Prior to the season, Thomas Jefferson head football coach Jeff Zenisek said that football had become important to the players. After years of indifference in the program, he stated that the kids had taken it upon themselves to get better after coming up one game short of reaching the playoffs last year.
The results from their offseason efforts were on full display on Friday as they defeated Todd Beamer 8-0 and clinched the South Puget Sound League Northwest title. It is Jefferson’s third league title in school history and their first since 1980.
“We have two banners in our gym,” Zenisek said. “We have one from 1969 and one from 1980. I pointed that out to the team before this game.”
Jefferson and Beamer both had similar gameplans for the game. On offense, everything began with the running game. The teams combined for 71 carries on the night.
The defenses were ready for the ground attack on both sides. Jefferson was held to 152 yards on 35 carries and Beamer was held to 108 yards on 36 carries. Neither team thought about throwing the ball much.
The quarters flew by with limited possessions for the offenses due to the numerous rushing attempts.
Beamer had the first opportunity to score in the game on their first drive of the second quarter. Titans’ running back Kiere McCoy had a 37-yard run on the drive that saw him spin past a Raiders defender and race to the redzone.
They looked like they would score on one of their two pass plays of the half when tight end Christian Serrano found some separation near the sideline. The pass was a bit high and bounced off his fingertips. A few plays later, Jefferson held on to the scoreless tie after Kenny Turner sacked Kuma Scanlan on the fourth down.
Turner broke off a couple of big runs for Jefferson on the ensuing drive. A facemask penalty pushed the Raiders deep into Titans’ territory.
Jefferson quarterback Mason Delacruz nearly had the first score by catching a pass. He stretched out and dove for it, but could not come up with the ball in the endzone.
Moment later, Jefferson was stopped inside Beamer’s five-yard line. They lined up for a field goal, but the Titans jumped offsides on the play giving the Raiders a first down. Turner ran the ball into the endzone from two yards out for the first score of the game.
The extra point attempt failed and the Raiders led 6-0 with only 2:24 left in the half.
Beamer quickly took the ball deep into Jefferson’s territory. With just over a minute left in the half, the Titans had a first-and-goal from the three-yard line.
Depending on which team you ask, the next four plays were either one of the greatest moments in school football history, or controversial calls by the officials.
First down saw Beamer’s Kingsten Sua take the ball down to the one-yard line. On second down, The Titans moved the ball six inches closer to the goal line.
On third down, the goal line became a pile of Beamer and Jefferson players. Beamer players raised their hands believing they had scored, while Jefferson players looked to the sideline for the officials call.
The line judge ran in yelling that he had the player down before the goal line. The Titans sideline erupted with disappointment at the call.
“We got a tough one on the goal line,” Beamer head coach Darren McKay said. “We have a replay system and we thought he was in during the game, but there it confirmed he was in. He crossed the plane and he wasn’t down because he was on top of another player.”
Fourth down looked identical to third down with another pile near the goal line. Jefferson players ran off the field in celebration signaling that Beamer had not scored.
“That was a heck of a stand,” Zenisek said. “That was huge. I was proud. That gave us momentum going into the second half.”
Beamer had a chance at a safety right before the half ended, but Delacruz dove forward to get out of the endzone and the clock ran out for the half.
The second half belonged to the defenses.
Isaiah Lard took the opening kickoff of the half into Raiders territory. A couple of runs went for positive yardage, but then a toss went errant on third down and forced the Titans to punt.
Jefferson was stopped quickly, but the following Beamer drive ended in nearly the same fashion as their first of the half.
They drove down to the Raiders’ 12 yard line, aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Jefferson. On fourth-and-three, they ran a toss play again that also went errant and they were forced to dive on the ball eight yards behind the line of scrimmage.
The teams traded a few possessions with the defense, yielding little if any yardage.
With just over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, another Jefferson drive stalled. On fourth down, they decided to run a fake punt. Dom Santos caught the pass for the Raiders two yards past the first down marker to keep the drive alive.
Again the Beamer coaches thought the refs blew another call as they were adamant that Santos was lined up at the right tackle position and was therefore an ineligible receiver.
“We don’t cover ineligible receivers,” McKay said. “But those were just two calls. That’s what I told our players. We gotta be better than that. We have to be better than the calls going against you.”
Jefferson was able to bleed down more of the clock in the fourth quarter after the conversion. Still, they were unable to score.
The Titans took over with 6:28 left in the quarter. They were stuffed on three straight plays and forced to punt again.
The final highlight of the game was surprisingly a punt. Delacruz pinned the punt down on the one-yard line from Jefferson’s side of the field.
Beamer had two timeouts, but were unable to put anything together in their own endzone. They went three-and-out and took a safety.
The Raiders recovered the onside kick. A couple of plays later, Turner broke loose for a 15-yard run to end the game.
Jefferson held Beamer to just 20 yards of offense in the second half. Justin Madden led the defense with 12 tackles, two for a loss and a sack.
The Titans rushing attack was not as potent without their leading rusher Andrew Tofaeono. Tofaeono played some defense in the first quarter, but an injury kept him sidelined for the remainder of the game.
“The defense really came to play today against a really solid football team,” Zenisek said. “I thought they were going to be more physical than us, but we held our ground and did a great job. We gotta still keep playing and take it a game at a time. Last time out we were flat against Mount Rainier after a big emotional game against [Federal Way]. I’m going to challenge them to not come out flat again.”
Turner ran for 105 yards on 19 carries. He also recorded six tackles and a sack on the night. He has also scored a touchdown in each game this season.
Jefferson clinched the top seed from the South Puget Sound League Northwest with Decatur’s loss to Mount Rainier on Saturday. They can finish undefeated in league play with a win over the Gators on Oct. 22.
Todd Beamer (4-2, 1-1) will try to regroup against Decatur (0-6, 0-2) tonight at 7 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium. They are still in the running for the second place spot in the South Puget Sound League Northwest, which is guaranteed a playoff spot.
Thomas Jefferson (4-2, 3-0) will play a non-league game at home against Kentridge (2-4) on Thursday.
