HS Football: 1A Semi-Finals: Royal-Seton Catholic Meet in Battle of Polar Opposites

11/30/2024

The WIAA State Football Semifinals were all contested on Saturday and in this post we cover the 1A games. Re-caps, our MVP’s, postgame shows and highlights are included as Eli Sports covered all 12 of the Semifinal games.

WIAA 1A Bracket

Seton Catholic 35, Montesano 14

(Vancouver, WA) For the second consecutive week, the Montesano Bulldogs headed south to try to pull off an upset against a team from the TriCo 1A but this time it would be against the league champions and #2 overall seed in the Seton Catholic Cougars. The only team in the final 4 for the 1As, Montesano sprung the upset over La Center last week but faced a whole new monster this week. Led by Jacob Williams at tailback, Seton Catholic had to survive a thriller in the quarterfinals over Life Christian Academy and looked to move on to the first state championship in program history.

After a scoreless opening quarter, Seton Catholic finally broke through with a couple of short touchdown runs by Joe Callerame and Jacob Williams. Montesano seemed to find some life late in the second quarter, but a big first half for Xavier Crank was punctuated by an interception for the Seton Catholic junior. While it was a slow start for the high-powered Cougars, they would be happy going into halftime with a 14-0 lead.

Montesano came out of the gates strong in the second half as they forced a quick three-and-out before they marched down the field on their opening offensive drive and ended it with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Tyson Perry to Zachary Timmons to make it 14-7. After getting another stop, Montesano had a chance to tie the game up with a touchdown drive. However, the hero of the game for Seton Catholic stepped up again as Jacob Williams picked off a pass and took it to the house for a pick six. That gave the Cougars some breathing room as they took the game to the 4th quarter, leading 21-7.

In the opening minutes of the 4th, Tyson Perry and Montesano pulled out some trickery as a double reverse saw the ball end up with Perry who found Marcus Hale for a 46-yard touchdown to make it a one-score game once again at 21-14. However, Seton Catholic would score a couple more touchdowns on a dime from Kolten Gesser to Ryker Ruelas for a 44-yard touchdown before Jacob Williams scored one more from 12 yards out. A couple of stops and that was the end of it as Seton Catholic defeated Montesano 35-14 to advance to their first state championship in program history.

Link to full replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

Link to the Columbian’s Will Denner’s story on the Cougars historic win

Highlights

Postgame Show

Jacob Williams Pick Six

Montesano Trick Play Cuts Deficit to 7

Kolten Gesser Drops Dime to Ryker Ruelas

Royal 44, Cashmere 7

(Moses Lake, WA) A team from the South Central Athletic Conference was guaranteed to make a state championship appearance in the 1A classification as the Cashmere Bulldogs looked to get some revenge from a league loss against the 1A dynasty known as the Royal Knights. Royal took home the regular season meeting by knocking off Cashmere 55-14. The Knights were also looking to punch their ticket to the title game for a fifth consecutive season as they looked to also complete the five-peat for the 1A classification.

Early on in the game, the teams traded touchdowns for an early 7-7 score. After that, it was all Royal as the Knights flexed their muscle yet again. After being intercepted on his first pass of the game, Lance Allred settled in and threw four touchdowns in the first half to a couple of different receivers, two for Jackson Larson and two for Ben Jenks. Cashmere never found the endzone again as Royal’s defense also dug their heels in to shutdown the Bulldogs. Royal would run away to the tune of a 44-7 win to move to the state championship once again.

Link to full replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

For more on this game check out the ESN full Postgame show below and some video highlights.