TUMWATER — The postseason is a new phase of the fall, so it’s only logical that the Tumwater football team went back to basics in its first-round matchup in the 2A state tournament against Port Angeles on Friday.
As it happened, the Roughriders couldn’t stop the Thunderbirds’ basics. And that, right there, is how you get a blowout on your hands.
It started with a 85-yard Kooper Clark dash right up the middle on a bread-and-butter fullback dive on Tumwater’s first offensive play of the game, and it never slowed down much in a 70-12 walloping of a playoff entrance.
“I didn’t think we were perfect tonight,” first-year Tumwater coach William Garrow said. “We were sloppy in a lot of things. But any time you can score that many points, clearly things are going pretty well.”
Friday, the T-Birds didn’t only score that many points despite being sloppy — they scored that many points while being sloppy.
Take that first offensive play, which saw Clark take the handoff with a hole large enough to drive a pickup truck through in front of him, leading to an easy scamper to the second level and a sprint down the sideline.
“I actually wasn’t supposed to be in on that play,” Clark said. “It was a different package, but I ran in and then they called my number. I was like, ‘Might as well go to the house on the first play.’”
Fast forward to the beginning of the second half, with Tumwater set to receive the kickoff, already up 35-6. David Malroy picked up a kick that was bouncing into the end zone at the 1-yard line — a cardinal sin in special teams — and proceeded to take it all the way back to the house.
“It is what it is,” Garrow said. “It’s still a cool thing for him.”
That made two touchdowns scored by T-Birds who weren’t necessarily supposed to be carrying the ball, equaling the entirety of their guests’ scoring output the whole night.
And a whole lot else went right as well — much of it on the simpler end.
Tumwater’s second possession stalled out in the red zone, but the T-Birds’ third, like their first, lasted just one play on a Jaylin Nixon 44-yard touchdown on just about the same look as Clark’s score. The rest of the first half rolled without any more explosive plays, but the hosts settled into dominating drives, with Clark scoring from 23 yards out and Mathias Rodriguez diving over the goal line twice on his only two carries of the night.
“When the simple stuff is working, that’s the stuff we practice over and over, hundreds of times in practice,” Clark said. “But that’s how we soften them up, then hit them over the top with some of the new stuff we’ve been working on.”
Clark finished with 149 yards and three touchdowns on six carries to lead the way for the T-Birds, and added a team-high 45 receiving yards on a pair of screens.
“he’s a kid who grew up playing Wing T fullback from the time he was little,” Garrow said. “His family were all Wing T running backs … He’s got great vision for that position.
Nixon added 78 rushing yards, and Logan Cole had 49. Eleven Tumwater rushers combined to run for 372 yards on the ground, and six found the end zone.
Quarterback Ethan Kastner, meanwhile, was a perfect 7 for 7 through the air on a cold, rainy night for 106 yards.
On the other side of the ball, the T-Bird defense allowed just 30 rushing yards, 20 of which came on the first play from scrimmage. Tumwater also came away with four takeaways — three interceptions and a fumble recovery — all of which the offense turned into points.
“Anytime we can go out and get takeaways, it’s a good night for us,” Garrow said.
The Thunderbirds move on to the state quarterfinals next, where they’ll host either Clarkston or Woodland.
