Lake Stevens cruises past Tahoma 61-10 in quad-districts

LAKE STEVENS — Jacob Eason has been throwing touchdown passes to Riley Krenz — and all of his receivers — all season.

However, there was a first for the pair on Friday night.

For the first time all season, the duo called an audible at the line of scrimmage. The result?

Another touchdown.

Eason threw three of his five touchdown passes to Krenz as Lake Stevens rolled to a 61-10 victory over Tahoma in a 4A quad-district playoff game Friday night at Lake Stevens High School.

“First time all year they audibled. It went for a touchdown so I guess I can’t complain,” said Lake Stevens head coach Tom Tri with a laugh. “But the route that I called and the route Riley ran were not the same thing. They both came over to the sidelines with smirks on their face because they weren’t sure what I was going to say.

“I’m like, ‘Hey! If you audible you better score.’”

The pair did just that with Krenz’s third touchdown of the game. The receiver caught seven passes for 93 yards with touchdown catches of six, 35 and 18 yards — giving him 11 touchdowns this season.

“He’s a great route runner,” Eason said. “You’re not going to find much better than him and he’s got great hands to go with it. When I’m in trouble I look for him and he’s a great receiver to have.”

Eason finished 23 of 35 for 287 yards. Along with his five scores, Eason had two interceptions — a rarity for the senior.

“I struggled a little bit,” Eason said. “I threw a couple of picks, which isn’t like me. But just the team, you don’t have one person win a game. Our defense played a major role in getting the ball back and allowing us to keep doing our thing on offense.”

Lake Stevens (10-0 overall), the No. 2 team in the most recent Associated Press 4A poll, had three turnovers in the first half. That allowed Tahoma (7-3) to keep it close early, getting to within 13-10 on a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Amandre Williams.

But that was the last time the Bears would find the end zone. The Lake Stevens defense clamped down and chased Williams all over the field.

“Our defense has played great all year long,” Tri said. “… Our defense has been the unsung hero all year long. I’m so proud of those guys. They got after Amandre Williams tonight. Obviously, when you put 61 up and you’re the offensive coordinator you’re pretty happy about that but I couldn’t be more proud of our defensive effort tonight.”

An Amado Attipoe interception gave the ball back to Lake Stevens late in the half and Eason found Krenz for a 35 yard score — Krenz’s second touchdown catch of the night — to put the Vikings up 34-10 40 seconds before halftime.

Lake Stevens continued to roll in the second half, with 21 unanswered points as the Vikings punched their ticket to the first round of the 4A state tournament where Lake Stevens will face Issaquah — which defeated Olympia 28-14 Friday night.

“It was a good win,” Eason said. “We came out there and, right off the bat, we started rolling. I was really impressed with our offensive line today. All in all, it was a good team win.”

The biggest negative for the Vikings in the game was the loss of senior running back/defensive end Andrew Grimes in the first quarter. The senior limped to the sidelines after a play on defense and did not return.

Tri said Grimes, who had two carries for 10 yards and touchdown before exiting, “could have played in a pinch” and that he’ll know more about the leg injury on Monday.

In Grimes’ absence, fellow senior Asi Tupua had 175 yards and two scores on 15 carries.

“He’s done it all year long. This is his fourth or fifth 100-yard game,” Tri said. “He had three in a row earlier this season. … He’s been a workhorse. Whenever we’ve asked him to step up, he’s stepped up.”

Lake Stevens will host Issaquah in the first round of the state tournament next weekend. The Vikings, who lost to Newport in the opening round of state last season, fell to Issaquah 41-17 in the championship game at a 7-on-7 camp at Lakewood High School in late July.

“That’s a big thing. We struggled with Newport the past couple of years and we all know what that felt like,” Eason said. “We don’t want that to happen again. We keep that bottled up inside of us and we don’t want it to happen again.”

Tri acknowledged the camp “was a long time ago” and said as long as Lake Stevens can clean up the mistakes it can compete with Issaquah.

“I guess that’s the good news: We put 61 points up and we can still play better,” Tri said. “And we’re going to have to. Issaquah is solid. I know that they’re going to be well-coached and it’s going to be a tough matchup.”

At Lake Stevens Stadium

Tahoma 10 0 0 0 —10

Lake Stevens 13 21 14 7 —61

T—Macen Granlund 32 FG

LS—Riley Krenz 6 pass from Jacob Eason (kick failed)

LS—Andrew Grimes 9 run (Karsten Knutson kick)

T—Amandre Williams 2 run (Granlund kick)

LS—Brandon Otis 10 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)

LS—Asi Tupua 9 run (Knutson kick)

LS—Krenz 35 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)

LS—Tupua 3 run (Knutson kick)

LS—Krenz 18 pass from Eason (Knutson kick)