Every sports team wants to be able to hang a banner after a season, and the Tumwater football team did get to do so after last season. It wasn’t the banner the T-Birds were hoping to hang, however.
After getting doubled up in the 2A state title game last fall, the T-Birds hung up banners around the stadium with the final score, 60-30, clearly in view for players and coaches during summer workouts.
For those who somehow missed the banners on the field, they likely saw the score on the back of their workout tees.
“Our coaches and players took it extremely seriously,” Tumwater coach William Garrow said. “Nobody’s happy to lose.”
The T-Birds entered the state title game last season unbeaten, but it’ll take a much better season to accomplish the same feat this time around.
After last year’s state championship game, Garrow and his staff got together and decided that the T-Birds needed to be tested earlier. Garrow went to work scheduling a gauntlet of a non-league slate, one that includes 4A Puyallup, 4A Union, and 4A Eastlake, Bainbridge, and 1A Nooksack Valley.
“I said okay, we’ll go get the best teams that will agree to play us,” Garrow said. “We didn’t face enough adversity last season before we got to the end of the year.”
Despite losing nine starters from last season, the T-Birds still have plenty of talent that will keep them in tough games early and that has them positioned as co-favorites with W.F. West in the EvCo.
Peyton Davis, Mathias Rodriguez, and Jaylin Nixon combined for over 1,800 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns last season, and that trio is back to headline the running back rotation.
Kade Contreras started 14 games at guard last season, and Jake Dillion caught 20 passes for nearly 500 years and 10 touchdowns as a tight end.
While that does leave a lot of varsity snaps to be filled, Garrow noted that many younger players got playing time late in games last season.
“For some of them, it doesn’t feel like they’re first time varsity players,” Garrow said.
Tyler Briscoe is expected to join the rotation out of the backfield, and junior Jaxon Budd will take over under center after spending last season as the JV quarterback.
“He’s a really talented athlete,” Garrow said, adding that Budd is probably the fastest player on the team. “He’s starting to get all the nuances of the offense in a way that’s just fun to watch.”
A defense that allowed 20 points or more just three times last season sees less turnover, as seven starters are back on that side of the ball.
Beckett Wall, Malijah Tucker, and Cash Short each earned All-Area nods last fall, and they’re back in the fold. The trio combined for over 300 tackles, 20 sacks, and a whopping 51 tackles for loss last fall.
Derek Thompson and David Malroy are also back to anchor the secondary.
The defensive line and secondary are also expected to get a boost, as Mehki Richardson is primed for a breakout senior campaign and Timberline transfer Sunny Nguyen is expected to line up as a DB and as a wideout.
“Sunny’s been a great addition to the program,” Garrow said. “He’s embraced what it means to be a Tumwater player. Sometimes that can be difficult if you didn’t come up in the program, but he’s done a nice job finding his niche. He’s gonna make us better.”
