At a glance
Tacoma Dome, today, 4 p.m.
Reardan (10-1) vs. DeSales (12-1)
Reardan’s Indians defeated Davenport 27-16 in the State B-11 semifinals in 2003. In the next week’s championship, they upset DeSales 13-3 to win their second consecutive B-11 title. Last week Reardan defeated Davenport 29-7 in the state semifinals. Can history repeat itself? “Kids who played in that game, they’re not robots, so I’m sure they are thinking about that some, but our emphasis has not been to go on a revenge tour,” said DeSales coach Kim Cox. “It’s just been to try to execute well, to do what we need to do.”
Reardan: The Indians, ranked fourth, move the ball through the air with the duo of quarterback Eric Everett (1,092 yards, 14 touchdowns) and wide receiver Brad Alberts (nine scoring catches). But with Everett and Bob Christerson, they can also move it on the ground. Everett only rushed for 50 yards in the semifinal win over Davenport, but included in that was a game-breaking 36-yard scoring sprint on a quarterback draw. It was one of two touchdowns he scored, giving him 10 rushing touchdowns. Christerson, who almost single-handedly shut down the Davenport running game from linebacker, has found the end zone 10 times as well. But it’s the Christerson-led defense that should be crucial, as the Indians’ limited fellow Northeast B-11 member Davenport to 16 yards in total offense, including minus-7 rushing.
DeSales: The top-ranked Irish (their only loss was in the season’s fourth week, 6-0 at home to 1A Colfax) are the Notre Dame of B-11 football. Today will be the 10th time the Irish have appeared in the B-11 title game, with wins in 1991 and 1997 through 1999. But their last three trips to Tacoma have come up empty. DeSales quarterback Jack Dickson has thrown for 2,621 yards and completed 63 percent of his tosses. Six Irish receivers have caught 15 or more passes, led by the 37 catches of Casey Worth and Jake Moore. The DeSales defense has yielded more than 150 yards rushing only once this season (in a 49-13 win over Asotin) and more than 100 yards passing twice (Asotin and Tacoma Baptist).