HS Football: Lincoln (Tacoma) Wins Instant Classic Over Mount Tahoma In Double Overtime

10/7/24

Lincoln (Tacoma) 38, Mount Tahoma 32 (2 OT)

(Lakewood, WA) Last year, the Mount Tahoma Thunderbirds defeated the Lincoln (Tacoma) Abes for the first time since 2011. On Friday, the two teams would play in an epic double overtime game that no one who watched or attended the rivalry game will forget.

In the first quarter, Lincoln got the ball first, and meticulously drove down the field on a 16 play drive that took over seven minutes of the opening quarter. Sophomore quarterback, Sione Kaho, after having his pass deflected and nearly intercepted on the play before, found Ilai Malafu on third down who dodged a T-Bird defender and found the end zone for the game’s opening score, a 16-yard touchdown. Lincoln’s extra point was blocked by Mount Tahoma’s Elijah Durr, who blocked an extra point last year against Lincoln, but the Abes had a 6-0 lead.

Mount Tahoma had a 13-play drive on the ensuing drive, where the T-Birds drove inside the five yard line but the Abes defense forced a turnover on downs to keep the game at 6-0. Lincoln, backed up at their own five, went nowhere on first down, but Jadeon Scranton flipped the field with a 76-yard run, setting up the Abes in the red zone. This time, Mount Tahoma made the defensive stand and forced a turnover on downs.

After a turnover on downs again for Mount Tahoma, Lincoln had the ball at the Mount Tahoma 39 yard line, and on third and 18, Sione Kaho tried a deep pass which fell incomplete, but there was a flag for pass interference on both the offense and the defense, both of whom were really battling for the ball. On third and 18 part two, Kaho found his speedy and reliable wide receiver, Kanoa Teplasy, who was open down the field and caught the pass as he trotted into the end zone to make it 12-0 Lincoln with the lead in the second quarter. The Abes weren’t able to convert on their two point conversion attempt.

Lincoln was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty on the touchdown strike, so they were forced to kickoff from the 25-yard line, rather than the 40, which proved to be valuable as Briytan Bailey took the kick return to the 28-yard line, to give Mount Tahoma a short field to work with late in the first half. The T-Birds drove it down the field to the five, and with no timeouts left in the half and under 30 seconds left, the T-Birds ran it but were tackled short of the goal line at the one. Mount Tahoma rushed everyone up to the line of scrimmage to try and get fourth and goal off before the time expired, and in the process were called for a false start, which stopped the clock and backed them up five yards. With fourth and goal from the six and only four seconds left in the half, Mount Tahoma’s quarterback, Mikkah Cordero went back to pass, and was forced to scramble around as his receivers were covered. He went all around the field before heading toward the right side of the field, put his shoulders down, and rumbled his way into the end zone for the touchdown as time expired to cut Lincoln’s lead down to just 12-7, and importantly, giving Mount Tahoma lots of halftime momentum.

Mount Tahoma got the ball to begin the third quarter, and for the second time in the ballgame, had a 13-play drive, but the T-Birds capped it off with Mikkah Cordero lobbing a pass to the near side in the end zone where his wide receiver, Angel Urban got his feet down in bounds to secure the touchdown, which would’ve been a touchdown on Sundays, and gave Mount Tahoma a 13-12 lead in the third quarter.

Lincoln responded with an 18-play, 86-yard drive and the Abes went to their reliable running back, Jadeon Scranton to punch it in from one yard out to give Lincoln the lead. The drive lasted over eight minutes long and took the game into the fourth quarter. The Abes went for two and lined up Scranton to take the shotgun snap, and Scranton called his own number and plunged into the end zone and give Lincoln a 20-13 lead with eight and a half minutes left in the fourth.

Lincoln was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on their touchdown run, which forced the Abes to kickoff from the 25-yard line, rather than the 40, which helped the T-Birds as they returned it into Abes territory. Mount Tahoma drove down to the 19-yard line, where Mikkah Cordero tossed a pass to Elijah Durr who caught the ball in the end zone to tie the game up at 20.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mount Tahoma kicked it high and short, towards the far sideline, where it took a couple of bounces backwards and the T-Birds’ Anthony Quintanilla Jr. recovered it right before diving out of bounds, to give Mount Tahoma the ball at the 38-yard line and 4:19 left in the fourth quarter.

Mount Tahoma drove the ball down to the one yard line, where Mikkah Cordero faked a handoff, bounced outside and cut up the field to run it in for the touchdown with only 44 seconds left. The extra point was wide right so the game was 26-20 with the T-Birds kicking off to Lincoln.

On the kickoff, Mount Tahoma was offside on the first kickoff, so that backed up the T-Birds five yards, then Lincoln’s Immanuel Jordan returned the kick to the 47-yard line with 38 seconds left. Lincol’s Sione Kaho completed a 24-yard pass to Ramon Jones, the Abes spiked the ball to stop the clock, before Kaho completed a 20-yard pass to Kanoa Teplasy at the four. Lincoln spiked the ball again with just four seconds left in the game. Kaho on second and goal, found Kasey Williams open in the end zone for the touchdown to tie the game at 26. Lincoln opted to go for the two point conversion, and were stopped short, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, Lincoln got the ball first after Mount Tahoma won the toss and chose to send out their defense first. Lincoln had fourth and ten from the 13-yard line, when Sione Kaho found Kasey Williams again, who caught a pass over the middle and scored the touchdown to give Lincoln a 32-26 lead. Lincoln wasn’t able to convert the extra point to keep it at a six point game.

On Mount Tahoma’s turn with the ball, the T-Birds got backed up to fourth and 13 from the 28-yard line, but two straight Lincoln penalties gave Mount Tahoma a fresh set of downs. Four plays later, Mount Tahoma’s Keshawn Hines ran in a three yard touchdown to tie the game at 32. Mount Tahoma was called for a false start on the extra point, then Lincoln called a timeout to ice the kicker, and on the extra point attempt from the eight yard line, Lincoln blocked the extra point and the game would head to double overtime.

In double overtime, Mount Tahoma had the ball first and faced fourth and eight, where Lincoln’s Ramon Jones made the interception to keep Mount Tahoma scoreless in double overtime.

Lincoln on their turn in the second overtime, would go down the field all the way to the one yard line, where Jadeon Scranton muscled his way into the end zone for the game winning touchdown, and gave Lincoln a 38-32 victory.

Our elisportsnetwork.com Game MVP was Lincoln quarterback, Sione Kaho, who threw for four touchdowns, didn’t have a turnover, masterfully put together a clutch drive at the end of the fourth quarter, and ultimately helped his Abes get the double overtime win.

Lincoln improves to 3-2 on the year, and 2-0 in the PSL while Mount Tahoma drops down to 1-4 on the season and 0-2 in the PSL.

Lincoln will host Silas on Friday, while Mount Tahoma takes on Bellarmine on the road.

Link to the full game replay can be found here (Subscription Required).

Game Highlights

ESN Postgame Show