HS Football: 2A Anacortes doubles up Tumwater again; defends their Championship

12/7/2024

Anacortes 20, Tumwater 10

(Seattle, WA) The Anacortes Seahawks burst onto the scene last year winning their 1st ever State Football Champoionship after not even fielding a varsity team a few years earlier. The dramatic turn-around came under the watchful eye of Athltic Director Justin Portz. Portz stepped away officially and Trevor Anderson was the Head Coach although Portz was still heavily involved with coaching last year.

Portz stepped back into the head coaching position this season and the Seahawks were focused on getting back to Husky Stadium and holding onto the big Golden Football. To do so they would have to again take on the Tumwater T-Birds who they beat handily last year 60-30.

Tumwater was the #1 seed last year and came into this re-match with redemption on their mind. In training camp they wore t-shirts with the 60-30 score printed on the backs so they never forgot. Tumwater scheduled as tough of opponents for their non-league schedule as they could find and included 4A Puyallup, Eastlake and Union. The T-Birds ran through them all and came into the Championship game outscoring their opponents in the play-offs alone 156-7 including a 42-0 win over Archbishop Murphy in the Semi-Finals.

Anacortes was the 2 seed with a 12-1 record with their lone loss to AB Murphy 34-28 in early October. But the Seahawks felt they were being disrespected with many predicitions that Tumwater was much better than last year and the few graduates Anacortes lost from last season it was too many despite a large number of last year’s team being back. The biggest difference was QB Rex Larson was gone and Ryan Harrington has stepped in.

As this game got underway it was quickly known 90 total points would not be scored. Both defenses came out firing and neither team could score through the 1st 12 minutes and after the 1st quarter it was 0-0.

The defending Champs would strike 1st in the 2nd quarter when Harrington connected with Rylin Lang for a 33 yard touchdown, Riley Walgamott added the kick for a 7-0 lead. The 8 play, 55 yard drive took 3:36 off the clock.

Tumwater would answer on their next possession taking over with about 8 minutes to play in the half on their own 36 yard line. The T-Birds would get their counter game running out of their Wing T offense and ground out a 14 play, 64 yard drive topped off with Cash Short powering in from the 3 yard line on a 4th and goal and just getting in for the score. Dylan Stevens tacked on the PAT and it was 7-7 with 1:49 to go in the half as that drive chewed up more than 6 minutes of the clock. That is how it would go to halftime, all even at 7-7.

This was a far cry from the massive amount of scoring in their 1st showdown and it would remain a defensive battle through the 2nd half.

The 2 teams would trade possessions but it wouldn’t be until late in the 3rd until the tie was broken. Tumwater ran a 16 play drive but stalled at the 11 yard line and the T-Birds would send Stevens on for the 28-yard field goal attempt which he nailed to give the T-Birds the lead back 10-7 with 2:05 left in the 3rd.

Anacortes would not allow the T-Birds to gain any momentum at all as they began on their own 34. After a 1st down gain of 7 yards, Brock Beaner took the ball and broke free taking it to the house 59 yards for the touchdown, add the extra point and the Seahawks took the lead for the 1st time 14-10. It was a 2 play drive that took 48-seconds.

The quick strike seemed to ignite the Seahawk sideline and defense. Anacortes would force the T-Birds into a 3 and out and tookover on their own 31. On 1st down the Hawks nearly scored again when Harrington hit Lang deep down the middle for a 61 yard bullseye to set up 1st and goal from the 8. After a 2 yard gain and an incomplete pass Harrington and Lang would connect again for the 3rd touchdown of the game for Anacortes. The PAT failed so the score remained 20-10 with 11:06 to play in the game.

Tumwater needed 2 scores and had 11 minutes to work with and drove the ball all the way to the Seahawks 15 facing a 4th and 5. This is where T-Bird Coach William Garrow surprised some folks because instead of trying to kick the field goal and making it a 7 point game Tumwater went for it. The play was the next interesting call a running play that didn’t fool Anacortes at all and stuffed the runner for a 1 yard gain and Tumwater potentially leaving 3 points off the board and turning the ball over on downs.

The T-Bird defense was anxious to get the ball back and stopped the Hawks forcing a 3 and out. The line of scrimmage was the 11 and the punt made it to the 43 where Sunny Nguyen returned it to the 38 of Anacortes with 4:37 left to play and had all 3 timeouts.

Tumwater didn’t appear to be in much of a hurry and huddled up while they continued to run the ball and attempt short passes. On the 6th play of the drive it was 2nd and 9 from the 27 when QB Jason Budd hit David Malroy on a short completion but Malroy broke free down to the 8 yard line but the time was ticking away.

Tumwater then ran 3 plays, a running play, an incomplete pass and a short completion inbounds but did not take any timesouts. On 4th and goal from the 6 and still more than a minute to play the T-Birds passed again on the chip shot field goal to make it a 1 score game and gambled on getting 6. The gamble busted as the final pass play was broken up and Tumwater again turned it over on downs.

Anacortes was backed up on their own 4 yard line with 1:06 to play and they needed to run Tumwater out of their timeouts so they needed to get at least 1 1st down and on 3rd and 13 Harrington hit Brady Beaner who then scrambled for 16 yards and got the clinching 1st down. The Seahawks had forced out all the timeouts and downed it to clinch their 2nd State Championship in as many years and once again did it by doubling the T-Birds offensive output winning 20-10.

The Thorbeckes MVP was awarded by our crew to Rylin Lang and had 4 catches for 107 yards, 48 yards after contact and scored 2 touchdowns with the longest a 61 yard connection.

For a complete look at the full box score or completed bracket click links below along with a link to the full broadcast on the NFHS Network.

Link to Final 2A Bracket

Link to full Box Score

Link to full game broadcast on the NFHS Network (subscription required)