The No. 2-ranked Lake Stevens Vikings come into Saturday’s quarterfinal showdown with No. 5 Graham-Kapowsin having faced little adversity this season. The Vikings’ biggest challenge came last week when they rallied from a 13-0 deficit to defeat Issaquah 42-32 in the first round of the 4A state playoffs.
The Vikings can expect a battle from start to finish against the Eagles.
“We’ve talked about how they’re undefeated and 11-0, just like we are, and we’ve talked about how they put up 30 points or more in every game this year,” Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri said. “The further you get, the harder the competition and we know that they’re a good all-around football team.”
One of the interesting story lines coming into the game involves the two starting quarterbacks. Lake Stevens starts senior Jacob Eason, who has committed to play football at Georgia and arguably has more fans there than he does at home, while Graham-Kapowsin starts a talented, but inexperienced freshman in Dylan Morris.
“He’s sits in the pocket really well and he does a good job of play-action and leading the offense,” Tri said of Morris. “I think he does a good job of finding open receivers and getting the ball out on time. If it didn’t say he was a freshman on the program, (I) would really be hard-pressed to tell he’s a freshman because he looks like he’s a pretty good veteran.”
Morris may be an impressive up-and-comer, but few quarterbacks are as impressive as Eason.
“I’d take Jacob over anyone in the state and pretty much in the nation for that matter,” Tri said. “We’ve got to do a good job of protecting him and allowing him to find our weapons and our open receivers. Our (offensive) game plan is pretty much the same as it’s been pretty much every other week this season — we want to be balanced.”
The winner advances to next week’s state semifinals in Tacoma.
“They want to play past Thanksgiving,” Tri said of his players. “That was one of our goals this season.”
Where: Art Crate Field (Spanaway)
When: 1 p.m., Saturday
Key Players: Lake Stevens—Jacob Eason, sr., QB; Riley Krenz, sr., TE/FS; Andrew Grimes, sr., RB/DE; Sam Burke, sr., RB/LB; Hunter Eckstrom, jr., WR/DB; Michael Nelson, sr., T/DE; Lars Eklund, sr., T/DL; Asi Tupua, sr., RB/DE; Ian Schneider, sr., WR/DB. Graham-Kapowsin—Aaron Wright, sr., RB/DB; Dylan Scaggs, sr., WR/DB; Dylan Morris, fr., QB; Jeremiah Kekoa, soph., WR/FS; Eian Olmos, jr., WR/P; Villami Hansen, soph., RB/LB; Kobe Merriweather, sr., RB/DB; Beau Blowers, jr., TE/LB; Foster Sarell, jr., OL
Records: Lake Stevens 11-0. Graham-Kapowsin 11-0.
Twitter: @aaronlommers
Herald Pick: Lake Stevens
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