Tahoma has positioned itself for a battle with Thomas Jefferson for first place in the South Puget Sound League North boys soccer standings.
Both the Bears and the Raiders stand at 11-2-1 with 34 points with a week of league play remaining.
They squared off Tuesday night after the Reporter’s press deadline.
The winner will likely take the division crown while the loser will likely end the season in second place thanks in large part to Kentwood’s five ties which puts the Conquerors in third place well ahead of Kentlake and Auburn Riverside.
Tahoma set up the battle thanks to six straight wins after a a 1-1 tie with Kentwood on April 4.
On April 24 Tahoma beat Kent-Meridian 3-0 then followed that up April 26 with a 2-0 victory over Auburn and a 3-0 defeat of Kentlake on April 28 at French Field.
Three different Tahoma players scored against K-M: Mac Henderson and Jordan Jolley both scored off passes from Jordan Downing in the first half then Bryan Anderson put an exclamation point on it with an unassisted goal late in the game.
Downing got a goal of his own in the first half of the Auburn match before the Trojans gave up an own goal for the second Tahoma goal.
Tahoma had a 1-0 lead at half against Kentlake thanks to a Logan Young goal that came off a free kick.
In the second half the Bears amped up their attacks on the Falcons goal.
It paid off early when Henderson poked the ball in when Kentlake’s keeper came out to help defend against Tahoma’s attack.
Finally with less than a minute on the clock junior forward Bryan Anderson popped it in after the ball bounced around in the box off a penalty kick to make the final 3-0.
That loss put Kentlake at 5-6-3 with 18 points but the Falcons are in fourth place thanks to giving Kentwood two of its five ties as well as beating fifth-place Riverside both times during the season.
After the game against Jefferson on Tuesday Tahoma finishes the season with Kentwood on Friday.
Kentlake played Mount Rainier on Tuesday then takes on Jefferson in the final match of the league schedule.
Kentwood traveled to Auburn on Tuesday.
