Vikings stun Warriors with fourth quarter comeback

Published 7:46 pm Tuesday, November 1, 2011

EDMONDS — With his team ahead 31-14 late in the third quarter, Edmonds-Woodway coach John Gradwohl figured Lake Stevens would mount some type of a comeback.

What Gradwohl didn’t figure was that the Vikings would score three unanswered touchdowns to stun the Warriors 35-31 in the Western Conference 4A championship football game Oct. 28 at Edmonds Stadium.

“It’s tough to hold a good team like that down the whole game,” Gradwohl said. “We struggled to move the ball in the fourth quarter. We had a lot of penalties on both sides of the ball.”

Edmonds-Woodway (5-4 overall) was flagged 14 times for 129 yards (one was declined).

Some of the penalties were what Gradwohl described as effort penalties, which he said he could deal with. The others were from a lack of focus, Gradwohl said.

“You can’t shoot yourself in the foot and expect to come out with the victory,” he said. “Fifteen penalties, that’s a lot to overcome.”

The Warriors will host South Kitsap (6-3) in a quad-district playoff game at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 4 at Edmonds Stadium. The Wolves beat Central Kitsap 17-10.

“They are similar to us. They run an I formation,” Gradwohl said. “They have a similar defense to us.”

As for the first loss in five games, Gradwohl lamented how the Warriors made life more difficult for themselves. Penalties forced the offense to throw the ball.

“First and 20 makes it a little tougher,” Gradwohl said.

Lake Stevens also had some key third down conversions and Gradwohl noted the Warrior had problems containing quarterback Jake Nelson.

“Overall we were playing hard,” Gradwohl said. “They made some big plays. They made the plays when they needed to.”

The Warriors scored points in the first three quarters but were shut out in the final period.

“We needed to sustain long drives and keep the ball out of their hands and we didn’t do it,” Gradwohl said. “They’re obviously a great team, but we could have done a lot more to help ourselves.”

After falling behind late in the second quarter and then further in the third quarter, Lake Stevens rallied and eventually got the go-ahead touchdown with 2:14 to play in the game on a 2-yard run by fullback Shae Giddens. The Vikings then pinned Edmonds-Woodway deep on the ensuing kickoff, gave up one first down, then held the Warriors on downs at the E-W 21-yard line.

Lake Stevens quarterback Jake Nelson took a knee to run off the final seconds and the giddy Vikings poured onto the field to celebrate a 9-0 regular season – the program’s first since 1994, when Lake Stevens went undefeated into the state championship game before losing to finish 13-1.

Edmonds-Woodway lost despite a dazzling offensive show of its own, highlighted by running back Desmond Young. A 5-10, 155-pound junior who runs with power and was probably the fastest player on the field, Young carved up the Lake Stevens defense for 293 rushing yards on 25 carries. His night included touchdown runs of 46, 11 and 92 yards, and he had six other runs of double-figure yardage, including a 43-yarder.

“We never gave up,” said Nelson, who finished 21-for-31 for 227 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. “Our coaches were telling us on the sidelines, ‘We can’t quit.’ And we came back and got it done.”

Nelson, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior, was outstanding in the second half, as he has been so often for the Vikings this season. Beginning with his team’s second possession of the second half, Nelson completed 10 of his last 12 pass attempts for 135 yards and a touchdown.

“Defensively, we weren’t getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback,” Gradwohl said. “They did a heck of a job of protecting the quarterback. A lot of those passes, he had too much time. It’s tough to be in coverage that long. If we stayed in coverage that long, he’d bust and run.”

Earlier in the game, though, Lake Stevens was struggling to contain the speedy Warriors offense. After the Vikings nabbed an early 7-0 lead, Edmonds-Woodway came back to score 31 of the next 38 points and put Lake Stevens on the ropes late in the third period.

“We were pretty sleepy in the first half,” said Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri acknowledged. “I just think we came in a little overconfident. We watched (the Warriors) on film and thought we were going to stop their run game and force them to throw, which is not their specialty.

“But when they hit us in the mouth a little bit, we realized that they’re the Wesco South champs for a reason and we had to fight a little harder.”

Trailing by 17 points, he added, “I think our seniors finally realized it’s now or never. … And we have a bunch of seniors that don’t quit.”

“At the end they were running on all cylinders,” Gradwohl said. “We needed to keep the ball longer, but we killed ourselves. Stupid things. And we helped them with a couple of their drives to keep them going (by committing penalties). … That’s kind of been a theme for us this year, and a little bit too much.”