TUMWATER — A pick six, a 52-yard rushing touchdown, and a sack that results in a safety.

One player accomplishing all three of those things in a single game is a rarity, and for many, it would be the best all-around game of their career.

Tumwater’s Cash Short not only checked all three boxes on Saturday.

He did it all in the first quarter.

“Cash is as good of a football player as we have had in a long time,” Tumwater coach William Garrow said. “He just kind of gets it.”

Short’s stellar start was just the beginning for the T-Birds against Sehome in their state quarterfinal, as they ran away with a 70-7 victory to advance to the semifinals for the second year in a row.

It’s the second straight year that the T-Birds have put up at least 70 in a state playoff game, as they scored the same amount of points in a first-round win over Port Angeles last fall.

“The kids did a really nice job,” Garrow said. “Our kids just kind of jumped on it.”

Short began the onslaught with a pick-six on Sehome’s second drive of the game, jumping in front of a short pass and taking it back 20 yards to the end zone.

“This whole week, the linebackers were taught to spy the quarterback,” Short said. “I was just locked onto his eyes … Me and Beckett (Wall) were right there. It would’ve been either one of us.”

On Tumwater’s next offensive possession, he broke free for his rushing touchdown, and he sacked Sehome’s Nolan Wright in the end zone on the final play of the first quarter to make it 30-0 Tumwater.

“I couldn’t do that stuff without my teammates,” Short said. “The D-linemen getting pressure … My teammates made that possible.”

Jaylin Nixon also got an interception and a rushing TD in the first quarter, and Sunny Nguyen scored twice in the first half.

Five different T-Birds scored their final five touchdowns, starting with a short pass from Jaxon Budd to Mathias Rodriguez in the back of the end zone.

Mikah Parrish-Sederberg, Brett Heryford, Kyson Sayamnet, and J.T. Brumbaugh all hit paydirt over the course of the rest of the game.

“I’m just so proud of this group,” Short said. “It feels like we’re all on top of the world.”

For nearly all of the second half, Tumwater’s junior varsity team was in, and when the JV kids weren’t in, the freshman C-Team was.

“It’s great to get as many kids involved as we get to get involved,” Garrow said. “Those kids, they get to have those memories with their parents sitting in the stands in a state quarterfinal. I think that’s one of the reasons that Tumwater continues to have success, because kids have great experiences.”

The next Tumwater football experience will be in a state semifinal next week, the T-Birds fourth semifinal in the last five state tournaments.

The T-Birds will welcome Archbishop Murphy, which beat Lynden 10-9 in a rematch in its quarterfinal. The Wildcats will enter the semifinals 10-1, including a win over Anacortes, the reigning 2A state champion.

Garrow is looking forward to the challenge, and he added that he’s excited to be facing another team that runs the Wing-T at a high level.

“I’ve seen enough of them in scouting Sehome to know that they’re really good,” Garrow said. “They’re as big and physical as any team we’ve seen.”

This will be the fifth time in the last decade that the T-Birds and Wildcats have met in the state tournament. Tumwater is 3-1 in the previous four meetings, but the lone loss came in former coach Sid Otton’s final game in 2016.

The winner will get a trip to Husky Stadium for the 2A State Championship Game.

“They’re really good,” Garrow said. “We’re not overlooking it.”