This was supposed to be the first big challenge of the season for the Kentwood High football team.
Instead, Friday night’s showdown against Tahoma at Bill Maxwell Stadium proved to be more of the same as the Conquerors blasted the Bears 49-3 in a South Puget Sound League North Division game.
Five different Kentwood players reached the end zone – led by a pair of touchdown runs by Mikell Everette and Lonzell Young – as the Conquerors rolled up 442 total yards of offense and punted just twice.
Kentwood (3-0, 3-0) entered the game having outscored its opponents – Mount Rainier and Thomas Jefferson – by a combined score of 130-8.
“I thought it was a very, very big game for us mainly because we didn’t know where we were at,” said Kentwood coach Rex Norris, noting that the team’s starters didn’t see much action in the 69-0 win over Mount Rainier or the 61-8 victory over Jefferson. “Tahoma was coming off a big win over South Kitsap, and is a physical team that will punch you in the mouth. We needed to see if we could take that.”
Needless to say, the Conquerors took it. And then gave it right back.
It’s the first time since 2005 that Kentwood has begun the season 3-0.
In the first half Friday night, however, it was hardly a runaway.
Kentwood took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 50-yard touchdown run by quarterback Shane Green. Tahoma cut the deficit to 7-3 late in the second quarter on a 23-yard field goal by Barrett Weston. Moments before the field goal, the Bears were looking at a 1st-and-goal at the 3-yard line, but were unable to punch in a touchdown. Instead, Tahoma was backed up three yards after two running plays before a holding penalty dropped the Bears back to the 16, eventually resulting in the three points.
“If they score a touchdown right there, it’s a different game,” Norris said.
Upon regaining possession, the Conquerors needed just 1:31 to push its lead to 14-3 as Everette capped a 7-play, 70-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge.
Tahoma remained close in the first half thanks to a ball-control offense that moved the ball in between the 20-yard lines, but was unable to go any deeper. The Bears ran 33 plays in the first half compared to just 15 for the Conquerors.
Tahoma, however, was unable to keep the high-powered Kentwood offense off the field in the second quarter.
Kentwood’s quick-strike offense erupted for 21 unanswered points in the third quarter – a 7-yard touchdown run by Joseph Banks, a 19-run touchdown run by Everette and an 8-yard scoring run by Young. Kentwood needed more than five plays to score on just two of its seven scoring drives. A big part of that is due to a six-deep rushing attack that has been the talk of the SPSL North thus far this season.
“Anyone of (the running backs) can score at any point of the game,” said Everette, who finished with 95 yards rushing and the two touchdowns on nine carries. “Anyone of them could start on a different team in the league this year.”
Yet, the Conquerors were just as efficient through the air, where Green completed 5 of 7 passes for 66 yards.
Kentwood, which used its second and third-string players in the final quarter, added two more rushing touchdowns in the fourth, a 49-yard burst from Young and a 5-yard strike from BJ Arceneaux. Arceneaux, who was Kent-Meridian’s leading rusher last year with 599 yards and who moved inside the Kentwood boundary during the summer, set up the final touchdown, blocking a Tahoma punt and recovering the ball at the Bears’ 5-yard line.
“Our running back position is flawless,” Green said. “All our running backs are great guys, and they know how to play football.”
The big offensive performance overshadowed another strong defensive showing. Kentwood held Tahoma to 195 yards of total offense, and just 77 in the pivotal second half. Outside linebacker Dalton Blackmore led the way on defense, collecting three tackles for a loss.
“Our goal was to play fast,” said Blackmore. “That was our ultimate goal, to play as fast as we possibly could. We’re unstoppable when we play fast.”
Niko Madison led the Bears, rushing for 82 hard-fought yards on 17 carries.
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