2B Football: Two Late TDs Seal Tigers' Win Over Toledo

TACOMA — The Tigers' big-play combo was essentially a nonfactor for 45 minutes.

Wyatt Stanley and Cole Doughty, though, picked the perfect time to get on the same page.

Doughty hauled in a 59-yard touchdown pass from Stanley late in the fourth quarter here Friday night, giving the Tigers the momentum and just enough of a cushion to outlast Toledo, 28-22, in the semifinals of the State 2B football playoffs.

"It's a great gut-check game for us to have to deal with some adversity," Tiger coach Josh Fay said. "It's just a great football game. I don't know what else you can ask for."

Napavine (12-0) will now face the winner of today's Okanogan vs. Lind-Ritzville/Sprague semifinal. The championship game will be played at 4 p.m. Friday, back in Tacoma.

The key play came on a third-and-eight from the Tigers' 41-yard line, with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in the game, after a pair of rushes had gained Napavine just 2 yards, and with Toledo's offense clicking and looking potent on the Tacoma Dome turf in the second half.

"It was a little gutsy, I'm not gonna lie," Stanley said. "(Assistant coach Tyson Wilson) came out and asked us what we wanted to do, and we told him we wanted to score. He drew it up, and we went out and executed."

To that point, Doughty — the Tigers' top receiver this season by a wide margin — had just one catch for 3 yards. Stanley was 9 of 20 passing for 103 yards.

"I tell you what, (assistant coach Tyson) Wilson has got some guts," Doughty said. "He showed it there, man. It's just a gutsy call, and it paid off."

Stanley took the snap, waited for Doughty to take off, and lofted a long pass down the right side.

"I saw that thing in the lights, and the first thing I thought was 'just don't drop it, don't drop it,'" Doughty said. "I was excited."

The pass was right on the money.

"We call him Wyatt Manning. He's got a gun, and he came up clutch when we needed him," Doughty said. "We've always got faith in this kid, no matter what the situation is."

Stanley had already thrown two touchdown passes to Mac Fagerness and a third to his twin brother, Sam Fagerness — though the two to Mac were for 7 and 9 yards, and the third Fagerness touchdown came on a screen pass that Sam packed 29 yards.

"Wyatt and Cole were due," Fay said. "When the ball was in the air I kind of thought we threw it a little long, but I guess I can't make fun of Doughty for some of his drops this year, because that was pretty big."

Mac Fagerness intercepted a Dalton Yoder pass 30 seconds later to end the Indians' final drive, but the Tigers' attempt at kneeling out the clock fell victim to mathematics, resulting in Stanley being tackled in the end zone for a safety — and the 28-22 final score — as the clock expired.

Toledo outgained Napavine 170 to 121 in the second half, after producing just 3 yards of offense in the first two quarters but trailing just 14-7 at halftime. Stanley's two touchdown passes to Mac Fagerness were the bright spots for an offense that produced 225 first-half yards, but came up short on three fourth down attempts deep in Toledo territory.

The Indians, meanwhile, had the ball for just over five minutes in the first half, scoring only on a 77-yard kickoff return by Dakota Robins.

Yoder hit McEwen in stride up the right side of the field for a 56-yard touchdown in the third quarter that tied the game at 14-14. The pair connected again after a 14-play drive that spanned six minutes and ended on a 14-yard fade route with 8:33 left in the game, giving Toledo a 20-14 lead and putting Napavine behind in the second half for the first time all season.

Indian kicker Bryan Osborne's extra-point attempt, however, was blocked by Chase VanWyck.

"I felt like that was huge," Stanley said. "That kind of gave us a little more momentum, and hope. We kind of felt a little dead there after they scored on that pass play."

The stop, Fay said, lit a fire under a team that had just given up 6 points.

"It was a great play out of Chase," Fay said. "It's easy to quit on something like that. High school kids are notorious for taking that play off, because they feel bad, and what a heck of a play."

Seven plays later, Stanley took the snap, took a few steps to his right, then floated a swing pass to Sam Fagerness on the left side of the field. Fagerness spun around a pair of defenders and skated into the end zone to knot the game at 20, and Jarrod Hammond's PAT put Napavine back in front for good at 21-20.

The loss ends Toledo's season at 11-2, with its only two losses coming to top-ranked, undefeated Napavine. The Tigers won 36-6 back on Oct. 10 in Napavine, but played a different game in the second half Friday.

"We couldn't get our offense clicking. It was a great job by Toledo," Sam Fagerness said. "They had a great game plan, but we battled through adversity, stuck around, and were able to gut it out."

Taylor Hicks ran for 71 of his team-high 72 yards in the second half, and Mason Gaul added six carries for 26 yards in his final game for the Indians. McEwen caught three passes for 74 yards, and Yoder finished 4 of 11 passing for 85 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

"You've got to give them a ton of credit," Fay said of Toledo. "I almost feel bad. I do feel bad. They came out played well enough to win, and we were fortunate to get away with one."

The Indians finished second in the Central 2B League and beat Concrete and North Beach to reach the semifinals in their first year playing in the 2B classification.

Jensen Lindsay led Napavine with 86 rushing yards on 14 carries. Sam Fagerness finished with 44 yards on nine carries, and Stanley went 10 of 21 passing for 161 yards and four touchdowns.

Tucker Dekoker added three tackles for loss for Napavine's defense, and VanWyck notched five unassisted tackles.

Napavine last played in the State 2B championship game back in 2008, when the Tigers upset Asotin, 28-24.