Federal Way and Decatur both entered Friday’s game winless and looking for the spark that could turn their season around. Federal Way may have found that spark in their 50-12 South Puget Sound League Northwest win over the Gators.
The Eagles’ rough start has been compounded by a tough schedule and injuries. They lost starting quarterback and receiver D’Jimon Jones to a broken foot in their loss to Camas and the following week they lost backup quarterback Gabe Togia to a broken leg against Tahoma.
Thomas Jefferson held Federal Way’s ailing offense to just 89 yards during their 31-6 win in week four.
“Five losses in a row, four from this year and one from last year,” Federal Way head coach John Meagher said. “That wears on you. We’ve been dealt a tough hand, but you gotta play it. The thing we talked about this week was to get better every day.”
Decatur has also had their share of offensive struggles. Since scoring 28 points against Spanaway Lake in week one, they only managed 23 points in the following three games.
The rain began to fall at the start of the game, so both teams came out throwing the ball.
After stopping Decatur’s opening drive, Federal Way took over on their own 46-yard line. Three plays later, Marcus Tate streaked towards the endzone on a perfectly-placed pass from Ben Koler for a 52-yard touchdown.
“[Koler]’s a tough kid,” Meagher said. “He can play quarterback; he just hasn’t done it in a long time. He throws some great deep balls and we got some kids out there that can run by people and go get it. That’s one thing we can rely on in the passing game right now.”
The Gators responded with a nice drive the second time around. They made it to the redzone, but ultimately the drive ended with a missed 30-yard field goal that went wide right.
After stopping the Eagles ensuing drive, the Gators once again drove down the field. They had a little help from Federal Way, who kept the drive alive with a penalty on third down after making a stop. Federal Way once again helped out with an encroachment penalty on fourth-and-one when Decatur lined up for a field goal just outside the 10-yard line.
Decatur capitalized on the mistakes and Denny Toso scored from five yards out. They went for two, but the play was sniffed out immediately by Federal Way’s Andrzej Hughes-Murray. He was a factor on numerous defensive plays the rest of the night.
The 7-6 deficit was the closest the Gators got to the Eagles. The remaining 10:41 of the second quarter belonged to Federal Way.
Jovan Vongsaveng took the following kick-off 84 yards to the Decatur 5-yard line. Decatur’s defense responded by holding the Eagles to a 35-yard field goal.
Federal Way then got to Decatur quarterback Josiah Talai twice on their next drive. They forced another punt.
One play later, Koler found Bobi Sims behind the defense for a 43-yard touchdown pass, giving Federal Way a 17-6 lead.
Another quick three-and-out gave the Eagles the ball back. Koler found Brian Parker in the corner of the endzone for a 14-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked, giving Federal Way a 23-6 lead.
With the end of the quarter nearing, Federal Way forced a third consecutive three-and-out. The first play of their following drive went 63 yards for a touchdown. Vongsaveng took the handoff up the middle and went untouched to the endzone. Federal Way led 29-6 at the half after another botched extra point.
The Eagles were forced to punt on their first drive of the second half, but a muffed punt gave them the ball back at the Decatur 17-yard line.
Koler fumbled two snaps on the drive, but recovered both and even picked up yards on the second. On fourth-and-goal from the two, Hughes-Murray pushed his way into the endzone, giving the Eagles a 36-6 lead.
Federal Way scored another touchdown later in the third quarter. Koler found Sims again for 65 yards.
Their final touchdown came with just over 12 seconds left in the third when Chris Williams scored his first touchdown of the season from a couple yards out, giving the Eagles the 50-6 lead.
Christian Siva scored the final touchdown of the night for Decatur.
Koler finished with four touchdowns on the night. Sims finished with 108 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Decatur (0-5, 0-1) will face Mount Rainier (0-5, 0-2) at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.
“I hope we come out and execute [on Saturday],” Decatur head coach Levi Suiaunoa said. “We gave up early touchdowns tonight on mental errors with guys just blowing the coverage. At the same time, we still can’t score offensively. We still can’t move the football. We limited the turnovers. We’re not as far along as I wanted us to be. We want to come out and have a complete game.”
Federal Way (1-4, 1-1) will face Kentwood (4-1), currently tied for the lead in the South Puget Sound League Northeast with Kent-Meridian, at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.
“We’ll take a win anytime we can get it at this point,” said Meagher. “Our goal is to get better everyday right now, that’s where we’re at. We gotta get better tomorrow, we gotta get better Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday so that we can get ready for Thursday. Hopefully on Thursday we’re better than we were tonight.”
