EVERETT – With many among their number struggling to fight back tears, 20 Stanwood seniors marched off the field for the last time with their heads held high.
Rightfully so.
Facing a familiar foe, the Spartans saw their season come to an end in a hard-fought 14-7 loss to the Kentwood Conquerors in a Class 4A quad-district state qualifying football game Saturday.
“We talked about earning respect and I think we earned some respect tonight,” Stanwood coach Dick Abrams said. “We took a tough team right down to the wire.”
Stanwood finished with a record of 7-3, with two of its losses coming against the Conquerors. Kentwood, which improved to 8-2 with its eighth straight win after opening the season with two losses, advanced to a first-round state playoff game against Puyallup.
The loss to the same team that handed them a 20-14 defeat in their fourth game of the season, brought an end to the high school careers of a group of seniors that elevated the Stanwood program and left a legacy for others, including 14 juniors and 33 sophomores, to follow.
“I think our seniors did an amazing job,” Abrams said. “They showed (younger players) what it takes to be a power program with their hard work.”
“I think so, I hope so,” running back and linebacker Darin Schwarze said as he and fellow standout senior Jon Rokstad led the dejected Spartans off the field.
In a battle in which all of the scoring occurred in the second quarter, Stanwood was ultimately unable to overcome a pair of big plays for touchdowns by Kentwood.
Stanwood opened a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter when Rokstad capped a 10-play, 96-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
The drive was spurred when quarterback Aaron Boehme (5-for-9, 113 yards) connected with Garrison Olson on a 64-yard pass play that got the Spartans down to the Kentwood 15.
It took exactly one minute for Kentwood to answer when Kenjamine Jackson, bolted 85 yards for a touchdown on the second play following the Stanwood kickoff.
After Kentwood forced Stanwood to punt on each of its next two possessions, the Conquerors struck again when Aaron Boyce took a pass from a scrambling Andrew Stephenson and sprinted down the left sideline on a 45-yard scoring play with 2:28 remaining in the first half.
“They’ve got a lot of big play guys,” Abrams said. “(Boyce) caught two touchdown passes against us last time.”
Kentwood enjoyed an additional lift from running back Travis Nauta who rushed for 112 yards on 15 rushes. He also pinned the Spartans back with consistently unreturnable punts of 44, 33, 45, 54, 38 and 40 yards.
Meanwhile, the hard-nosed Kentwood defense made yardage tough to come by for the Spartans.
Rokstad managed 49 yards rushing on 14 brutal carries. Schwarze added 43 yards on 12 runs.
Excluding the big plays by Jackson and Boyce, Stanwood’s defense, led by Shea and Bryce Thorstad, likewise gave Kentwood a difficult time of it.
“They played that hard on both sides of the ball all year,” Abrams said of the pair.
The Thorstads each had a tackle for a loss in the game, as did Rokstad, Schwarze, Olson, Philip Long and Johnny Struiksma.
Stanwood’s best chances to tie the score came at the end of the first half and on its first series of the second half. On both occasions the Spartans advanced to near the Kentwood 20-yard line, but turned over the ball on downs.
Early in the fourth quarter Stanwood again was forced to turn the ball over on downs after Boehme was stopped on fourth-and-inches at the Kentwood 40.
At Everett
Kentwood01400-14
Stanwood0700-7
Stanwood-Rokstad 3 run (Rokstad kick)
Kentwood-Jackson 85 run (Philips kick)
Kentwood-Boyce 45 pass from Stephenson (Philips kick)
Records-Kentwood 8-2. Stanwood 7-3.
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