Adna running back Mike Thompson dodges a tackle from Reardan on Saturday in Centralia.
Adna's Cole Young (8) throws up a stiff arm towards the incoming Reardan defenders on Saturday in Centralia.
Adna defenders Tyler Olson, right, and Zach Brotherson, left, stop Reardan's Rick Meserve (44) during a State 2B quarterfinal matchup in Centralia. Reardan ran the ball on all but its last offensive play, which made it easy for the Pirate defense to concentrate on shutting down the Indians and contributing to a 14-7 victory, sending Adna to the state semifinals.
Adna's Mike Thompson breaks off a first-down run in the fourth quarter on Saturday in the State 2B quarterfinals against Reardan.
Adna teamates, from left, Levi Williams, Reese Wilson, and Kendrick Loose celebrate after their victory over Reardan in the State 2B quarterfinals on Saturday.
Adna head coach KC Johnson and his team communicate before the start of the Pirates' State 2B quarterfinal matchup against Reardan in Centralia Saturday afternoon.
Adna Pirates Trevor Moon (3) and Marcus Hampton (11) come onto the field during introductions before the start of Adna's State 2B quarterfinal matchup against Reardan on Saturday.
Adna's Mike Thompson, far left, is forced out of bounds by a load of Reardan defenders during the State 2B quarterfinal matchup in Centralia on Saturday.
Adna running back Mike Thompson carries the ball upfield while the Pirate offensive line paves the way against the Reardan defense during a quarterfinal matchup in Centralia on Saturday.
Adna quarterback David Young (2) leaps to avoid the Reardan defense while carrying the ball upfield during the Pirates' quarterfinal matchup against the Indians on Saturday in Centralia.
Isaac Ingle throws his arms in the air after a touchdown against Reardan on Saturday in Centralia during the State 2B quarterfinals.
Two weeks ago, the Pirates were just the fourth-best team in the Central 2B League.
As of Saturday, the Pirates are one of the top four teams in the state.
Adna's defense clicked in the second half, and the Pirates rode a big game by Mike Thompson and a big final minute from David Young to a 14-7 win over Reardan on Saturday in the State 2B football quarterfinals at Centralia's Tiger Stadium.
Adna (9-3) will now face defending state champion Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in the semifinals on Saturday on Moses Lake's Lions Field at 4 p.m..
Thompson ran for 135 yards on 13 carries, the most important of which was an option right 46 yards up the sideline on third-and-14 with 2 minutes left to play and the score knotted at 7-7.
"They just knew to get him the ball, and see if he could do it," Adna coach K.C. Johnson said, "and he did."
Thompson's punishing run set the Pirates up on Reardan's 12-yard line. Three plays later the Indians jumped offsides on a fourth-and-1, giving Adna a first down 2 yards shy of the end zone.
The first attempt at the go-ahead score was stuffed, but Young followed center Luke Mattoon into the end zone on the next play, giving Adna a 14-7 lead with 28 seconds left to play.
"Me and D, we do that little sneak thing where he taps me, and I just go," Mattoon said. "We did it, and it was well-needed. We drove down and just wanted it more, I think, is what it comes down to."
Young, a sophomore, wasn't quite finished with the Indians. Reardan quarterback Wyatt Nieman dropped back to attempt his only pass of the game on the Indians' next play, only to have Young pick the ball off and turn the final 15 seconds into a formality.
Reardan was coming off of a 41-20 win over Oroville in the first round of the state playoffs, but was without the services of running back Clinton Jenny — who accounted for five touchdowns last week — in Centralia, for unspecified reasons. The Indian offense was held to 148 yards, including just 53 in the second half.
"We had to adjust our defense at halftime, and move some personnel around, and that really helped," Johnson said. "They didn't have much in the second half."
Adna struck first, with Young making the most of a broken play and hitting freshman running back Isaac Ingle for a 5-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal early in the second quarter, capping a 10-play drive that covered nearly 4 minutes.
Reardan, though, responded with a possession that lasted nearly as long as its bus ride to Centralia. The Indians set off from their own 29-yard line with 9:46 left in the first half, and scored 19 plays later on a 3-yard jaunt by Jeff Bergeron with 37 seconds left in the first half. Adna tried a bit of trickery, running a double-reverse into a pass with Young finding older brother Cole Young for a 54 yard gain that left the Pirates 14 yards from the end zone at the halftime buzzer.
The Pirates lost a fumble and had their only other pass attempt of the game picked off in the second half, but their defense came back and forced a three-and-out after both turnovers.
"We're not shaken if we're in a tough game, even if we get behind," Johnson said, citing 2-point wins over Pe Ell and Onalaska to close out the regular season as evidence. "We still compete. That's the ticket. Early in the season, we would have started having guys not being one, but we stayed as one and kept our composure, and did our jobs."
Early in the season, few would have predicted the Pirates would be anywhere but a basketball court by Thanksgiving. Adna lost to Napavine, Morton-White Pass and Wahkiakum by a combined score of 115-21 to start the season 0-3.
"We really came together as a team after that," David Young said. "We had to get some confidence with a couple wins, and we just kept it going."
Wahkiakum and Napavine have now both been eliminated by Raymond, which will face Morton-White Pass in the Tacoma Dome next week. The Pirates, on the other hand, are in the state playoffs for the 11th consecutive season, riding a nine-game winning streak and playing their best ball of the year.
"It's fun. We're all jacked up, we're happy, we're excited," Mattoon said. "We get paint on the wall in the gym, and we get to play number-one right now."
Note: Lind-Ritzville/Sprague (11-0) beat Morton-White Pass in last year's State 2B championship game, and beat DeSales (41-14) and Colfax (43-0) in the first two rounds of this year's playoffs. The semifinal matchup could be played in either Spokane or Moses Lake.
