Before the Tenino High School football team was in victory formation, Darren Tinnerstet walked down the sideline towards the scoreboard and flapped his lips.
He had the look of a head coach that just witnessed his team losing by three scores, rather than the opposite. And the post-whistle statement on the sideline of “get ready to run” only magnified the feelings.
The reason?
Tenino’s opponent, location, stakes and potentially season-defining game next Friday.
“I got the Nick Saban thing in me where I can see (what is) coming down the road,” Tinnerstet said. “It is game on.”
In the penultimate tune-up before the Beavers’ ultimate test, they overcame a sluggish first half to dominate Centralia 24-0 on the final 24 minutes en route to a 44-15 non-league victory on Friday at Tiger Stadium.
It marks the first time since 2022 Tenino is 4-0. That year ended with a state playoff loss in the Round of 16 as the No. 7 seed. How 2025 finishes may be determined by how Week 5 plays out.
Montesano, the cream of the crop in the Class 1A Evergreen League, awaits in an unbeaten versus unbeaten showdown in Grays Harbor County. The Bulldogs are coming off a 56-0 thrashing of three-time Class 2B runners-up Napavine.
“We’re gonna treat it like another team,” senior Austin Johnson said. “We’ll play our best.”
For as lopsided as the final score read, it didn’t get out of hand until late in the fourth quarter.
Tenino had two more first downs than Centralia, 45 more rushing yards and 147 more total yards. It was a five-point game entering the locker room. The lead could have been two scores if a flea flicker trick play wasn’t dropped in the end zone.
Centralia was having its way on the ground game behind Malcolm Tukes and an offensive line that created plenty of holes in the B gap.
“Even on that first drive, we were putting in 3rd-and-4th (distances), it wasn't like against Elma,” Tigers head coach Tyler Gedney said.
Tenino’s defense allowed eight total points in the first three games. That unit allowed 15 in the first half.
“We did not play our best game,” Parker Minerich said. “We came into this thinking we could just show up and that’s not how it works. Any team can win.”
Tenino defensive coordinator JD Johnson unleashed a “fiery” halftime speech. Whatever was said, it worked.
The Beavers marched 86 yards down the field on 15 plays, capped by a Minerich 13-yard TD pass from quarterback Mason Metcalf. The drive-extender was Metcalf finding Johnson for 12 yards on 4th-and-11.
“We could have played better, especially with Montesano coming up,” Minerich said.
“That was a statement drive,” Tinnerstet added. “I am proud, came out in the second half, and found our footing. “
Centralia (1-3) got to Tenino territory the following drive, but a batted pass at the line of scrimmage led to a Minerich interception, then his second TD pass. Minerich ended his stellar second half with a 60-yard scoop-and-score.
The Tigers ran a total of 18 plays for 45 yards in the last two quarters.
“It is tough when your defense has to be on the field for the first nine minutes at the start of the second half,” Gedney said. “It sucks the final score shows 44-15 (where) in reality, that wasn’t the football game.”
Tukes ended a 16-play, 69-yard opening drive with a 13-yard score that ate up nearly eight minutes of clock. The senior, who was already over the 500-yard mark coming in, added 113 more yards to his total.
“We want to run the ball down your throat until you stop it," Gedney said.
Metcalf connected on back-to-back touchdowns of 24 and 77 yards, respectively. In between, Johnson came down with a pick of Erickson. Metcalf ended his night 11-of-14 for 192 yards and four touchdowns while Johnson eclipsed 100 receiving yards.
“We are getting better,” Tinnerstet said. “(This was) possibly a trap game and we preached that all week. In the second half, we got it going on. Big time players make big time plates in big time games.”
When Tenino hosted Montesano last year, the fog crept over the field and the Bulldogs turned up the heat to win by multiple scores. Now the tables are turned and the Beavers have to make the road trip.
They're far from afraid.
“We need to stay focused and all be locked on,” Johnson said.
Centralia opens league play next week against Black Hills for homecoming, a game that could decide third place and a pigtail playoff spot.
“That’s the first time we got punched in the mouth and we were out physicaled by a football team," Gedney said. “We got a group that isn’t going to quit.”
