Warriors to play for state title

TACOMA – Jordan Hughes made the most of his return trip to the City of Destiny.

The Almira/Coulee-Hartline senior running back almost single-handedly propelled the Warriors into the State 1B championship football game, set for Friday at the Tacoma Dome.

The Warriors beat Lummi 80-50 in a state semifinal on Saturday afternoon – also at the Tacoma Dome. ACH will face Northeast 1B rival Odessa, which beat the Warriors earlier this season 56-6.

It’s Almira/Coulee-Hartline’s first title-game appearance since 1990 when it beat Colton for the championship. This season marked the first state playoff appearance for the Warriors since 1992.

“It’s incredible,” said Warriors coach Brandon Walsh, who took over the program in 1999. “We went through so many years of mediocre football here. It’s nice to be competitive again.”

More than competitive, ACH (12-1) has been dominant for much of this season. The loss to Odessa was the only game where the Warriors scored fewer than 30 points.

Saturday, Hughes scored more than that by himself.

Hughes was at the Tacoma Dome when ACH won that 1990 state title, but he couldn’t tell you much about the contest.

“Coach (Walsh) was a senior offensive lineman on that team,” offered Hughes, whose parents, John and Teri Hughes, brought him across the mountains as an 8-month-old for that game.

He’ll likely remember his second state trip a bit more. He rushed, caught and returned his way to eight individual touchdowns against the Blackhawks (10-2), just one touchdown shy of the state 8-man record for a single game. Hughes also doubled his previous high in a game of four, which he set earlier this season.

“I just really wanted to get to that next level, win this game,” Hughes said. “Everybody else did what they needed to do so I could do that.”

In the end, Hughes touched the ball offensively or on special teams 34 times. He had four kickoff returns for 144 yards, including an 84-yarder for his second touchdown that put the Warriors up 16-6 early.

Hughes caught five passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns, and ran the ball 25 times for 179 yards and four more scores.

Hughes scored ACH’s first eight touchdowns, and the Warriors needed them all early.

Lummi tied the game twice in the first half, at 28 and 36, before Hughes staked the Warriors to a 42-36 halftime lead with a 19-yard reception from Josh Goodwin.

After Goodwin was intercepted on the first possession of the second half, the Blackhawks quickly took a lead on a 30-yard pass from Isaac Finkbonner to Gale Jefferson with 9 minutes, 31 seconds to go in the third quarter. Just 4:20 later, ACH had raced to a 64-44 lead with Hughes going 44 and 5 yards on the ground, and Goodwin returning an interception 21 yards.

The Warriors coasted from there, with Hughes and his teammates giving Walsh a chance to coach for a title that he won with the school 17 years ago as a player.

“We’ve come full circle,” Walsh said. “The last two years, we’ve just had a great group of kids that have brought us here.”