Despite having to play two wide receivers at quarterback because of injuries, the Federal Way High School football team came oh so close to advancing in the state Class 3A football playoffs Nov. 7 at Kelso High School’s Schroeder Field.
After taking a lead in overtime with a field goal, the Federal Way defense, which had been so good all night, surrendered a 4-yard touchdown run from Kelso’s to Kainoa Fili, which gave the Hilanders a 13-10 victory. “They’re a good team and they came through,” said Federal Way coach Marcus Yzaguirre, whose team finished the season with a 6-4 record. “It’s unfortunate. We just didn’t make the plays that we needed to.”
Kelso’s score in overtime (the drive started at the Federal Way 25-yard line) was the only points the Eagles’ defense allowed with Kelso’s first touchdown coming on a 9-yard interception return from Blake Larwick in the second quarter. Minutes before, Federal Way thought it had scored first, but an 18-yard touchdown pass from Jay Sinclair to Zamarie Tellez was negated by a penalty, one of 13 Federal Way had (six of them giving Kelso first downs).
“(The official) said that we had illegal motion, but we didn’t have one guy move – we looked (at the play) on the iPad,” Yzaguirre said. “I don’t know what to tell my guys about that, because they did everything right.”
The Eagles certainly could have used that touchdown. They were without Anthony Marchetti, their starting quarterback to start the season, but whose season ended with a sprained ankle in late September, and without Jacob Yan, who had taken over for Marchetti.
Yan injured his rib during the fourth quarter of Federal Way’s win over Thomas Jefferson High School to close the regular season. Yzaguirre said Yan was cleared to play very late in the week, but the coach said he was concerned what might happen if Yan took another hit to the chest against Kelso and decided the right thing was to not play him.
Federal Way played Sinclair, normally a receiver, at quarterback for most of the game, before moving Tellez, another receiver, to that spot in the fourth quarter.
Tellez, a three-star recruit who has committed to Eastern Washington, provided the spark Federal Way needed, leading the Eagles to the tying touchdown. He scored on a spectacular 24-yard run, breaking several tackles along the way, to make it 7-7 with 5:23 remaining.
That’s where the score stood at the end of regulation.
Federal Way got an 18-yard run from Jeremiah Harrison-Overton to start the overtime, giving the Eagles first-and-goal from the Kelso 7. A false-start penalty cost Federal Way five yards, and that proved costly as the Eagles were left with fourth-and-goal from the Kelso 2-yard-line after three runs.
Yzaguirre opted for a field-goal attempt, which Giovanni Vergara-Trujillo made from 19 yards. The coach’s decision made sense considering Federal Way had held Kelso (9-1) to 143 yards in regulation and to just 55 in the second half.
Two runs for a combined 15 yards gave Kelso first-and-goal at the Federal Way 10. Kelso got half of those yards on a very costly offsides penalty on Federal Way. Two plays later, Fili’s run ended the game.
Federal Way held most of the edges statistically, gaining 255 yards to Kelso’s 163. The Eagles were without top running back Ray Rondon because of an injury, but they got good production from Raymond Toso (12 carries for 69 yards), Tellez (12 for 53) and Harrison-Overton (5 for 47).
Sinclair completed 8 of 20 passes for 83 yards.
It was a tough way to end the season for Federal Way, which left the field believing it should have won, but Yzaguirre was proud of what his team accomplished this season.
“We played four quarterbacks this season and we still got to the playoffs,” he said. “Hell of a job by these guys. We finished 6-4. A hell of a job being relentless.”
