Federal Way Eagles football falls to Enumclaw on the road

For Federal Way High School football, after a loss to Decatur, its matchup against Enumclaw was the next big test on the schedule and possibly the year.

A 53-10 win against Spanaway Lake gave Federal Way a full head of steam heading into its Sept. 27 matchup with the Hornets, seeming to wash away the memories of the game against Decatur.

However, Enumclaw came with a whole different energy and took the game right to Federal Way. On its first three possessions, Enumclaw had an answer for everything the Eagles were doing on defense and was able to control the explosive factor of the Federal Way offense.

“They came out physical, we came out flat. We had some missed assignments that were costly early on…. They came out physical and ready to go. There was a lot of excitement and it was homecoming they had a lot of energy and we didn’t match their energy out of the gate,” Head Coach Marcus Yzaguirre said.

Before Eagles fans were settled into their seats, the score was 21-0, and the Eagles were searching for answers. With their backs against the wall, the coach and his guys went to their playmaker, Austin May. On the Eagles’ first drive of the second quarter, May broke off a big play with a catch and run from Andy Cortez. May scampered into the endzone on a screen pass from 39 yards out to break the scoreless drought.

Enumclaw was able to respond with a touchdown with 8:31 left in the half. The Hornets took a 28-7 lead into the locker room, but it could have been much worse. Enumclaw had a first and goal from the one yard line, and Federal Way’s defense stood tall and rejected the Hornets — and were able to stay in the game.

Federal Way received the ball at half and was also able to score first. With the pressure from the Enumclaw defensive front, Cortez was forced to improvise and sometimes throw a bit earlier than he wanted. But in the third quarter he used his legs on occasion and eventually got the Eagles their second score of the night with an eight yard run of his own. A missed extra point put the Eagles down 28-13.

“Once he settled down he started reading and trusting himself he was able to make some things happen… The defense came right at him and once he was able to settle down and started focusing he was fine,” the coach said.

The Hornets ended up scoring again, really putting pressure on the Eagles’ defensive backs. After a bad snap gave the Hornets a first and goal from the five yard line, the Hornets scored on their first play from scrimmage of the fourth quarter.

Federal Way was finding some success on the ground with Sione Kongiaka. The Eagles kept fighting as the game was three possessions with just 11 minutes left to go. Kongaika pushed his way into the promise land from two yards out.

Down 16 points, Federal Way’s defense needed a stop. With 5:35 left in the game, the defense forced Enumclaw to convert a third and 13 from Enumclaw’s 47-yard line. Not only did the Hornets convert, but they had a wide-open receiver over the middle of the field who ran it 53 yards for a touchdown.

May did get another touchdown from 60 yards out with just 2:20 to go and trailing 42-25, but Enumclaw had the game sealed.

Federal Way is tasked with Kent-Meridian on Oct. 3 with a 6 p.m. kickoff. It’s a short week with the game on Thursday, which means even more emphasis for Coach Iz and his Eagles.

“We gotta come out firing. We gotta prepare for anything, kids are going to be angry,” he said.

With five games remaining on the schedule for Federal Way, they are currently third in the standings and need all the momentum they can get.

“We gotta get back in the lab and win these next five,” Iz said.