TACOMA — At the half, Napavine didn’t have much going offensively. Through two quarters at the famous Stadium Bowl in Tacoma, the Tigers were shut out, and they entered the locker room down two scores.
Napavine got it going offensively in the second half, scoring four touchdowns, but it also allowed a flurry of big plays on defense, which led to a 35-28 loss to 1A Life Christian Academy.
The Eagles took the lead with just over 30 seconds remaining, when a pass from quarterback Jabez Boyd deflected off the hands of one Eagle receiver into the waiting hands of another in the end zone.
“I liked our effort,” Napavine coach Josh Fay said. “That’s a good football team. I’ll leave here feeling good.”
The Tigers did everything they could to make it a game in the second half, as they were able to generate chunk plays through the air and on the ground.
Beckett Landram got Napavine on the board with a 17-yard rushing touchdown in the third, and Grady Wilson found Karsen Denault on a deep ball for a 43-yard pass later in the quarter.
On the next Napavine drive, Wilson corralled a high snap and found a wide open Colin Shields, who turned upfield and raced to the end zone. The ensuing PAT gave the Tigers a 20-19 lead.
Both teams then took turns trading blows, as Boyd ran for a 50-yard TD before Kelly responded with a 50-yard touchdown of his own. A two-point conversion gave Napavine a 28-27 lead, but the Eagles got the final blow on the ricochet touchdown.
The Tigers did get one final hail mary near the 30-yard line, but the pass was batted around before falling incomplete near Denault at the goal line.
“This is encouraging for me,” Fay said. “Did we execute very well? No. Do we have a lot of things to fix? Yeah. We can do that. We’ll get better because of this game.”
In addition to going blow-for-blow with a quality 1A team, Fay was just as pleased with the amount of Tigers who made an impact, saying that 22 players were rotating in and out and making an impact on both sides of the ball.
“We got the right guys,” Fay said. “I like the kids we’re putting on the field. Now we gotta coach them … I hate losing, but this is okay.”
It’ll be another 1A opponent in Week 3 for the Tigers (1-1), who will host Cedar Park Christian on Saturday, Sept. 21.
