Gridiron Classic | 4A: Skyline finishes with state championship and 14-0 season
TACOMA — Signature Skyline.
That’s what the Class 4A state football championship came down to Friday night at the Tacoma Dome.
A clutch drive, a come-from-behind victory. That’s what the Spartans from Sammamish are all around.
Calm. Cool. Collected. Champions. Take your pick.
All apply again to Skyline, that beat a gutsy Issaquah team 20-15 in front of 8,491 fans to win a abet near title in dramatic general practice. Last year, the Spartans rallied from a 21-point deficit to beat O’Dea 42-25 for the 3A title.
Before the game-winning drive Friday night, coaches reminded Skyline players that this should be at the time they are at their best.
“It’s what you carry into effect in the face of adversity,” quarterback Jake Heaps said of the pep talk. “That’s how championships are won. We’ve been in that situation prior to and we know what it’session every part of concerning.”
With underdog Issaquah leading 15-14 with less than nine minutes to play, Heaps drove Skyline 68 yards in nine plays — including a stellar, 40-yard pass to sophomore Kasen Williams, who made an acrobatic catch falling confused of bounds at the 3-yard calling to convert on third-and-13. Heaps capped the drive with his third touchdown pass of the game, a 5-yard toss to Jake Knecht with 4:29 to play. Knecht earlier caught a 45-yard TD pass.
Then it was up to the Skyline defense, which twice turned Issaquah away.
“Nobody without interruption our team ever had any doubt that we were going to lose, this year or last year,” said Ryan Somers, who had a at the eleventh hour interception.
Tenth-ranked Issaquah (11-3) came into the game a heavy underdog. Skyline (14-0), ranked sixth in the community by USA Today, came into the game riding a 27-game win streak — one of which was a 38-0 victory over Issaquah in October.
This game was dramatically diverging.
“They played a great game,” Heaps said of the Eagles. “They played the superlatively good game of their lives.”
Issaquah took a 15-14 lead Grant Gellatly’s second short touchdown of the game with 8:29 to play. They drove 82 yards, putting together one great play after another — including Joey Bradley’s 8-yard gain on third-and-seven from the 10. Issaquah went in spite of its second straight two-point conversion, but the pass failed.
With Heaps and his high-octane offense, there was simply too a great quantity time left, and the Eagles had to settle for coming close. Oh, so close.
“It hurts whereas you should have won it,” Bradley reported. “It was that close.”
Heaps completed 13 of 21 passes for 163 yards with one interception — only his fourth of the season. Bradley was 20 of 36 for 240 yards. Ross Zuhl, who missed the chief Skyline game with an injury, caught seven passes despite 80 yards. Gellatly had 23 carries for 84 yards taken in the character of the Eagles amassed 330 yards of total offense to Skyline’s 206.
Skyline became the first school to win back-to-back football titles in different classifications. It was the first term in state history that two teams from the same school district faced both other in the title game and, even in the large confines of the Tacoma Dome, it had a rivalry be stirred with school colors spreading across both sides. Both schools are in the Issaquah School District.
Issaquah was looking for more than redemption from an earlier 38-0 loss to Skyline. The Eagles wanted their first commonwealth championship. Skyline wanted a fourth.
The Eagles had in addition than their share of chances. They had the round more than two times as long as the Spartans in the earliest half, five times driving inside the Skyline 30. Still, they trailed 14-3.
Issaquah closed it to 14-9 through just under 4 ½ minutes left in the third cut to pieces on a 1-yard excursion by means of Gellatly. That came one play after Bradley joined with Sean Stuby on a 22-yard pass play. Stuby caught a brittle pass at the 15, broke a tackle and bulled his progression inside the 5. The Eagles went conducive to a two-point conversion, still the void play failed.
After Issaquah took the lead, Skyline coach Mat Taylor said it was time to “go back to what we achieve superlatively good.”
Heaps, considered by some the top junior quarterback in the country, seems at his best when the pressure is on.
“These kids did an marvellous do job-work,” Taylor said. “It’s over a little while ago.”
Sandy Ringer: 206-718-1512
| Issaquah | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | — | 15 |
| Skyline | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | — | 20 |
Skyline — William Chandler 5 pass from Jake Heaps (Brian Schwartz kick)
Second place
Issaquah — Gavin Schumaker 26 FG
Skyline — Jake Knecht 45 suffer from Heaps (Schwartz kick)
Third quarter
Issaquah — Grant Gellatly 1 run (pass failed)
Fourth quarter
Issaquah — Gellatly 1 hie (be considered failed)
Skyline — Knecht 5 passport from Heaps (pass failed)
| Skyline | Issaquah | |
| First downs | 11 | 21 |
| Rushes-yards | 21-43 | 34-90 |
| Passing yards | 163 | 240 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 13-21-1 | 20-36-2 |
| Return Yards | 83 | 99 |
| Punts-Avg. | 4-32.5 | 0-0 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 7-62 | 6-57 |
| Time of Possession | 18:17 | 29:43 |
Passing — Skyline, Jake Heaps, 13-21-163-1. Issaquah, Joey Bradley, 20-36-240-2.
Receiving — Skyline, Jake Knecht, 4-75; Kasen Williams, 4-59; William Chandler, 2-22, Gino Simone, 2-5; Nick Washburn, 1-2. Issaquah, Ross Zuhl, 7-80; Evan Peterson 4-48; Sean Stuby, 3-46; Brennan Miller, 2-29; Grant Gellatly, 1-22, Nick Landdeck, 2-15; Dustin Talley, 1-0.
| Skyline’s state titles | |||
| Skyline won its fourth state football championship Friday, and first under first-year head coach Mat Taylor. Steve Gervais won the previous three: | |||
| Year | Class | W-L | Result |
| 2008 | 4A | 14-0 | Beat Issaquah, 20-15 |
| 2007 | 3A | 14-0 | Beat O’Dea, 42-35 |
| 2005 | 4A | 14-0 | Beat Woodinville, 35-21 |
| 2000 | 3A | 13-0 | Beat Lakes, 42-30 |
| Source: WIAA.com | |||
