The best football season in Todd Beamer history wasn’t supposed to end like this.
After leading the North Puget Sound League in points allowed (13.1 per game), having a league-leader in sacks and an eight-win season, the Titans power run game struggled against Bellarmine Prep, resulting in a 17-2 loss on Saturday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium in the first round of the 4A district playoffs.
Bellarmine advances to take on undefeated Lake Stevens. The Titans’ season has come to an end.
Todd Beamer (8-2) opened the game against Bellarmine Prep (7-3) with a safety, and another impressive performance appeared to be in the works. But a stubborn Lions defense didn’t allow for the Beamer running lanes to open, stalling the Titans’ game plan.
“Bellarmine did a really nice job,” Todd Beamer coach Darren McKay said. “They did a nice job in the second half. For us, we had to score points and we didn’t score points. It’s tough to win a playoff game if you can’t do that.”
It was Beamer who went into the locker room leading 2-0 at halftime after Bellarmine receiver Parker Edwards muffed a Titans punt on the 1-yard line and Beamer defender Kuma Scanlon recovered the fumble in the end zone.
The halftime adjustments for both teams were simple: Whichever coach best changed the game plan for his team wins.
It proved to be Lions coach Brian Jensen.
Jensen had the Bellarmine offense go up-tempo, and the hurry-up scheme proved to be too much for Beamer.
“We just went up-tempo to try anything, really. Just wanted to get some rhythm going,” Jensen said. “Our guys really responded and it worked for us.”
It worked particularly well for Lions running back Czarshay Thomas.
Thomas led the way for Bellarmine Prep with 219 rush yards and a touchdown. His touchdown gave the Lions the 7-2 lead in the third quarter after he took a handoff up the right hash marks for a 10-yard touchdown run.
Bryce Bendixen gave Bellarmine a 10-2 lead on a 25-yard field goal on its next possession. Christian Moore added the final touchdown for the Lions on a goal-line touchdown run with 6 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game.
“You just got to beat the guy across from you,” McKay said. “And there were times where we were missing the line, and that’s because Bellarmine does some things to try to get you to miss the line. Depth was important, and we didn’t have that. We had guys getting tired, and we don’t get tired. They did a good job of putting us in some positions we weren’t used to.”
The unfamiliar position of being down in a game for just the second time this season, in addition to the postseason atmosphere, caused Beamer’s frustration to boil over. With less than five minutes to play, Titans linebacker Lincoln Mitchel-Liulama, the team’s captain and sack-leader, had enough.
Mitchel-Liulama was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after coming in for a late hit with the ball inside the Beamer 15 yard line. After exchanging words with the referee, he was hit with a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and was ejected from the game.
McKay said it was a very uncharacteristic moment for his defensive captain, adding that, despite the score, the incident should never have gone that far.
“It’s simple: You just keep your mouth shut,” McKay said of the ejection. “(Lincoln) was walking away. So you should maybe let that one go, but you just got to keep your mouth shut. It’s frustrating, yes – he was frustrated, he was being held on the play. He throws one flag, you just have to shut your mouth and walk away.”
McKay promptly took a timeout after the ejection, saying later it was to allow players to cool down and to try and get his defense to regain its focus.
The Titans had a “next-man-up” mentality all season. With Mitchel-Liulama’s leadership gone and with little time left, it was Scanlon who stepped in to be the the vocal leader.
When Beamer broke McKay’s huddle, Scanlon yelled words of encouragement to his teammates.
“Keep your head up! We’re still playing; there’s still time on that clock!” Scanlon yelled to teammates. “Keep fighting. The game’s not over!”
But it was too little too late for the Titans.
Bellarmine ran out the clock with an assortment of short run plays and quarterback kneel-downs, ending Beamer’s storied season.
McKay said that, despite the loss, he was proud of this year’s Titans, a team that was in the top three in rushing offense (222.9 yards per game) and total defense (217.6 yards allowed per game) in the NPSL.
He said the hardest part of the season now was coming up with the right words to tell his talented, nearly unbeaten team that there would be no tomorrow.
“We are proud of them. It’s just going to be hard to say it to them and it have any effect on them right now,” McKay said. “As time goes on they’ll appreciate it more and we’ll appreciate it more. But we are proud of them.”
Federal Way falls to Lake Stevens
The Federal Way Eagles traveled to Lake Stevens in the first round of the 4A district playoffs, and the Eagles fell 42-10 to the Vikings.
Federal Way (5-5) struggled to put points on the board in the loss to Lake Stevens (10-0). The Eagles had two possessions in the first half where they were inside the Vikings’ 10-yard line but were unable to convert points.
Federal Way attempted to punt late in the first half, but Lake Stevens defender David Carter blocked the punt and ran it back for the touchdown, giving the Vikings the 28-3 halftime lead.
Lake Stevens quarterback Conor Bardue had a memorable night, completing 10 of 16 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown. Vikings running back Blake May also had an impressive night, rushing for 217 yards on 26 carries and notching three touchdowns.
