SEATTLE — Tuesday, June 6, 2023.
That is the day when the WIAA announced the state football championships would be moved to the University of Washington and Husky Stadium. Deemed “The Greatest Setting in College Football,” it would host 12 of the elite teams in high school football.
For Class 2B District 4, there’s another phrase more apropos over the last three years.
House of Horrors.
Top-seeded Toledo unraveled in the second half as three turnovers, a botched kickoff return and costly game management all bundled up into tears of sadness in a 47-34 loss to third-seeded Tri-Cities Prep on Saturday afternoon on Montlake.
“Devestated, obviously heartbroken,” Riverhawks senior running back Carter Swofford said. “I love these boys. I moved here three years ago and they’ve been a family ever since. Just hugging, trying to make the best out of what it is.”
SW Washington witnessed Napavine lose to Okanogan the last two years in Montlake. For one year, a changing of the guard ensued with the Riverhawks blowing the doors off their opponents week in and week out.
Their defense paced them in the playoffs. Their offense exploded for long touchdown plays. Their moxie defined a team pushed by motivation from their head coach and his own state title shortcomings 29 years ago.
Like in Monopoly when bankruptcy is near, the slow and painful death is inevitable. And in the third quarter alone, the Riverhawks were on their last breath.
Back-to-back fumbles within their own 25-yard line set up TCP with TD plays of a 3-yard run by Jake Sherfey to tie the game and 3-yard pass from Jarrett Garza to Tilden Shumway to take a 27-20 lead with 4 minutes, 39 seconds in the third.
“It is hard to win a game when you have (multiple) turnovers,” Riverhawks quarterback Eli Weeks said. “We still fought.”
What followed was something no one in Toledo could explain other than “that’s football.”
TCP’s kickoff took a high bounce and three Riverhawk players couldn’t dive on it, but the Jaguars did and took over on the 10-yard line. Jameson Elliott made the lead two scores with a 1-yard plunge.
Twenty unanswered points in the span of four minutes.
“It is tough,” Coach Mike Christensen said. “It sounds weird, but I wasn’t stressed.”
“Crazy bounce, it didn’t go our way,” senior Adam Kruger added. “I was confused.”
Both sides exchanged touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, the final one by Toledo on a 19-yard connection from Weeks to Kruger. Swofford scored the two-point try to make it a one-possession game.
Struggling to get a stop all half long, the Riverhawks forced a punt and took over on the plus side of midfield. Facing fourth down, they were called for a delay of game penalty and Weeks got the five yards back, but not enough to reset the chains.
“I took too long, thinking it was 40 seconds between plays and it was 25 and so I was trying to get the right personnel,” Christensen said. “It was a miscommunication.”
The defense did its job again with under three minutes left. On the first play, Weeks’ throw was right to the hands of Karter Gadish for a 47-yard pick-six that all but sealed Toledo’s fate. A last ditch effort was for-naught.
Tri-Cities Prep screamed in jubilation. Toledo left Husky Stadium in heartbreak.
“It is on me, there’s no excuse for what I was doing,” Weeks said. “Held on to it too long. I knew that guy would pop out.”
As he walked towards the locker room, Christensen hugged his daughter, thanked the Toledo community in the stands and said “sorry” multiple times. He couldn’t hold back the tears afterwards.
Just like 1996, the Riverhawks ultimate prize was out of reach.
“You want it for the kids, for the town, for everyone you grew up with and idolized,” Christensen said while fighting back tears. “It hurts. You push and you push and you want that storybook ending. It doesn’t happen sometimes.”
Kruger and Weeks made sure to take some blame off their coach’s shoulders.
“You can’t control what the players do on the field and he is the greatest coach I’ve ever played for,” Kruger added. “At the end of the day, we have to make those plays.”
Swofford bulldozed his way to 178 rushing yards on 26 carries while Kruger hauled in five catches for 118 yards, his final one in triple coverage. Weeks had three total scores and over 200 yards of total offense.
Defensively, Beaver led the way with six tackles and the Riverhawks finished with eight tackles for loss.
“We did not play our best game,” Swofford said. “We weren’t on our ‘A’ game.”
The theme of the playoffs for the Riverhawks has been slow starts and finding their groove late. It was switched in the final game of the season.
Swofford capped a 16-play opening drive that ate over six minutes of clock with a 1-yard score. Rohan Feigenbaum intercepted Garza on the next possession and Weeks turned it into points with his own 1-yard TD.
All of a sudden, Toledo was in firm control.
“If we kept that pressure on, the game would have been a blowout and we’d have a ring on our finger,” Swofford said.
Oh how soon it can be taken away.
Aiden McCabe slipped behind the secondary and went untouched on a 54-yard TD completion on the first play of the second. Each side scored once more before half, but the six point lead was the closest Toledo has been leading all season.
“You got all the confidence and it goes away,” Weeks said.
It marked the final time for 10 seniors on the roster that played in the black and red. Nico Acosta, Austin Reed and others headline the returners for 2026.
Whether it’s in two weeks or two months, the feeling of falling short won’t go away for Swofford, Weeks or Kruger. Still, big picture viewpoint, they aren’t viewing the season as a failure.
“This game wasn’t a success, but the whole season was,” Kruger said. “We should be proud of what we did.”
And Christensen, the Toledo alum that guided this group to the ultimate showcase of prep football in the PNW, isn’t losing sight of the good moments of this year’s campaign.
“The kids have got to keep their heads up; they worked their tails off,” he stated. “In a lot of ways, they should be really proud.”
