As the dust settled on the gridiron following week seven of South Puget Sound League 4A North schedule, the battle for playoff spots got a little more interesting.
Kentwood, with its victory over Tahoma Oct. 12, remains undefeated in league play at 7-0 and atop the division standings. In the second spot is Auburn which lost its opening contest to Kentwood.
Tied for third is Kentlake and Tahoma, both sitting at 4-2.
That situation will shake out this Friday when the Falcons travel to Maxwell Stadium to take on the Bears.
Bunched up at 2-4 and battling for the fifth spot, which earns that team a play-in game, is Thomas Jefferson, Kent-Meridian and Kentridge.
Strong second half separates Kentwood
Tahoma and Kentwood were tied 13-13 coming out of the locker room at halftime.
Mistakes, penalties and turnovers hurt the Bears. It didn’t take long for the Conquerors to capitalize in the second half.
Terence Grady put the Conks ahead on a 31-yard touchdown reception from Dane Manio with 9 minutes, 34 seconds left in the third quarter.
Grady, who is listed at 6-foot-4, outran the Tahoma defender to haul in the pass in the back of the end zone to put the Conks up 19-13.
With little more than two minutes left in the third quarter, the Conks defense helped out its offense which turned over the ball on downs, when the ball was fumbled by the Bears at the 10 which allowed Kentwood to recover it in the endzone for a touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion Kentwood led 25-13.
Turnovers were the theme for the fourth quarter as Tahoma fumbled the ball then Manio threw an interception, a tip pick snagged by Elijah Suka for the Bears, followed by a short drive for Tahoma.
Ryan Dozier put a punctuation mark on the game for Kentwood when he punched it in from four yards out with 3:45 left in the game. That was his second touchdown of the contest.
Kentwood hosts Auburn Riverside at 7 p.m. Thursday at French Field.
Kentlake runs over Kentridge
At the end of the first quarter Kentridge was up 7-6 over Kentlake, but, that lead didn’t last long for the Chargers.
Less than 90 seconds in the second quarter Steffin Church threw a strike to Marshall Jones to make it a 13-7 Falcons lead.
Kentlake never looked back.
Little more than two minutes came off the game clock before Church found Jones again, this time a 60-yard bomb for the score, but the point after was blocked to make it 19-7 Kentlake.
In the first half, the Chargers turned the ball over three times — two fumbles and an interception by Kentlake’s Travis Rogers in the endzone as time expired.
Nu’u Vaifale started the scoring off in the third quarter and by the end of the period Kentlake was up 33-7. Vaifale scored again 55 seconds into the fourth quarter running up the middle to punch it in to make it a 40-7 Falcons lead.
Kentlake plays at 7 p.m. at Tahoma Friday in a battle for third place in the SPSL North.
Kentridge plays at Jefferson at 7 p.m. Friday.
Kent-Meridian can’t hold off Auburn
At halftime Auburn had a 14-7 lead over a scrappy Kent-Meridian team but the Royals couldn’t hold off the Trojans who put together a 21-point third quarter en route to a 35-14 win.
After Auburn scored first, Kent-Meridian’s Quincy Carter answered with a 10-yard run in the opening frame.
But Auburn’s X-factor, Harold Lee, could not be contained in the second half as he ran an interception back 87 yards then capped off the game for the Trojans with a 65-yard run to the house in the third.
Kent-Meridian hosts Mount Rainier, which got its first-ever SPSL North win Oct. 12 against Jefferson, at 7 p.m. Friday at French Field.
