WIAA State Football Championships: Yelm stuns Eastside Catholic to take 3A Title

12/3/2022

Yelm 20, Eastside Catholic 13

(Puyallup, WA) It was legacy and tradition versus the new kid on the block and in the end the new kid literally stole the State Championship with maybe the most impressive play in high school anywhere at anytime.

Cool temperatures and snow on the field at Sparks stadium welcomed both Eastside Catholic the 12-0 2 seed who were visitors and the 1 seed also 12-0 Yelm Tornados who were playing in their first State Championship in school history. The Crusaders of course with a steady trip to the title game with 6 appearances since 2012 winning 4 of them including back-to-back in in 2018 and 2019 and were close last year making it to the semi-finals. Yelm they made the quarterfinals last year and in 2018 and 1987 with their only other appearance a 1st round loss in 2019.

The Tornados had ripped through the regular season and the 1st 2 rounds of the state play-offs but pulled off a last minute win over Bellevue 28-27 with just seconds to play to deny the defending Champions from re-claiming their the trophy.

Eastside Catholic went undefeated but they were challenged several times with a hard fought win over Kennedy Catholic a last drive win over O’Dea, held off Rainier Beach then knocked off a stout Ferndale in the quarters then beating O’Dea a second time last week in the semi-finals in double overtime.

On Saturday early on it was a defensive tussle early with both teams either punting or turning the ball on downs until Yelm punted it away and after a high snap punter William Carreto had to hurry his kick and it was short giving the Crusaders the ball on the Tornado 24. The defense held though forcing a long field goal attempt by Adam Jacobs who drilled the 35-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with just 9 seconds to go in the 1st quarter.

Yelm was pulling out all the stops including a fake punt that got them a big 1st down to keep a drive alive but mistakes and penalties derailed the Tornados time and again. Yelm would finally put it together just before halftime when Damien Aalona found Aden Schaler in the back of the endzone with just 11 seconds to play in the half. Yelm would go for 2 and miss but headed to the locker room with a 6-3 lead.

Eastside Catholic would tie the game late in the 3rd quarter on their 2nd possession of the 2nd half on a 7 play drive that began on their own 20 yard line. It was a balanced attack with 4 runs and 3 passes and they drove all the way to the Yelm 15 where the drive stalled and on 4th down Jacobs’ sailed a 25-yard kick right down the middle to tie the game at 6-6.

Yelm then answered in just 2 plays when Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo reached into his bag of tricks with the old flea flicker from their own 45 yard line. Aalona got the ball back and launched a high rainbow pass that Tre Smith came back to get and then broke a tackle and sprinted into the endzone giving the Tornados the lead back. They again went for 2 but came up short and the lead was a precarious 6.

The 2 teams would exchange possessions 4 times when E-C took over on their own 38 with 7:44 left to play and on 2nd down they would finish off their own 2 play touchdown drive when Brady McKelheer dumped off a screen to his brother Carson McKelheer and he scampered for a 47-yard score to tie the game at 12-12. Jacobs punched in the PAT and the Crusaders had their 1st lead since they led 3-0 with 7:18 to play. After a punt the Crusaders tried to tack on another field goal from 35 yards but Jacobs got under the ball and it came up short.

That left Yelm with 3:14 and all 3 time-outs as they began on their own 20 yard line. The Tornados worked the ball up the field but taking quite a bit of time off the clock as well. They moved to their own 45 but it was 4th and 1 and they elected to hand it off to Brayden Platt who carried a load of defenders the 1 yard for the 1st down but time was ticking down to 1:30 to play.

Yelm seemingly in no hurry got to the line and the clock ticked down to 1:15 when Aalona dropped back and flung one deep for Kyler Ronquillo but E-C’s Tyson Weaver was there and it looked like he was fielding a punt and the ball went straight into his hands and this is where all heck let loose. Weaver caught the ball and as both feet touched the ground Ronquillo ripped the ball out of his hands just inside the 30 yard line and sprinted into the endzone for the go-ahead score.

There was lots of talk on how to score this play and some believe it was a pass completion but we’re scoring it an interception and a heads up strip by Ronquillo who knew what to do with it once it was in his hands. Yelm then went for 2 and they weren’t done with their trickery when Aalona handed the ball off to Carreto who then stood up and flipped over the offensive line to Onyx Carter to make it 20-13 with 52-seconds to play in the game.

Eastside Catholic would have to start from their own 7 after the ball got by the deep receivers leaving just 50-seconds. After picking up a 1st down McKelheer heaved one down the field with just 14-seconds to play and Platt came up with the clinching interception and the Yelm Tornados claimed their 1st ever State Championship with a crazy 20-13 victory over Eastside Catholic.

Yelm finished the season 13-0 while Eastside Catholic suffered their only loss of the season finishing 12-1.

Our MVP selections in this game for Yelm Kyler Ronquillo was our offensive MVP and Isaiah Patterson was the Tornado defensive MVP. For Eastside Catholic Brady McKelheer was the offensive MVP and on the defensive side it went to Skyler Shute.

The play of the game was clear in fact play of the century may be in order for what was on the line when Ronquillo had the presence of mind to understand simply tackling the defender with the ball would be the most natural reaction. That is what makes this play so incredible and was for a State Champoionship, not a regular season game.

There was another play though that will get overlooked but without it there are no Ronquillo heroics and that was the 4th and 1 play just before the game winner. Brayden Platt needed to get the 1 yard and got hit 2 yards short of the 1st down but drove the pile just enough to get the 1st down otherwise Eastside Catholic would have taken over on downs on the Yelm side of the field with about a minute to play. This is worthy of a play of the game mention.

Stats

Team Rushing
Yelm 163
Eastside Catholic 53

Team Passing
Yelm 184
Eastside Catholic 219

Total Yards
Yelm 347
Eastside Catholic 272

Individual Numbers
Rushing
Yelm: Platt 69, Ronquillo 55, Carreto 38, Aalona 1
Eastside Catholic: Fotualii-Alifua 52, B McKelheer 1

Passing
Yelm: D Aalona 15/28 for 181 2/TD, 2/int; Carreto 1/1 for 3 yards *2pt conversion
Eastside Catholic: McKelheer 10/26 for 219 1/TD, 2/int

Receiving
Yelm: Smith 1/55 TD, Ronquillo 7/48, Schaler 1/22 TD,M Aalona 3/19, Wright 1/10, Carter 3/30 *2 pt conversion
Eastside Catholic: Thompson 4/87, Reyes 3/60, C McKelheer 1/47 TD, Gammashamoorthy 1/14, Hoffman 1/11

*We scored the Yelm final touchdown as an interception, Ronquillo then strip fumble return for 29 yard TD.