It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.
And finish is exactly what the No. 1-ranked Skyline Spartans did Friday night against Federal Way in the opening round of the Class 4A football playoffs in Sammamish. The unbeaten Spartans advanced into the quarterfinals with an impressive 49-6 win over the Eagles on their home field.
The victory improved Skyline to 11-0 and ended Federal Way’s season after making their first trip to the state playoffs since 1976. The Eagles finished 8-3.
“There’s no question I’m disappointed now,” Federal Way coach John Meagher said. “When I get some time to reflect, we took another step forward.”
Things started off pretty good for the undermanned Eagles Friday night. Federal Way took the opening kickoff and drove 61 yards before junior Kelyn Rowe converted on a 30-yard field goal to give the Eagles a short-lived 3-0 lead.
But that was before the vaunted Skyline offense and their all-everything quarterback Jake Heaps took the field. Heaps, the No. 1-ranked 2010 recruit in the nation, led the Spartans on a 10-play, 93-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Gino Simone to give Skyline a 7-3 lead.
The Spartans never looked back.
By the time he went to the sidelines for the night after three quarters, Heaps had completed 20 of 27 passes for 192 yards and five touchdowns. Sophomore sensation Kasen Williams caught four of those scoring passes, and finished with five catches for 59 yards.
Following the touchdown catch by Simone, Skyline added two more scoring drives on their next two possessions of 74 and 46 yards. Both ended with TD grabs by Williams to give the Spartans a 21-3 lead with 4:02 left in the first half.
But Federal Way wasn’t about to roll over just yet. After Damon Hardy returned the ensuing kickoff to the Skyline 48, the Eagles used a pair of pass interference calls to drive the ball to the Spartans’ 11 yard line. Federal Way settled for a 23-yard field goal by Rowe as the first-half clock expired to cut the Skyline lead to 21-6.
All the momentum that the Eagles gained at the end of the first half, however, went away very quickly at the beginning of the third quarter.
The Spartans scored three touchdowns in the first 4:30 of the second half to secure their 25th win in a row and a quarterfinal meeting with fellow unbeaten Auburn at 7 p.m. Saturday at Skyline Stadium. Auburn won the South Puget Sound League North Division title and beat Federal Way, 21-14, in the opening game of the season. Skyline and Auburn are the only unbeaten teams left in the Class 4A playoffs.
Federal Way turned the ball over on three plays in a row, including on two consecutive kickoffs, and gave up 28 points in the quarter.
Simone squelched any momentum the Eagles gained by taking back the opening kickoff of the second half 94 yards for a touchdown down the right sideline to put Skyline up 28-6.
But things got even worse for Federal Way.
Skyline’s Jordan Veil intercepted a pass from Federal Way quarterback Nick Tanielu on the Eagles’ next possession, leading to a 33-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a Williams to Heap 4-yard pass with 9:16 left in the quarter.
Federal Way then fumbled away the kickoff, which led to a 6-yard touchdown pass to Williams to make it 42-6. Skyline’s final touchdown of the night came on a 3-yard run by tailback Joey Evans late in the third quarter.
To further illustrate the dominance of Skyline during the 12-minute third quarter, the Eagles’ offense ran only nine plays and totaled minus-20 yards.
“All of a sudden, we made a bunch of mistakes,” Meagher said. “Things slipped away there.”
Federal Way never really had a chance to get into their offensive game plan against Skyline. The Eagles wanted to run senior Andre Barrington like they did in last week’s victory over Gig Harbor, while milking the play clock. Barrington, who has verbally committed to play at Washington State University next fall, tallied 165 yards and accounted for two touchdowns against Gig Harbor.
Barrington tallied nearly 50 yards during the Eagles’ first two drives of the night, but was bottled up the rest of the game.
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Notes:
• Lost in the blowout loss to Skyline, was the return of Federal Way senior Andru Pulu to the lineup. The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder tore the MCL ligament in his right knee during a loss to Kentwood last month and missed the last three games.
Pulu, who is set to play at the University of Washington next season, was cleared by doctors Thursday, but was allowed only to play defensive end. Pulu started the last three seasons at middle linebacker and offensive tackle. Pulu made several tackles during the game, despite wearing a bulky knee brace.
