Lake Stevens football team has benefited from strong leadership

LAKE STEVENS — When they were younger boys, the place to be on a Friday night was the Lake Stevens High School football stadium.

Sitting among the purple-clad boosters, they cheered for the Vikings while dreaming of the day when they might wear the same uniforms and hear the same cheers.

“I just remember that I wanted to be out there playing so bad,” said Jake Nelson, the quarterback of this year’s team. Back then, he added, “we all had dreams of playing for the high school team.”

The dream of becoming a Viking football player came true for Nelson and his teammates, but now another dream is unfolding. Tonight Lake Stevens can take the next step on an improbable but no less magical path to a possible state championship.

The unbeaten Vikings face Skyview of Vancouver at 7 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome in one of two Class 4A state semifinals. At stake is a berth in next week’s state championship game.

“I don’t think I could describe (the excitement and anticipation) in words,” said Vikings wide receiver and defensive back/linebacker Brady Pahukoa. “But you could say it’s unbelievable and it really is.”

A potential state title “is definitely in the back of your head,” said Lake Stevens offensive and defensive tackle Cody Tupen who, like Nelson and Pahukoa, is a senior. “When you really think about it, it’s crazy that we’ve made it this far. And now we have a chance to go all the way.”

Lake Stevens has reached the state semis with a combination state semis with a combination of physical talent, months of hard work, a little luck, some memorable comebacks and, certainly not least, the leadership of an exceptional senior class. The latter is meaningful to Vikings head coach Tom Tri, who calls his seniors “a very, very driven group of kids.”

In a typical year, Tri explained, his team has two or three captains, and as many as four. “But this year we’ve had five captains, and I pick a rotating sixth captain every week,” he said. “We could easily go six or seven deep with captains.”

In high school sports, qualities such as discipline, character and scholarship are the usual underpinnings for successful programs; conversely, teams often suffer when players fail to meet their personal responsibilities. And this season, Tri said, “I haven’t had one email all year from a teacher about any behavioral or attendance issues with our players.

“Every year I usually get one or two emails where there’s a discipline problem. Or a kid comes late to film (study) or late to practice or doesn’t show up for one reason or another. But we’ve had zero of those problems this year. I did get three complimentary emails (from teachers) about having football players in their classrooms, and that tells me a lot about the kinds of kids we have on this team right now.”

The community, meanwhile, certainly has the football bug, as evidenced by the ribbons and balloons in the school colors of purple and gold that are showing up on trees, mailboxes and other visible places around town.

And when Lake Stevens went on the road to beat Eastlake last Saturday, 50-21, “we had more fans there than Eastlake did,” Tri said. “There were alumni from all different years coming down to the field and saying ‘hi’ to the coaches and the players.

“So I’d say the community is paying attention and is definitely supportive. Extremely supportive.”

For the players, the football playoffs have been a whirlwind of drama, excitement and joy, which surely will increase another notch if the Vikings win today.

“If you’d asked me about any of this before we played Heritage (in the quad-district playoffs three weeks ago), I wouldn’t have even thought about it,” Pahukoa said. “At that point I was just thinking about getting to the next game. But now that there’s just four teams left and we’re playing in the Tacoma Dome, (the chance at a title) is just around the corner.”

And on their way to a 12-0 record, the Vikings have made believers of a lot of folks.

Before the season, Nelson said, “I thought we could win state, but I know a lot of other people didn’t. People doubted us. They didn’t even think we’d beat Arlington and all the other good teams we’ve played.”

But on the team’s improbable and often magical path, which began on the practice fields of August and has reached the playoffs of late November, “we’ve just gone out and proved them all wrong,” Nelson said.