SNOHOMISH — The Glacier Peak football team came into Friday night’s State Round of 32 matchup with the No. 21 Tahoma Bears (6-4) having not made it to the final 16 in four years.
You wouldn’t have been able to tell that drought was hanging over them, as the No. 12 Grizzlies (9-1) rode their strengths to an imposing 31-7 victory to regain their spot among the state’s best teams.
The Grizzlies defense, which head coach Shane Keck has pointed to as the key to his team’s success throughout the season, forced four turnovers while junior defensive linemen Maxwell Bridges had three sacks and a defensive score.
On the offensive end, a balanced ground attack with speed back Isaiah Owens and a more physical runner in Kai Brooks punished the Bears for multiple big runs. While sophomore QB Oliver Setterburg (pass TD) has been in an undeniable groove, throwing for 11 TDs in the past two weeks, Keck liked his team’s ground game against Tahoma’s defense.
“They played with two high safeties, so they didn’t have numbers in the box,” Keck said. “They just didn’t have enough guys in there.”
That evaluation paid dividends late in the first quarter after Brooks, who also plays linebacker, recovered a fumble deep in Tahoma territory. One play later, Owens snuck through a small opening up the middle and burst for a 20-yard score to get GP on the board.
From there, the Glacier Peak defense started what would become a trend, allowing the Bears to roll for 40 yards over five minutes, only to force a punt deep in Grizzlies territory. With GP starting from its own 10, Brooks reintroduced himself to the game with a back-breaking 48-yard run that saw him break multiple open field tackles to roll into Bears territory.
Keck called it “the big momentum swing” of the game, but Brooks was only focused on putting one foot in front of the other on the scamper in question.
“I was just looking for field, running, making cuts. That last guy was mine, tattooed him,” Brooks said of the run with a smile postgame.
From there, the Grizzlies continued to keep the ball on the ground, as Brooks finished the eight-play, 90-yard, all-run drive with a four-yard TD.
Star senior receiver Michael Darling showed that Brooks wasn’t the only player getting it done on both ends on the next drive, putting the ball back in Setterburg’s hands with a leaping interception. From there, star junior tight end Zach Albright caught a deep post for 26 yards through heavy contact to set up first-and-goal with mere seconds to play in the half. Setterburg then rolled right to hit senior Mikhail Sholukh for a score to make it 21-0 going into the break.
Setterburg ran a clean offense that was mostly unhindered by typical procedural penalties, and he attributed his command of the Grizzlies attack to seeing the field better as the season wears on.
“Going into early games, the confidence (was) low … but as we went through the season, coach Keck’s done a great job building my confidence,” Setterburg said. “I think I have big shoes to fill with the quarterbacks we’ve had in the past, but I think I’ve really started to step up (into) that role.”
In the second half, the Bears found a way to possess the ball for over seven minutes of gametime on their opening 12-play drive. Despite multiple fourth-down conversions and back-breaking GP penalties, the Grizzlies gave up just 18 net yards as Bridges leveraged two of his three sacks on mobile QB Brady Bonnell to stop the drive in its tracks.
Sacks and quick stops prevented Tahoma from getting into its typical fast-tempo offense, allowing the Grizzlies defense to play the game on its terms with proper personnel for each snap.
“Honestly, I think that was the game,” Keck said. “I thought our defense and our defensive coaches did a fantastic job of planning around (Bonnell), and we knew if we could slow him down, they’re going to have a hard time scoring. “
While the Bears were able to leverage two deep passes to make it 21-7 late, Setterburg found Darling for a key conversion leading to a 35-yard Tyler Larsen field goal to put it out of reach. Bridges closed the game out with a strip sack and fumble recovery for a long TD to punctuate the win.
With his team set to go somewhere it hasn’t in years in the coming days, Keck is focused on refining the details and doing more game-specific prep for the round of 16, which will begin on Nov. 14.
For Brooks, the on-field product speaks for itself.
“Someone’s gonna come off that field hurting, that’s our motto. We’re going out there to break their will.”
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