Jefferson finishes off Decatur for first outright conference title

Things were a bit tougher than expected for Jefferson in their regular-season finale against Decatur, but they aren’t going

Things were a bit tougher than expected for Jefferson in their regular-season finale against Decatur, but they aren’t going to complain as they clinched their first-ever outright league championship in football with a 22-3 win on Thursday.

Before the season, Thomas Jefferson head coach Jeff Zenisek said he saw the attitude about football change from being just something to do at school to being important to the kids. He stressed how important it was to compete in everything they do.

The work they put in has been evident all season as they have either won or have had the chance to win late in every single game they played this season.

Kenny Turner once again led the way for the Raiders. He was a part of all three scoring plays, rushing for two touchdowns and throwing for one.

The first score of the game was his 22-yard passing touchdown to quarterback Mason Delacruz in the first quarter. It was his only pass of the night.

He finished the night with 36 carries for 224 yards and two touchdowns.

The defense came up big when they needed to as well. It was a bend, but don’t break night for them for much of the night.

They held Decatur to just 51 yards on 21 carries, with many of those coming on quarterback scrambles. But the passing game was a slightly different story as they were gashed for much of the night.

Decatur has struggled offensively all season. Going into the game, they were a predominantly run-oriented team. They decided to trust in quarterback Josiah Talai’s arm for the majority of the game and he delivered one of their best offensive performances of the season.

Talai delivered multiple passes of at least 15 yards. His favorite target on the deep ball was Deantre’ Scott. He found Scott for gains of 14, 24, 25, 31 and 38 yards on the night. He finished with seven receptions for 155 yards.

Talai would finish with 213 yards through the air.

“I think in the last couple weeks our passing game has gotten better,” Decatur head coach Levi Suiaunoa said. “We decided we’ve got to use it. This is us looking forward to next year, not putting away the rest of this year, but we’re preparing for next year. A lot of these kids are coming back. That’s what Decatur will be next year, we’re going to throw the football.”

But even with their improved passing offense, the Gators still ran into trouble with the Jefferson defense.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of Decatur’s passing attack was Jefferson’s Tyson Sonnenfeld. Sonnenfled had three interceptions from the safety position, including a diving interception in the first quarter. He also had five tackles on the night.

Delacruz added one more interception when he picked off Talai in the end zone on one of Decatur’s better drives.

“They’ve run it most of the time,” Zenisek said. “It kind of surprised us when they came out in a four-wide set. Maybe they saw something. We’re pretty salty against the run, maybe they didn’t think they could run it against us. Kudos to them.”

“Turnovers have been a problem for us,” Suiaunoa said. “We had drives, but we couldn’t put it in the end zone. We just need to finish those kinds of drives.”

Justin Madden was once again all over the field defensively for the Raiders. He finished with 10 tackles, one for loss and a sack. AJ Timoteo also had a great night on defense with six tackles, two for a loss and two sacks.

Decatur was led by Tae McMillan defensively. McMillan had 17 tackles (eight of them solo) and two sacks.

The Gators know they only have two more games left. Their hope is to build toward next year and send the seniors out with a couple of wins.

“We’re very excited,” Suiaunoa said. “Our [junior varsity] has got one loss. We just went toe-to-toe with the league champs for four quarters. We’re heading in the right direction. We just took on the league champs and the kids didn’t flinch. That’s all I ask of them.”

Decatur played a Kent-Meridian team (4-4) that was the odd-team out of a three-way tie in the South Puget Sound League Northeast for the second and third seeds. That game was a home game for the Gators on Thursday, after the Mirror’s publishing deadline.

Despite the win, the Raiders were still unhappy with how they executed in the game.

“We gotta play our game,” Zenisek said. “I’m disappointed with how we played and I know the kids are too. You saw the body language and things we’re not use to. There was no excitement. That’s one thing we’re going to work hard on this week, we’re gonna get excited about football again.”

The Raiders will play against Kentlake (4-4) tonight at 7 p.m. at home. The Falcons pulled off the upset against Kentwood on Oct. 23 to earn the second seed in the South Puget Sound League Northeast and a playoff spot.

Jefferson could finish with the top seed from the South Puget Sound League North for the state playoffs with a win over Kentlake and a Beamer win over Kentwood. They could also finish as low as fourth with a loss and Beamer win.

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Tyson Sonnenfeld dives for an interception in the first quarter of Thomas Jefferson’s 22-3 win over Decatur on Thursday, Oct. 22 at Federal Way Memorial Stadium. Terrence Hill, the Mirror