St. John-Endicott will play for title

St. John-Endicott’s offense got the Eagles into the State 1B football semifinals. But it was defense that earned them a trip to Tacoma.

Senior Brett Larson had two timely second-half interceptions, the second coming with 1:46 remaining, to salvage the Eagles’ 32-28 victory.

They play Saturday, at 4 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome during the Gridiron Classic against Lummi (11-1), a 26-20 winner over Touchet in the Tacoma Dome.

“It’s a great reward for them to get to play for a state championship,” said coach Joey McCanna. “They’ve been working for this for a long time.”

Both St. John-Endicott (12-1) and Pateros (9-4) scored four touchdowns at Albi Stadium. The Eagles’ winning margin resulted from quarterback Andrew Wolfe converting all four of their two-point conversions while the Billygoats missed twice.

But were it not for Larson, whose picks came on back-to-back series with the Billygoats threatening, the outcome could easily have been different.

In the second half Pateros, led by linebacker Brian Richardson, shut down an offense that had scored 92 points the week before. The Eagles never scored in the final 24 minutes and managed just six first downs and 97 yards of its 362-yard total.

Brandon LeDoux broke a 40-yard run with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter to cut the deficit to four points and Pateros was on the cusp of scoring again when Larson picked off his first pass at the 9-yard-line.

”(Freshman) Trevor Johnson tipped it to me, it was my senior year and I was going as hard as I can,” Larson said of his run back to the 30.

The second came on a 50-yard bomb, when he got in between the ball and the receiver and won the jump at the 7-yard line.

“I was more kind of in shock about it,” Larson said. “I came down and had the ball in my hands.”

St. John-Endicott had taken a 24-6 lead on Phillip Luft’s 70-yard dash with 4:32 left in the first quarter, and runs of 42 and 46 yards by Wolfe, whose option keepers baffled Pateros.

Back came Pateros with touchdowns two minutes apart in the second quarter on a run by LeDoux and a 59-yard screen pass from quarterback Rory Carmack to 215-pound fullback Bob Bakken. Bakken had first put the team up 6-0 on a run.

Luft capped a time-consuming drive over the last 5:22 of the half, making it 32-20 in favor of St. John-Endicott at intermission. Things bogged down thereafter.

“They were putting everybody in the box against us,” said McCanna. “We tried to do a few things and also tried to control time management.”

Luft gained 194 yards on 26 carries and Wolfe added 146 of the team’s 357 total on the ground.

Carmack threw for 168 yards, 150 in the first half, and LeDoux gained 106 yards of Pateros’ 361 total.

Fortunately, the pass defense that the Eagles spent the week emphasizing paid dividends against a team without its leading receiver, injured Drysen Ellis.

And when all was said and done, that defense carried St. John-Endicott to its first state final since 1984.

St. J.-Endicott 32, Pateros 28

Pateros – Bakken 6 run (run failed)

SJE – Luft 70 run (Wolfe run)

SJE – Wolfe 42 run (Wolfe run)

SJE – Wolfe 46 run (Wolfe run)

Pateros – LeDoux 3 run (Rojas pass from Carmack)

Pateros – Bakken 58 pass from Carmack (pass failed)

SJE – Luft 5 run (Wolfe run)

Pateros – LeDoux 40 run (Carmack run)