HS Football: G-K completes comeback with 14 seconds to play to beat Emerald Ridge

9/20/2024

(Puyallup, WA) The Graham-Kapowsin Eagles faced Lake Stevens last December for the 4A State Cham;ionship where they fell short but took home the 2nd place State trophy. Friday night the Eagles rolled into Sparks Stadium in Puyallup to take on Emerald Ridge with a 3 game losing streak dating back to their State title game. The Eagles had already lost to O’Dea 35-28 and to Skyview 21-17 but both were non-league games.

Friday night was also a non-league game due to the expansion of the SPSL 4A from 10 to 12 teams and is now played in two 6 team divisions giving each team a 3 game non-league schedule. But Head Coach Jeff Logan knew this was an important game to get his team’s confidence back and start to ramp up for the league schedule.

Emerald Ridge came in 1-1 with a 24-6 win at Kentwood in their opener and then a loss to cross divisional opppnenet Bethel last week 21-7. The Jags much like their G-K opponents came into the season with many changes including starting quarterbacks and Emerald Ridge with a new Head Coach in Torey Donovan. Donovan was looking for that consistency he got in the 1st game to put up a big win against G-K

The 1st half was oddly both offensive and defensive in that plenty of yards were recorded as both teams went on long drives and in fact each team only had the ball 3 times each in the 1st half. E-R began with a 6 play drive that took 5 minutes off the clock and resulted in a punt where the Eagles took over on their own 3 yard line and reeled off 10 plays only to have to punt it back while taking 6+ minutres off the clock leaving about 1 minute of the 1st quarter.

The 2 teams would trade punts again buring another 9 minutes when E-R got the ball for the 3rd time on the 50 yard line. The Jags then used the bruising run attack of Joshua Moultrie and Malcolm Akuffo to drive down to the 1 yard line when Akuffo plowed in for the 1st score of the game with just 1:44 to play. Carson Cody added the PAT and it was 7-0. This is how it would go to the half a 1 score Jag lead.

In the 2nd half the 2 teams exchanged possessions 4 times and the Jags had the ball in fantastic field position on the Eagles 19 yard line. Eagles coach Logan rolled the dice on a 4th an 2 and set up a short pass from Frosh QB AJ Tuivaive to intended receiver Kase Betz but Betz could not hold onto the ball for a sure 1st down.

This opened the door to E-R who took 3 plays before Jags QB Cam Buckler found Robert Lutz with a perfectly thrown lob that Lutz hauled in for a 16 yard TD. After a defensive offsides coach Donovan decided to go for 2 but were stuffed on the goal line but held a 13-0 lead with 1:05 to play in the 3rd.

Betz was feeling bad for not catching that 4th down pass and was hoping for a chance at redemption. His opportunity would come sooner than later. On the 1st play of the G-K drive trying to answer the Jags 2nd score, Tuivaiave threw a short pass to Betz in the flat and found a lane then cut to the outside and was gone for 65 yards and the score. The PAT was blocked but the Eagles were on the board with a full quarter to play.

The Eagles would hold for a 3 and out and get the ball back with 11 minutes to play on the Jaguars 46 yard line. G-K capped the 6 play drive when Tuivaiave threw his 2nd TD this time to DJ Taape for a 14 yard catch and run. The PAT was kicked by Aiden Skolrud to tie the game at 13 with 7:04 to play.

The Eagle defense held and forced a 3 and out punt and after a bad bounce G-K was in business with the ball on their own 48 yard line. 5 plays later the Eagles were knocking on the door at the 5 yard line with about 20-seconds to play in the game. Logan decided to hand it off to Blake Pearson who veered to the left broke a tackle and scooteds into the endzone for the go-ahead score with 14 seconds to play.

Emerald Ridge simply ran out of time and G-K recorded their 1st win of the season while the Jags drop their 2nd in a row giving up the 13 point lead in the final 13 minutes of the game.

G-K finished with 233 yards of offense with Tuivaiave throwing for 217 of those total yards and 2 touchdowns. Betz led in reception yards with 86 on 3 catches along with the TD, Taape had the 1 catch for 14 yards and the score while tight end Noah Flores hauled in 7 catches for 73 yards.

Emerald Ridge totaled 210 yards with 78 rushing yards led by Akuffo with 43 yards and a TD. Buckler was 8 of 12 for 108 yards and touchdown.

Graham-Kapowsin is now 1-2 on the season and opens division league play on Thursday when they host Bonney Lake. Emerald Ridge will play their 3rd straight of 5 games in a row at their home stadium, Sparks, but will be the visitor in their league opener with district rival Puyallup on Friday night.

Our ESN crew named Caleb Braithwaite the MVP of the game for G-K for his brilliant defensive performance in a game where many could have taken the honor. However, Braithwaite was also comong off what some doctors told him was a career ending injury last season and he refused to give in and re-habbed and worked to not put the uniform back on but to start and to dominate.

Click this link to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network (Subscription requited)

Below is the ESN Post Game show with more on the Eagles comeback win in this remarkable game plus video highlights.

ESN’s Post Game Show