Tigers head for state title game
TACOMA – Tony Heard had the hype. Alexander Shaw stole the show until the end. And finally, the Lewis and Clark Tigers’ defense made the stop when it was needed.
Heard, the Edmonds-Woodway junior running back, entered the State 4A semifinal against Lewis and Clark with all the credentials. He’d rushed for almost 2,000 yards this season.
But it was Shaw, the Tigers’ bruising 6-foot-2, 216-pounder who pushed and shoved Lewis and Clark into position for what looked to be an easy victory over the Warriors on Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
It was anything but easy.
In the end, the Tigers held on and advanced 28-26 after Vaughn Kapiko stepped in front of a two-point conversion pass and knocked it to the turf with 44 seconds remaining.
“We needed to make a stand,” Shaw said. “Sometimes, that’s how you want to win a game. With your defense on the field.”
Lewis and Clark (10-2) faces Bothell (13-0) for the title Saturday at 7:30 p.m., back in the Tacoma Dome.
Leading 28-7 entering the fourth quarter, Lewis and Clark turned the ball over four times in the final 12 minutes. Edmonds-Woodway took advantage and roared back, finally getting within two with 44 seconds left on Heard’s 1-yard plunge.
Needing a two-point conversion to tie, quarterback Kyle McCartney rolled left and let go with a pass. Kapiko stepped in front to knock it out and preserve the win.
“We had to find a way to make a play on that two-point play,” Lewis and Clark coach Tom Yearout said. “I guess we had one big play in the fourth quarter.”
How it got to that point was almost unbelievable.
Lewis and Clark actually turned the ball over five times over in the second half.
“I don’t think we’ve turned the ball over five times in the last five weeks,” Yearout said.
Until the Tigers got slippery-fingered, they were grinding out yards, keeping the Warriors stymied defensively and generally dominating the game.
Lewis and Clark scored all 28 of its points in the first half, getting touchdown passes of 14 and 29 yards from quarterback Steven Eglet, a rushing score from Shaw and what turned into a zero-yard punt return for a touchdown by Carl Preiksaitis.
The last one happened when Edmonds-Woodway snapped the ball over the head of punter Din Kuses. The junior raced backwards, getting to the ball in the end zone and actually got a foot on it.
The punt only trickled off his foot, never leaving the end zone. Preiksaitis fell on it for the recovery and the touchdown that gave the Tigers a 21-7 lead with 5:36 to go in the first half.
The big lead stood until the wild fourth quarter.
Shaw finished with 142 yards and one touchdown on 28 carries. Heard had 82 yards on 25 carries and two fourth-quarter scores.