VANCOUVER — Reload, not rebuild.
That was the rallying cry for the Lake Stevens football team in 2016. With just three returning starters on both sides of the ball, the Vikings entered the season relatively inexperienced, but motivated to prove naysayers wrong.
Along the way, the team began to outgrow its inexperience by improving in every facet of the game. By doing so, it won its first 11 games of the season, most of them in dominating fashion.
“Our offensive line did a great job of coming together,” Vikings coach Tom Tri said after his team saw its season end with a 35-14 loss to Skyview in a 4A state tournament quarterfinal contest at Boggs Field at Kiggins Bowl on Saturday. “They helped (running back) Blake May to a couple 200-yard games. The wide receivers got better. Our defensive line got better, with Matt Sevao setting our single-season sack record. The linebackers started to hit guys in the mouth. Our secondary improved.
“The guys just stepped up. We knew coming in that we had some good players, but to end up with all of the all-leaguers that we did… the guys were warriors.”
Tri believes his team’s inexperience may have caught up to it against the Storm, however. The Vikings committed eight penalties, and quarterback Conor Bardue threw five interceptions.
“Skyview played a great game, but we made too many mistakes,” Tri said. “Some of them were uncharacteristic. That may have been because we are a young team, and a lot of this is new to the guys. This is the first time they’ve played in a high-stakes game like this.”
Entering the game, Bardue had thrown five interceptions all season. He doubled that total Saturday.
“Some of them were out of desperation,” Tri said. “Some were his mistakes, but a couple weren’t his fault. They were because of the situation we were in. We had to throw the ball down the field a lot. When you’re down two, three scores, that’s what you have to do.”
Blake May (111 total yards) scored on a 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for the Vikings, and the game was tied 7-7 at halftime. But Skyview picked off Bardue (20-for-29, 244 passing yards) on Lake Stevens’ first two drives of the second half and converted those turnovers into touchdowns. Down 21-7, the Vikings couldn’t fully recover.
“(Those turnovers) won us the game,” said Storm quarterback Brody Barnum, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for another. “In the first half we shot ourselves in the foot a lot with penalties and miscommunications, but we cleaned some things up in the second half. We knew Lake Stevens was a good team. Offensively we wanted to pick our matchups and take advantage when we could.”
Down 28-7 early in the fourth quarter, Lake Stevens got on the scoreboard for the final time on a 15-yard touchdown reception by Austin Murren.
“Our offense grinded out some first downs and finished drives (in the second half),” said Skyview coach Steve Kizer. “Lake Stevens has an awesome quarterback and wide receivers, their running back is underrated and they have some tough schemes to prepare for. I didn’t sleep all week. They’ve got a great system, and they’ll be back here again (in the future) like they always are. What a great season they had.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
