TUMWATER — Tumwater scored 21 points in the first quarter and piled on 34 points in the second quarter to cruise to a 55-13 win against Ridgefield in a District IV 2A football crossover game on Saturday at Tumwater District Stadium.
The Thunderbirds await the state 2A football tournament bracket on Sunday to find out which team and where they will play next weekend.
“It felt amazing. Putting in all that work in practice, it felt like it paid off and you know, we’ve been coming into this not looking by any opponent and we came in, gave it our all and it worked out for us,” Tumwater senior linebacker Dane Iversen told the Chronicle.
Iversen had a shoulder injury and it kept him out for the past six weeks while his teammates were out there collecting wins.
In the second quarter, the Spudders had a fourth and goal at the nine-yard line, and Ridgefield quarterback Logan DeBeaumont threw a pass that was intercepted by Iversen and returned more than 90 yards to the endzone for a touchdown.
“We were running a blitz and I just happened to drop back right into the slant where I knew where the ball was going to be and got the ball and I had my teammates in front of me and all I saw was green and we took it there,” Iversen said. “It was fantastic to say the least. It’s kind of emotional for me because I’ve had the last couple seasons taken away from me but I’m just so grateful for my teammates, they put in the work with me, and I knew they had my back all the way into the endzone.”
The scoring started with Logan Cole running it in for a 5-yard touchdown, followed by two touchdown runs by Peyton Davis of 70 and 52 yards.
Ridgefield senior starting quarterback broke his collar bone in the first quarter and DeBeaumont came in and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Cly Stephens for a 21-6 Tumwater lead after one quarter.
It was all Thunderbirds in the second quarter, started off by a 67-yard touchdown run by Mathias Rodriguez. Tumwater senior quarterback Ethan Kastner found Jacob Dillon for a 70-yard touchdown pass before Iversen’s pick-six. Kastner threw his second touchdown of the game to Wyatt Chase and Cole’s second touchdown run of the game pushed the lead to 54-6 at halftime.
Tumwater will likely be a top seed, if not the No. 1 seed in the 2A state tournament, but Iversen said it doesn’t matter who they play or what seed they are.
“Next opponent, doesn’t matter, we’re ready for everybody,” Iversen said. “We prepare every week against anybody. We play the same every week, go T-Birds.”
