HS Football: Decatur Clinches First Ever League Championship

10/25/24

Decatur Golden Gators 20, White River Hornets 6

(Federal Way, WA) There’s a banner in Decatur High School that shows the football team’s accomplishments. The banner has been empty and used as a motivating tool to create history, as the Decatur Golden Gators have never won a league title in football or even played in a state football playoff game. The White River Hornets have a long history of winning league titles that date back to 1912 when they were Buckley High School. With a win, Decatur would earn the NPSL title and finally fill a spot on the banner that has been empty for over half of a century. If White River gets the win, they will have an opportunity to win the league with a win next week over their rivals Enumclaw.

In the first quarter, Decatur would get the ball first, and after picking up back-to-back third down conversions, found themselves inside the red zone. After three penalties, Decatur, on the 11th play of the drive, would find the end zone as senior quarterback Spencer Holloway rolled out and found Samuel Corbett for the 19-yard touchdown to give Decatur a 7-0 lead with seven minutes left in the quarter. Decatur would force White River to punt, and in just two plays, Decatur would find the end zone again, as Devin Caoagdan would find a crease on the right side of the offensive line, go down the sideline for a 24-yard touchdown, and give Decatur a 14-0 lead with a minute and a half left in the first quarter.

The defenses, which for both teams played great all night, would shine in the second quarter. They would each force two punts, and no drive lasted longer than nine plays. With 1:48 left in the half, White River brought in sophomore quarterback Chaz Strickland to lead the two-minute offense. Strickland energized the Hornets offense and ran the two-minute offense excellently, moving the ball down the field both through the air and using his legs where he wisely would get out of bounds to stop the clock. The drive was highlighted by a double pass where Strickland threw a backward pass to Tate Bowen, who fired it to Ray Palmer for an 11-yard gain on third down to give the Hornets their first first down of the drive. Strickland ran for 15 yards and a first down before hitting Palmer for a 20-yard catch and run with just two seconds left in the half, but the field goal attempt would fall short to keep it a 14-0 halftime lead for Decatur.

In the third quarter, White River got the ball first, but the Decatur defense forced another Hornets punt. On the second play of the drive, Decatur’s Spencer Holloway kept the ball on a read option and outran everybody for a 55-yard touchdown to give Decatur a 20-0 lead just three minutes into the half. Decatur forced another punt from White River, and the Golden Gators would get the ball at White River’s 48-yard line with five minutes left in the third quarter.

The Golden Gators moved the ball nicely down the field as Holloway found TJ Riggins for a first down in the late stages of the third quarter, and early in the fourth, Holloway hit Samuel Corbett for 18 yards, which brought the Golden Gators inside the five-yard line. Decatur had the ball at the one, but a penalty backed them up five yards. Decatur moved the ball to the two-yard line on third and goal, but White River’s Kovi Poulin made a great play to stop the run at the line of scrimmage to set up fourth and goal from the two. White River’s defense made another great play, as Holloway kept the ball on a bootleg, but White River knocked him down at the two and forced the turnover on downs, but the Hornets only had eight and a half minutes to get three touchdowns.

White River faced fourth and 16 from their own 25, and Decatur’s freshman, Scottie Dinwiddie, came up with an interception off a deflection to give the Golden Gators the football. White River forced a turnover on downs as Decatur attempted a punt, but it went over the head of the punter, and they lost 22 yards to give the Hornets the ball at the 40-yard line with four and a half minutes left in the game. White River drove down the field to the one-yard line, where Chaz Strickland found DeShaun Stolz for the touchdown and made it a 20-6 game with Decatur still leading.

White River tried an onside kick, which was a good one from Max Argo, but Decatur recovered the kick with 3:16 left in the game. White River forced a turnover on downs with just a minute and a half left in the game, and the time ran out on the Hornets as Decatur won the game 20-6 and clinched their first-ever league championship.

We had co-MVP’s for our elisportsnetwork.com MVP award. Decatur’s Spencer Holloway had two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground, and Nicholas Leoso led the defensive line for the Golden Gators and had a sack and multiple tackles for loss. Decatur’s running backs, Devin Caoagdan and freshman Jordan Clay ran the ball well for the Golden Gators.

White River’s defensive line was really good as state wrestling champ, Riley Simmons anchored the line for the Hornets. Chaz Strickland was great taking over the offense for White River and Ray Palmer played both ways for the Hornets, and had multiple big gains on catches while limiting Decatur’s passing game.

Decatur improves to 8-0 on the season and 7-0 in the NPSL and takes the league title. The Golden Gators finish the regular season going up against Todd Beamer next week. White River drops to 5-3 on the season and 5-2 in NPSL play. The Hornets will take on Enumclaw next week to finish the regular season.

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