TACOMA – Two losses, so what.
Lewis &Clark became the first team since Puyallup in 1987 to win a state football championship despite having two losses in the regular season, handing the Bothell Cougars their second consecutive Class 4A state final loss with a 21-14 win at the Tacoma Dome Saturday night.
Quarterback Taylor Eglet rolled out and found wide receiver Jordan Hansen for a 51-yard touchdown with 1:04 remaining, giving the Tigers their first football title in school history.
Behind a Class 4A title game record 37 carries by running back Alex Shaw, the Tigers controlled the line of scrimmage and made good on a late Bothell turnover in scoring 14 unanswered fourth- quarter points.
Shaw, a 6-foot-2, 216-pound back, rushed for 176 yards, but perhaps his biggest play of the night came when he blocked a defender rushing Eglet on the game-winning touchdown pass.
The Tigers turned two Bothell turnovers into touchdowns, the last turnover coming when Tigers lineman Steve Johnson picked off Cougar quarterback Johnny Hekker with nearly two minutes remaining in the game.
Lewis &Clark entered the playoffs in a 28-year drought, having not won a playoff game since 1978.
Running back Patrick Ottorbech scored both Bothell touchdowns. Ottorbech, who entered the game with just four catches for 53 yards, took a short pass from Hekker 53 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 9:40 remaining. Ottorbech bounced off one defender then split two more before heading straight into the end zone for the Bothell lead.
Lewis &Clark bounced right back on its next possession when Shaw followed a 19-yard run and a Bothell unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with a 10-yard touchdown run. The touchdown carry, Shaw’s 34th of the night, set a 4A title game record for most carries in one game.
After taking the first possession of the ballgame 71 yards for a score, a 1-yard Ottorbech touchdown run, the Cougars struggled on offense failing to get a first down until 2:58 remained in the third quarter. The Cougars actually had more yards on their first drive than they did the rest of the first three quarters.
At Tacoma Dome
Lewis &Clark07014—21
Bothell7007—14
B—Ottorbech 1 run (Hekker kick)
LC—Gauper 7 pass from T. Eglet (Gauper kick)
B—Ottorbech 53 pass from Hekker (Hekker kick)
LC—Shaw 10 run (Gauper kick)
LC—Hansen 51 pass from T. Eglet (Gauper kick)
Records¬-Lewis &Clark 11-2. Bothell 13-1.
Class 2A
Prosser 42, Burlington-Edison 7: Steve Natho set a Washington Class 2A state championship game record with three rushing touchdowns, and Prosser teammate Kirby Moore set a state single-season record with his 29th touchdown catch as the Mustangs rolled to the title.
The crown was the first for Prosser at the 2A level and its fourth overall. The Mustangs, who finished the season 14-0, won Class 3A championships in 1992, 1993 and 1999.
They came within 37 seconds of the first shutout in 2A title-game history before Burlington-Edison finally scored. The Tigers, seeking their second state title(they won the 3A game in 1986) wound up with a 12-2 record.
Class 1A
Royal 28, Connell 16: Thanks to dual-threat quarterback Austin Allred, a fleet of speedy receivers and a complete defensive effort, the Knights (13-1) avenged back-to-back painful losses to South Central Athletic Conference rival Connell (13-1) last year and earlier this season to capture the school’s fifth state title.
Class 2B
DeSales 30, Toutle Lake 0: DeSales thoroughly dominated outmanned Toutle Lake to win the Class 2B state championship. DeSales (13-0) matched Royal’s feat earlier in the day by winning its fifth 11-man state championship, second-most in state history only to Bellevue’s six.
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