The Tahoma High football team hasn\u2019t stopped believing this season.<\/p>\n
Not after falling to Auburn in the final minute during the fourth week of the season. Not after squandering a fourth-quarter lead and losing to Kent-Meridian two weeks ago. And not after falling in the final seconds to Auburn Riverside last week.<\/p>\n
Friday night at French Field against Kentridge, Tahoma\u2019s faith finally paid off. Twice.<\/p>\n
Tahoma kicker David Stoecker booted a 47-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining to give the Bears a stunning 36-34 come-from-behind victory over the Chargers in a South Puget Sound League North Division game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just had to believe in my line, my snapper and my holder,\u201d said Stoecker, who was mobbed at midfield by his teammates after the kick.<\/p>\n
It was the longest field goal of Stoecker\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done it in practice,\u201d he assured.<\/p>\n
Of course, that was without the pressure. Without a jam-packed stadium of fans screaming at the top of their lungs. But what made Stoecker\u2019s game-winning boot all the more impressive was the fact that he did it twice. He connected from 42 yards out with 12 seconds left only to have the \u201cwinning kick\u201d negated by an illegal procedure penalty that backed it up five yards.<\/p>\n
The penalty wiped out the Tahoma kicker\u2019s first attempt, along with a lengthy celebration by the Bears on \u2013 and off \u2013 the field.<\/p>\n
Seconds later \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cHe goes out there and nails it again,\u201d exclaimed generally mild-mannered Tahoma coach Tony Davis. \u201cHe works at it every day at practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The kick and the win gave the Bears a small sigh of relief on what has been an otherwise difficult season. Multiple times this year, Tahoma has been ahead late in a game only to fall short in the end.<\/p>\n
Friday night, despite a monster performance by Kentridge running back Cameron McKernan, the tide turned for the Bears.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been such a tough year because we\u2019ve been on the other side so many times,\u201d Davis said. \u201cAnd we just keep coming back, week after week. It chokes you up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKernan rushed for 289 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. He also added two receptions for 93 yards, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.<\/p>\n
McKernan took the loss with class.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery loss is tough, but tonight it hurts a little extra,\u201d he said. \u201c(But) that was a nice kick by (Stoecker), congratulations to him. He put his leg into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tahoma (1-6 in league, 2-6 overall) entered the fourth quarter with a 33-28 lead only to watch the Chargers (4-3, 4-4) move in front 34-33 with 1:01 remaining on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Travis McGuire.<\/p>\n
Another last-second Tahoma loss appeared imminent.<\/p>\n
Tahoma quarterback Dallin Munk, however, had other plans in mind as the Bears regained possession at their own 16-yard line with 57 seconds remaining. Munk connected on 5 of his next 6 passes \u2013 three to Brody Lundquist and two more to Jason Smith \u2013 to get the Bears down to Kentridge\u2019s 25-yard line and set up Stoecker\u2019s game-ending heroics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if (the kick) was a school record, but it sure worked tonight,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
Stoecker\u2019s kick ended Kentridge\u2019s two-game winning streak. Despite the loss, however, the Chargers had already secured one of the five playoff berths from the North a day earlier, when Kent-Meridian lost to Auburn 28-14. Kentridge will take either the No. 4 or No. 5 playoff berth from the North, depending on next week\u2019s results. The Chargers are currently tied with Auburn Riverside for fourth place in the division.<\/p>\n
Kentridge finished with 484 yards of total offense, 382 of which came from McKernan. Tahoma finished with 345 yards of total offense. Smith led the Tahoma offense, pulling in five catches for 84 yards, including a pair of touchdown receptions. Smith also added a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first time since 2006 that Tahoma has beaten Kentridge.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tahoma 36, Kentridge 34<\/p>\n
Tahoma \t0\t21\t12\t3\t—\t36<\/p>\n
Kentridge\t0\t21\t7\t6\t—\t34<\/p>\n
Second quarter<\/p>\n
KR: Cameron McKernan 86-yard pass from Travis McGuire (Wes Concepcion kick) 11:49<\/p>\n
T: Jason Smith 97 kickoff return (David Stoecker kick) 11:32<\/p>\n
T: Smith 47 pass from Dallin Munk (Stoecker kick) 9:20<\/p>\n
KR: Donovan Ward 1 run (Concepcion kick) 6:38<\/p>\n
KR: McKernan 72 run (Concepcion kick) 2:58<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Third quarter<\/p>\n
T: Beau Riggs 5 run (kick blocked) 8:08<\/p>\n
KR: McKernan 22 run (Concepcion kick) 3:48<\/p>\n
T: Riggs 5 run (run failed) 1:35<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Fourth quarter<\/p>\n
KR: McGuire 1 run (run fails) 1:01<\/p>\n
T: Stoecker 47 FG .08<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Tahoma High football team hasn\u2019t stopped believing this season.
\nNot after falling to Auburn in the final minute during the fourth week of the season. Not after squandering a fourth-quarter lead and losing to Kent-Meridian two weeks ago. And not after falling in the final seconds to Auburn Riverside last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17616"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}