Inchelium Passes Torch Hornets Rely On Simpson’S Arm In B-8 Thriller

Walking off the Tacoma Dome field Saturday evening, Jacolby Simpson tossed the game ball to his dad and joked, “I can shut him up now.”

It was different 17 years ago, but the same.

With Lonnie Simpson finishing off a record-breaking season for career and single-season rushing yards, Duane Gatlin’s Inchelium Hornets won the 1983 State B-8 football championship.

Gatlin’s second Simpson put together a record-breaking day on Saturday in leading the second-ranked Hornets to a wild 34-30 win over No. 3 Odessa for the 2000 title.

This Simpson, however, is a quarterback, and the 6-foot-2, 175-pound junior completed 11 of 13 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns, the last with 28 seconds left.

“I thought we were going to run it a lot,” Simpson said. “I started hitting my receivers, and they (the coaches) kept calling them. The most important thing was my line. They gave me time.”

Actually, the Hornets had to pass as the Tigers bottled up the running game. That proved to be a double-edged sword because, when Odessa’s Paul Dart scored his third touchdown with 1:43 to play for a 30-28 lead, that left too much time for Simpson.

Inchelium went 51 yards in five plays, capped when Simpson threw against the grain to wide-open Chris Burch for a 16-yard TD.

Odessa’s Heath Voise then hit Dart for 20- and 21-yard gains and had two shots into the end zone from the Inchelium 20 before time ran out.

Ironically, Odessa defeated Inchelium 22-8 in the first game of the season by stuffing the running game. In 1983, the Hornets’ only loss also came at Odessa.

After this season’s opening-game defeat, the Hornets won 10 straight (the Tigers finished 10-2). Much of that success is owed to the legs of David Tonasket, who rushed for more than 1,600 yards, and a stingy defense.

“I wish I could have run for more yards, but we knew they were going to key on me,” said Tonasket, who carried 23 times for 108 yards, just 13 more than he had on three receptions. “I knew (Simpson) had a good arm, but we really didn’t need it all year.”

“We’ve been a running team all year,” Gatlin said. “That first game, I absolutely panicked… . The plays you saw tonight were being dropped.”

The defense also had a tough time Saturday as Dart rushed for 117 yards for Odessa and Nick Sebesta added 112.

Simpson opened the scoring with a 53-yard pass to Howard Finley on Inchelium’s second possession. It went to 14-0 in the second quarter on Burch’s 1-yard run after the TD was set up by 37- and 27-yard pass plays.

Odessa went 68 yards, capped by Dart’s 1-yard run to make it 14-8 at halftime.

The Tigers opened the second half with a long drive that came up empty, but the drive set the tone for two quick scores that had them up 24-14 early in the fourth quarter.

“I was pretty mad,” Simpson said. “We were playing bad on defense. We let down and they came back. Defense was the best part of our game all season.”

That’s when Inchelium came alive.

“They started to wear me out, but when it came to the fourth quarter, I told the team we all have to step up and stop them,” two-way lineman John Bear Swan said. It was Swan’s uncle, Joe Bear, who said the ‘83 team wouldn’t lose again after its loss in Odessa and it was Simpson, Swan’s cousin, who made the same pledge this year.

Simpson’s passes of 17 and 28 yards set up Tonasket’s 1-yard scoring run before Simpson and Tonasket hooked up on a 51-yard scoring play that put the Hornets up 28-24 with 4:39 to go.

Inchelium 34, Odessa 30

Inchelium 8 6 0 20 - 34

Odessa 0 8 8 14 - 30

Inc-H. Finley 53 pass from Simpson (Eagle Bear pass from Simpson) Inc-Burch 1 run (pass failed) Ode-Dart 1 run (Dart run) Ode-Dart 1 run (Dart run) Ode-Voise 25 run (Ku. Starkel pass from Voise) Inc-Tonasket 1 run (Simpson run) Inc-Tonasket 51 pass from Simpson (pass failed) Ode-Dart 8 run (run failed) Inc-Burch 16 pass from Simpson (pass failed) Inc Ode First downs 17 21 Rushes-yards 39-158 46-255 Passing yards 282 169 Passes 11-13-0 10-18-0 Punts-Avg. 2-41.5 2-28.5 Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-0 Penalties-yards 5-40 5-33 Individual statistics Rushing - Inchelium, Tonasket 23-108, Simpson 10-35, Burch 6-15. Odessa, Dart 21-117, Sabesta 13-112, S. Smith 2-14, Voise 9-7, Ky. Starkel 1-5.

Passing - Inchelium, Simpson 11-13-0-282. Odessa, Voise 6-13-0-107, Dart 3-4-0-34, Ku. Starkel 1-1-0-28.

Receiving - Inchelium, Burch 5-80, Tonasket 3-95, H. Finley 2-81, T. Hoffman 1-26. Odessa, Ky. Starkel 4-52, Dart 3-65, Ku. Starkel 3-52.

Royal 49, Tacoma Baptist 17

Senior quarterback Will Sutor passed for 277 yards and five touchdowns, both 1A championship records, to lead the Knights (13-0) past the previously unbeaten Crusaders (12-1) for the Royals’ second title in five years.

Royal 7 14 0 28 - 49

Tacoma Baptist 0 17 0 0 - 17

Roy-Chris Murphy 1 run (Eric Bozorth kick) Roy-Nate Debar 10 pass from Will Sutor (Bozorth kick) TB-Jeff Wells 68 pass from Ira Potter (Josh Linkem kick) TB-Joey Walling 96 pass from Potter (Linkem kick) Roy-Murphy 60 pass from Sutor (Bozorth kick) TB-FG, Linkem 25 Roy-Murphy 17 pass from Sutor (Bozorth kick) Roy-Brandon Gilbert 9 pass from Sutor (Bozorth kick) Roy-Murphy 3 pass from Sutor (Bozorth kick) Roy-Brandon Mianecki 17 run (Bozorth kick) Roy TB First downs 22 15 Rushes-yards 30-291 41-92 Passing 277 216 Comp-Att-Int 16-27-0 9-22-1 Return Yards 49 118 Punts-Avg. 3-48 7-40.4 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1 Penalties-Yards 3-15 2-7 Time of Possession 18:46 29:14 RUSHING-Royal, Murphy 15-164, Gilbert 7-59,Spencer Larsen 2-40, Mianecki 2-21, Drew Dixon 2-7, Jeremy Scroggins, 2-0. Tacoma Baptist, Likem 13-51, Josh Bousman 14-49, Justin Staley 7-11, Brandon Wheeler 3-4, Ira Potter 4-(minus-23).

PASSING-Royal, Sutor 16-27-0-277. Tacoma Baptist, Ira Potter 9-22-1-216.

RECEIVING-Royal, Debar 5-66, Murphy 4-98, Scroggins 3-78, Gilbert 2-26, Dixon 1-6, Mark Anderson 1-3. Tacoma Baptist, Walling 3-117, Jeff Wells 2-82, Aaron Potter 2-30, Linkem 2-(minus-13).

Omak 30, Meridian 14

Omak senior Curtis Hurlbert tied an all-time state record with six interceptions, giving him a state mark of 15 for the season, to lead the Pioneers (11-2) past the defending champion Trojans (12-1) in the 2A title game.

Omak 0 13 7 10 - 30

Meridian 7 7 0 0 - 14

Mer-Mike Simmons 59 pass from Eli Slesk (Josh Ramey kick) Oma-Chris Allen 1 run (kick failed) Oma-Curtis Hurlbert 76 interception returns (Derek Desjardins kick) Mer-Doug Miller 15 pass from Slesk (Ramey kick) Oma-Ryan Cate 10 run (Desjardins kick) Oma-FG Dejardins 32 Oma-Aaron Wells 15 pass from Nathan Neddo (Desjardins kick) Oma Mer First downs 15 20 Rushes-yards 49-272 19-52 Passing 52 346 Comp-Att-Int 3-15-1 24-43-7 Return Yards 105 106 Punts-Avg. 5-38.2 0-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 3-3 Penalties-Yards 5-50 3-35 Time of Possession 27:25 20:35 RUSHING-Omak, Cate 20-168, Allen 17-63, Mike Moore 2-27, Brady Gariano 2-11, Brown 1-3, Neddo 7-0. Meridian, Jesse Alderson 3-27, Joel Pears 10-22, Slesk 6-3., PASSING-Omak, Neddo 3-15-1-52. Meridian, Slesk 23-42-7-334, Mark Simmons 1-1-12.

RECEIVING-Omak, Hurlbert 2-37, Wells 1-15. Meridian,Simmons 11-199, Miller 8-84, Pears 4-61, Sean Self 1-2.

Pasco 20, Bethel 3

The Bulldogs used a suffocating defense to win their second 4A title in three years by beating the Braves in the Tacoma Dome.

Bethel 0 3 0 0 3

Pasco 0 7 7 6 20

Bet-FG Steve Clarke 29, 11:56 Pas-Raul Vijil 75 pass from Skyler Allen (Allen kick), 11:02 Pas-Kyle Lamb 4 run (Allen kick), 5:51 Pas-Gabe Gutierrez 16 interception return (kick failed), 2:53 Bet Pas First downs 10 17 Rushes-yards 25-67 39-95 Passing 83 288 Comp-Att-Int 8-22-1 15-27-0 Return Yards 33 75 Punts-Avg. 5-42.4 1-54 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 2-24 7-80 Time of Possession 21:28 26:32 RUSHING-Bethel, Jesse McMichael 19-80, Brandon Grant 1-2, Mark Hitchner 1-1, John Shields 1-(minus-4), DuRocher 3-(minus-12). Pasco, Lamb 27-93, Allen 5-6, Johnny Fairley 3(minus-4).

PASSING-Bethel, DuRocher 8-22-1-83. Pasco, Allen 15-27-0-288.

RECEIVING-Bethel, McMichael 3-6, Hitchner 2-17, Gall 1-30, Matt Kennedy 1-21, Shields 1-9. Pasco, Vijil 7-204, Brian Boler 3-24, Chris Ortiz 2-32, Tyler Shook 2-15, Brandon Kania 1-13.

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SATURDAY RECAP

State finals

1A: Royal 49, Tacoma Baptist 17

2A: Omak 30, Meridian 14

B-8: Inchelium 34, Odessa 30

4A: Pasco 20, Bethel 3