Lake Stevens clinches Wesco 4A with 63-7 rout of Kamiak

LAKE STEVENS — Several hours before kickoff of Friday’s football game between Lake Stevens and Kamiak, it was pretty clear this wasn’t your average Friday night.

The stadium at Lake Stevens High School was full nearly two hours before kickoff, Geico advertising signs were visible in both end zones and on the west sideline and there were cameras everywhere.

The game was broadcast live nationally on ESPNU, which provided the biggest stage all of the players on the field had ever played on.

The big stage didn’t seem to bother Lake Stevens quarterback Jacob Eason, who is one of the top quarterbacks in the country and has committed to play football at the University of Georgia. Eason completed 17 of his 25 passes for 267 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a 63-7 win over the Knights. He also added a rushing touchdown.

“It was really cool, not just for me but for the whole team to get that recognition,” Eason said. “It was awesome.”

Friday night’s game can also serve as some preparation for what Eason can expect at Georgia.

“Obviously it’s going to be a little bigger stage than this, but I think it did (prepare me) a little bit,” Eason said. “It was cool. A good experience.”

It was a good experience for Lake Stevens head coach Tom Tri as well, though he admits it was hard to get past how different the experience was from a normal Friday night.

“It was crazy,” Tri said. “Surreal really. I just kept reminding myself that it was a high school football game and that I had a job to do and we had a job to do. It was really cool to have all of the people’s support, but really those were distractions. We had to focus on what we could do on the field. I thought our kids did a great job of eliminating all of the periphery and just focusing on their job and their assignment on every play. That’s the best we’ve played this year.”

Eason wasn’t the only player to excel in front of the national audience. The Vikings played their most complete game of the season as they clinched the Wesco 4A championship.

Eason’s favorite target in the first half was senior Ian Schneider, who caught four passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.

“It was a crazy experience,” Schneider said. “Looking up in the stadium there was so many more people than usual. It was louder than it has ever been. It was just a blast coming out here and playing for the town and getting to clinch a Wesco championship, which just makes it even better.”

Senior defensive end Michael Nelson got his name mentioned on television several times, recording five of the Vikings’ six sacks to lead the Lake Stevens defense.

“It was definitely an opportunity to get noticed by scouts because I haven’t done much scouting and recruiting,” Nelson said. “I used this as an opportunity to get recruited and get noticed and hopefully get an offer.”

Tri made the national audience wait to see what Eason could do. The Vikings went to the run on their first offensive play of the game and senior Amado Appitoe broke it to the outside for a 54-yard touchdown run to give the Vikings’ and early 7-0 lead. The Vikings forced Kamiak into a three-and-out on its next possession and the Vikings quickly marched down and scored to go up 14-0, but again it was a running play that set up the scoring drive. Senior Andrew Grimes broke off a 40-yard run on the first play of the Vikings’ second drive, giving them 94 yards rushing before Eason had even thrown a pass.

“Right before kickoff I looked at Jeff Pahukoa, our offensive line coach, and said, ‘Coach, three of my first four and four of our first six are run plays. You think that’s what ESPN came here for?’ He kind of laughed and giggled,” Tri said. “That’s a perfect example of we’re not going to change what we do to try to please everybody. We’re going to do what we do.”

While Lake Stevens was all smiles about their national television debut, there weren’t many smiles on the Kamiak sidelines.

“We tried to make the most of it,” Kamiak senior quarterback Connor Alexander said. “Honestly, we came out here expecting to give them a good game and win. That was the mindset all week. They’re a great team, obviously. There is a reason they’re No. 2 in the state. We just came out and honestly I don’t really have the answer. It wasn’t like we were flat or anything or it wasn’t like we had no desire, they just outplayed us. We made mistakes — lots of them — and they capitalized on every one.”

At Lake Stevens Stadium

Kamiak 0 7 0 0 —7

Lake Stevens 21 21 14 7 —63

LS—Amado Attipoe 54 run (Karsten Knutson kick)

LS—Andrew Grimes 1 run (Knutson kick)

LS—Hunter Eckstrom 20 pass from Jacob Eason (Knutson kick)

LS—Ian Schneider 26 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)

LS—Eason 2 run (Knutson kick)

K—Donte Hamilton 26 pass from Matt Merk (Simon Forster kick)

LS—Riley Krenz 14 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)

LS—Eckstrom 17 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)

LS—Krenz 3 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)