzone, Dixon intercepted Williams’s screen pass and raced 76 yards before being tackled at the five-yard line.

Decatur put its first points of the night on the board with a 20-yard field goal by Jeff Allen early in the second quarter. Tahoma led 12-3.

It looked as though the Gators defense would hold again near midfield, but Williams picked up 14 yards on third and 10. The next play he connected with his favorite receiver on the night, Jerrel Chapman, for a 42-yard touchdown and a 19-3 lead. Chapman finished with seven receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown.

Both teams produced back-to-back scoreless drives before the Gators put together some of their best offensive plays on the year.

Decatur’s Denny Toso took the first handoff of the series and went down the sideline for 49 yards. During the next play, four Bears got their hands on Toso, but to no avail. He broke three tackles and used a well-placed stiff-arm for a 26-yard touchdown run.

The Bears lead was cut to 19-10 with six minutes left in the first half.

It was all Tahoma from there.

The Bears scored on a 62-yard screen pass to Brown on the following drive. They scored twice more in under five minutes, increasing their lead to 40-10 by halftime.

A promising opening drive of the second half ended for the Gators at the Bears’ 30-yard line after a fumbled snap.

Decatur’s defense clamped down, causing another fumble and an interception while the Bears starters were still in, but the offense could not get things going.

A 17-yard interception return for Tahoma’s Macen Granlund with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter was the final touchdown of the night.

A Decatur fumble gave the Bears back the ball shortly thereafter. The defense held and Tahoma settled for a 34-yard Granlund field goal, bringing the score to 50-10 at the end of the third quarter.

The score held the rest of the way.

Williams finished 22-for-32 passing for 344 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions for the Bears. Toso ran for over 100 yards for the Gators and had one touchdown.

“Sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story,” Decatur head coach Levi Suiaunoa said. “I got a great bunch of kids and they fought till the end. I’m really happy with them. We gotta clean some things up and then we’ll go from there.”

“We still got to move the football. We’re still turning the ball over and we’re unable to help the defense,” he said. “Our defense is playing a lot better. We were able to force some turnovers, which is good. Jeff Allen does a great job flipping field for us; he’s a weapon. We’ll continue to use him. We’ll snag one soon.”

Decatur (0-4, 0-0) begins league play at 7 p.m. this Friday when they take on Federal Way (0-4, 0-1) at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

Jefferson makes statement against Federal Way in league opener

It was another huge night for Jefferson’s Kenneth Turner as the Raiders dominated Federal Way 31-6 on Friday night.

Turner finished with 172 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries. Quarterback Mason Delacruz added 78 yards on 8-of-12 passing with a touchdown. He also ran for 52 yards on six carries.

The Raiders’ defense held Federal Way to just 89 total yards in the game. Justin Madden led the team with seven tackles and a sack. Jsias McKinley added six tackles and a sack as well.

Tyson Sonnenfeld had the team’s only interception.

The Eagles are currently banged up with both their starting and backup quarterbacks injured.

Federal Way will look to right the ship at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2 when they take on Decatur at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

Jefferson (2-2, 1-0) will look to continue its string of strong performances when they take on Mount Rainier (0-4, 0-1) at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2 at Highline Memorial Stadium.