Tigers can’t stop Bulldogs, lose second straight state title game

SEATTLE — With less than ten seconds to play in the first half of the 2B State Championship Game, Napavine trailed Okanogan by just one. 

The Tigers and Bulldogs had played a tightly contested 15-plus minutes, and all the Tigers had to do was defend a Hail Mary and to get into the locker room within a point.

Okanogan stole all of the momentum on the final play of the half, however, as Okanogan quarterback Carter Kuchenbuch connected with Taige Mendenhall on a Hail Mary. To add salt into the wound, it came after three consecutive timeouts — one from Okanogan and two from Napavine.

Instead of trailing by one, the Tigers entered the locker room down nine.

“We knew that was the situation,” Napavine coach Josh Fay said. “We went to a two-high look and they got a good matchup in coverage … It’s one of those breaks.”

The Bulldogs took that momentum and ran with it, blowing out the Tigers in the second half to capture their second-straight state championship with a 52-21 victory. It’s the second year in a row that Okanogan defeated Napavine in the 2B title game at Husky Stadium.

“Hats off to those guys,” Fay said. “Probably not our best game, but I don’t know if our best game takes care of it today either.”

Napavine was able to limit Kuchenbuch in the first half, but the Boise State signee was unstoppable in the final two quarters. He scored five touchdowns in the second half, finishing the day with seven total.

Kuchenbuch is no stranger to big games on the ground, and he did score three rushing touchdowns on Saturday.

He was also able to find receivers open deep, though, connecting on four passing touchdowns, three of which were 30-plus yards. Coming into the day, he had just nine passing TDs in 13 games. He finished the day with 299 total yards (157 rushing and 142 passing).

“He’s hard to tackle,” Fay said. “He’s a great athlete. He’s what a Division I athlete looks like.”

In the first half, it seemed like it would be another classic Napavine-Okanogan matchup.

The Tigers opened the game with a 15-play scoring drive, capped by a Grady Wilson 4-yard rush. Wilson’s O-line helped push him over the goal line, and on Okanogan’s first drive, the D-line blew up a fourth and one play to give the ball back to the offense.

After Okanogan’s first touchdown of the game, the Tigers were right back down the field, getting as close to the end zone as the 8-yard line.

A holding penalty put them behind the sticks, though, and a fourth and 15 pass was dropped by Beckett Landram, who appeared to have a chance at getting to the line to gain with a grab.

Okanogan scored on its first drive after halftime to push its lead to 15, and Grady Wilson fumbled on a fourth down deep in Napavine territory. It was the first of two second-half turnovers from the Tigers.

“It’s a game of momentum,” Fay said. “And I think we just lost too much of it. It was hard to overcome … You just can’t make those types of mistakes.”

Colin Shields briefly gave the Tigers life with a kickoff return touchdown midway through the third quarter, but they didn’t find the end zone again until Caleb Von Pressentin ran it in from 19 yards out with three minutes to play.

Von Pressentin finished with a team-high 93 yards on the day, while Wilson ran for 43 yards and threw for 71. Karsen Denault led the team in receiving with four catches for 41 yards, while Beckett Landram hauled in three receptions for 28 yards.

The Tigers finish the 2024 season 11-3 and will graduate nine seniors, including Denault and Shields. The senior class will leave Napavine having gone to the state championship game every single season of their high school career, including their victory in 2022.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Fay said. “There’s 42 teams that would have killed to be where we’re at … I don’t know how many programs have done it four times in a row. It didn’t end the way we wanted, but these guys are gonna look back at a pretty good run.”

“We’re gonna miss those seniors,” Fay said. “They’re a great group of kids. They battled. They did everything right, and we came up short today. I feel bad for that, but what a career to do what they’ve done.”