Explosive plays, red zone woes haunt T-Birds in title game loss

SEATTLE — When Tumwater lost the 2023 2A State Championship Game last December, it wasn’t close. Anacortes’ high-powered offense put up 60 points in a dominant victory.

The T-Birds played much better in the rematch on Saturday. They only turned the ball over once and outgained the Seahawks on the night.

For the second year in a row, though, the Seahawks were able to generate explosive plays on offense. There weren’t as many as last year, but there were enough to help Anacortes go back-to-back with a 20-10 victory over Tumwater.

It’s the third time in the last four years that the Thunderbirds have lost the state championship game.

As Anacortes began signing along to Prince’s “Purple Rain,” a visibly emotional T-Bird team made its way towards the locker room.

“The kids are heartbroken,” Tumwater coach William Garrow said. “It stings. They’re hurting in there … They worked extremely hard, and I’m really proud of them. They did everything the right way. Sometimes, the other team makes a couple more plays than you do.”

Last year’s matchup was a shootout, but it was the defenses that dominated on Montlake this time around.

Neither team scored in the first quarter, but after a Jaylin Nixon fumble on the first play of the second quarter, Anacortes’ Ryan Harrington found Rylin Lang for a 33-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

The T-Birds responded with a 14-play touchdown drive of their own. They had a first and goal at the one, but needed all four downs to get into the end zone. Cash Short just got across the goal line on a 3-yard rush, reaching out as he was being taken down.

Tumwater had a similar drive in the third quarter, as it drained eight minutes off the clock, but this time, the offense stalled in the red zone. Dylan Stevens hit a short field goal to give the T-Birds a 10-7 lead.

After the field goal, the Anacortes offense that had mostly been contained finally found its footing. Brock Beaner broke free for a 59-yard touchdown, and Harrington hit Lang on a 61-yard completion to set up another touchdown moments later.

“That’s gonna happen when you have extremely talented skill position players like they do,” Garrow said. “They made a couple plays, and we just didn’t get a couple that we needed to have happen.”

Even with the big plays, Tumwater held Anacortes to just 207 total years of offense.

Down 10 in the fourth, the T-Birds still had a chance to get back in the game, but the offense couldn’t capitalize in the red zone.

With about five and a half minutes left, the T-Birds faced a fourth down at the 15-yard line. Another Stevens field goal could have made it a one-score game, but the offense stayed on the field and failed on fourth down.

The same scenario played out a couple of minutes later, the last fourth down failure serving as the dagger. The T-Birds finished the night with just one touchdown on four red zone trips.

“We just didn’t make the plays that we needed inside the red zone when we had the chance,” Garrow said. “We knew we were gonna have to score twice one way or another … We threw a couple plays at them, and we didn’t quite come down with it.

“It sucks,” he continued. “You tip your cap … But they should be proud of the effort that they gave.”

Cash Short ran for a team-high 95 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, while Derek Thompson added 39 yards on seven attempts.

Jaxon Budd finished 7 for 13 through the air for 60 yards, and his leading receiver was David Malroy, who tallied 29 yards on two catches. Wyatt Chase hauled in three passes for 24 yards.

The Thunderbirds finish their season 13-1 and will say goodbye to 20 seniors, including Short, Beckett Wall (who had a pair of tackles for loss on Saturday), and Mehki Richardson.

“They’ve been incredible kids,” Garrow said. “They embraced me when I got the job (two years ago). They’ve done everything that we've asked them to do over the last 24 months. I’m disappointed in myself that we couldn’t find a way to get them a win. 

“But they shouldn’t be upset with themselves,” Garrow added. “They’ve done everything they were supposed to do. And sometimes, you get beat. That’s just life.”