Van Til: Lake Stevens’ title breakthrough was ‘years in the making’

It seemed like a matter of when — not if.

With how consistently elite the Lake Stevens football program has been over the past decade, it felt like that elusive state title would eventually come one of these years.

Of course, it’s never anywhere near that simple in sports. Success is anything but guaranteed. The road to the top is filled with all sorts of obstacles and potential pitfalls.

But when you keep knocking on the door — when you keep putting yourself in the mix year after year — you certainly increase your odds of one day breaking through.

And for the Vikings, at long last, that glorious moment finally arrived.

After a decade of sustained success and a slew of deep playoff runs, Lake Stevens captured its first-ever state title with a 24-22 triumph over Kennedy Catholic in the Class 4A state championship game earlier this month.

It completed the Vikings’ ascent to the state football mountaintop and provided the final missing piece to their powerhouse program’s decorated legacy.

“We’ve been a great program for a long time,” 18th-year Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri said. “So it just feels really good that we can finally bring that trophy back to Lake Stevens.

“That was 18 years in the making right there,” he added. “Finally we found a way to get over the hump and get it done.”

Indeed, the Vikings’ state title breakthrough marks a culmination of everything their program has accomplished over the past decade-plus.

The first major milestone came in 2011, when standout quarterback Jake Nelson led Lake Stevens to the 4A state semifinals. Current NFL quarterback Jacob Eason took the reins a couple years later and ultimately led the Vikings back to the state semifinals in 2015.

Along the way, the program developed into a juggernaut.

Since 2013, Lake Stevens has dominated Wesco 4A to the tune of nine consecutive conference titles and 54 straight league wins.

Since 2014, the Vikings have made eight consecutive 4A state playoff appearances — including six trips to the state quarterfinals, four to the state semifinals and three to the state championship game.

And since 2015, they’ve won 14 state playoff games — four more than any other 4A program during that span.

“I feel like the first group to break that barrier was 2011,” Tri said. “And since then, we’ve just been kind of on a roll.”

Yet even with all the success, that elusive state crown remained just out of reach.

In 2015, Eason & Co. suffered a heartbreaking 37-34 state semifinal loss to Skyline. In 2018, the Vikings fell to a talent-laden Union team in the state championship game. In 2019, while missing two of its top players, a particularly dominant Lake Stevens team was upset by Mount Si in a crushing 24-22 state quarterfinal loss.

And last year, the Vikings made it back to the state title game before running into a nationally ranked Graham-Kapowsin squad that solidified itself as one of the best teams in state history.

As Tri knows all too well, it’s incredibly hard to win it all. Oftentimes, even the best teams need a bit of good fortune sprinkled in.

“You have to be good. You have to stay healthy. You have to have the right matchups,” Tri said. “Lots of different things can happen throughout the season.

“It’s hard to get to (the title game) — let alone win it.”

And for this year’s state championship team, the path certainly wasn’t easy.

One of the ironies was that Lake Stevens actually lost more regular-season games this fall than it had in the previous six full-length seasons combined. That was largely a product of an arduous non-league gauntlet that resulted in several signature victories but also a pair of losses, including a blowout Week 4 defeat to eventual Oregon 6A state champion West Linn.

But after a humbling 2-2 start, the Vikings righted the ship and closed the season on a 10-game win streak — capped by the biggest victory in program history.

“As much as it wasn’t fun to go through some of those things, I think probably it ultimately helped us in the long run,” Tri said of the early-season challenges. “… No group came together more, fought through more adversity and was able to really build off that than what this group was able to do.

“And that’s ultimately why I think we were able to have the kind of run we had there at the end of the season.”

Star running back Jayden Limar was the undisputed centerpiece of Lake Stevens’ championship run. The Notre Dame commit showcased his electrifying talent all season long, putting up massive numbers while compiling a highlight-reel extravaganza of jaw-dropping plays.

Limar punctuated his sensational senior campaign with an all-time gutsy performance in the state title game, rushing for 185 yards and a touchdown while playing through a high-ankle sprain he suffered in the final minutes of the previous week’s state semifinal.

But as instrumental as Limar was to the Vikings’ success, football is one of the ultimate team sports.

And this state title was a true team effort.

Veteran center Grant Lynch, along with stalwart guards Aaron Parker and Ashten Hendrickson, anchored a steady offensive line that paved the way for Limar and the high-scoring Lake Stevens attack. Sophomore quarterback Kolton Matson rose to the occasion down the stretch and delivered a pair of clutch TD passes in the championship game. Skilled receivers Cole Becker, Isaac Redford and Cassidy Bolong-Banks made numerous big plays throughout the year.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings stymied opponents week after week with a talented and versatile defense — headlined by defensive ends Becker and Hendrickson, linebackers Mason Turner and Joe McGinnis, and cornerbacks Redford and Steven Lee Jr. The unit shined its brightest on the biggest stage, shutting down Kennedy Catholic’s high-octane Air Raid attack with an impressive championship game performance that included a pair of massive defensive stops in the closing minutes.

And on special teams, kicker Macray Flanders provided two of the team’s biggest moments. In the state semifinal, Flanders recovered his own onside kick to key a pivotal sequence early in the second half. And in the title game, he hit the eventual championship-winning field goal with just over five minutes to play.

“Unbelievable group of guys,” Tri said. “Great team chemistry. Just a bunch of kids from Lake Stevens coming together, playing as a group, finding a way. … I’m so impressed by them.”

Of course, any discussion surrounding this program’s success would be remiss without mentioning the coaching staff.

Most of the Vikings’ top coaches have been working together for the past decade. As players have come and gone, they’ve been the constant — the group that’s molded Lake Stevens football into the powerhouse it is today.

On the field, their impact is certainly evident. Tri, the offensive coordinator, excels at keeping opponents off-balanced and creatively scheming his playmakers into advantageous situations. And defensive coordinator Eric Dinwiddie, who has a knack for making in-game adjustments, seemingly pushed all the right buttons down the stretch this fall.

“We’re just blessed with all these coaches,” Redford said. “They fill us in with all these details. We know what we have to do every single week.

“We were so happy for the coaches (after winning the title),” he added. “And the coaches were so happy for us.”

After four state runner-up finishes in program history — at the 3A level in 1985 and 1994, and the 4A level in 2018 and 2021 — this year’s Vikings will forever hold the distinction of being the group to break through and bring the trophy to Lake Stevens.

Their accomplishment also is a countywide milestone, with the Vikings being the first Snohomish County prep football team to capture the 4A or 3A state title since Cascade won the 4A state crown in 1991.

As Tri said, it’s been a long time coming.

But even though Lake Stevens has finally reached the pinnacle, don’t expect the program to let up.

Less than two days after winning the state title, Tri received a phone call from one of his assistant coaches. The coach had already reserved the school gym for the program’s annual offseason passing academy.

“I’m just like, ‘Can we enjoy the trophy for more than 24 hours before we start talking about next year?’” Tri recalled with a laugh. “But that’s just the way (we) operate.

“Just keep the ball rolling.”