TACOMA – Maybe it was the unusual 10 a.m. kickoff time.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Or it could have been the cavernous, echoing Tacoma Dome setting.
Then again, the opponent was pretty darn tough, too.
Dispute the causes all you want, but there’s no denying the result. The Cascade High School football team made mistake after mistake Saturday morning in a Class 4A state quarterfinal football game against the Woodinville Falcons. The negative factors added up to a season-ending 28-7 defeat for the Bruins, who committed a whopping 13 penalties for 82 yards, suffered a blocked field goal and coughed up two crucial turnovers.
“We were just overwhelmed,” said Cascade senior running back/linebacker J.P Oliver, who rushed 20 times for 62 yards. “When we got here, we were just excited. (But) we started jumping offsides (and) making mental mistakes. … We paid for it.”
In its inaugural semifinal appearance, Woodinville (11-2) stifled the Wing-T running attack of Cascade (9-4). Woodinville, which scored three second-half touchdowns, plays Skyline for the 4A state championship at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
A mix of stout defense, frequent penalties and key turnovers for both teams filled the first half, which ended in a 7-7 tie. But Woodinville stole the momentum for good in the third quarter after it blocked Cascade’s 30-yard field-goal attempt and took a 14-7 lead when linebacker Tanner St. James recovered Bruins quarterback Dirk Snel’s fumble in the end zone. Like a boxer who suffered a crushing body blow, Cascade never recovered.
“Woodinville played a great game. They kind of held it together and we fell apart,” said Cascade coach Jake Huizinga, who guided the Bruins to their first semifinal appearance since 1998.
Led by St. James, brothers Luke and Henry Hippely (all linebackers) and defensive back Sam Pugmire, Woodinville held Oliver without a rushing TD for the first time since Sept. 9, when Cascade lost 14-7 against Oak Harbor. Oliver entered the day with 1,667 yards and 21 TDs in 12 games. He had rushed for 131 yards or more in five straight games and had eclipsed the 100-yard barrier in nine of 12 contests.
Huizinga squashed the suggestion that the surroundings overwhelmed his team, but he acknowledged that mistakes plagued Cascade, which outscored its opponents 75-24 in its first- and second-round state playoff victories.
“Sometimes, that happens,” Woodinville coach Wayne Maxwell said of Cascade’s penalty woes. “You get into an atmosphere where our defense is flying around. We’re quick and it gets you on your heels.”
Running backs Dan Ninomiya (92 yards) and Brent Sorensen (46 yards, one TD) paced Woodinville’s offense, which outgained Cascade 193-136. Woodinville, which reached the quarterfinals in 1996 and lost in the first round in its other three trips to state (‘92, ‘97 and ‘98), overcame three first-half turnovers to earn a chance to snare its first state title.
Meanwhile, Cascade appreciated the season as a whole instead of dwelling on how things ended. The Bruins returned respect to a program that won a state championship in 1991 and was once a postseason mainstay.
“We’re really proud,” Cascade’s Huizinga said. “We’re gonna keep getting better. Next year we’re gonna be back and carry on with this program.”
“We proved a lot of people wrong,” said senior Evan Crawford (eight carries, 30 yards). “Just showing everybody that we could get here was a good accomplishment for us.”
Travis Warren, a senior who scored Cascade’s only TD on Saturday, echoed those big-picture reflections.
“I’m not going to leave here with a frown,” Warren said. “I’m going to leave here with a smile because … it’s been a long time since we’ve been here.”
Tackle Ben Kendo, and linebackers Oliver, Blake Vigoren and Anthony Kubin were defensive standouts for Cascade.
Defense ruled early as the teams started the game with five-consecutive punts and gained just one first down during the first 9:20 of play. Following a 16-yard punt return by Drew Maloney, Woodinville used outstanding field position to reach the end zone first.
Starting from the Cascade 49, Falcons QB Jordon Greek found Maloney down the middle on a 48-yard pass. On the next play, Greek scored on a 1-yard run and Woodinville took a 7-0 lead with 2:04 remaining in the first quarter.
Penalties, especially false starts, plagued Cascade in the second quarter. During one drive, the Bruins had three false starts in four-play sequence.
After watching his team hurt itself with miscues, Snel lifted Cascade with his second interception of the first half. His pickoff of a Woodinville pass deep in Falcons’ territory set up Cascade’s only TD.
Four plays after the interception, which Snel returned 15 yards to the Woodinville 18, Warren zipped into the end zone on a 6-yard TD run to make the score 7-7 with 1:43 to go in the first half.
It was the Bruins’ final highlight.
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