Over the last three weeks, Skyline has found a pretty successful formula — crush an opponents’ spirit early, and cruise to the finish.
The Spartans, who have outscored their last three playoff opponents 133-14 in the first two quarters, thumped previously undefeated Curtis 49-14 in a 4A state quarterfinal matchup Saturday night in University Place.
“We’re just doing our jobs out there,” senior lineman Jase Butorac said. “That’s what we’re coached — just do our jobs and everything will fall into place.”
Skyline rattled off 35 points in the first quarter alone, and led 49-0 at halftime.
“We had confidence offensively in our game plan,” head coach Mat Taylor said. “To say that there’s any thought it would have been like it was, that was unexpected. We felt good going into the game. We felt if we executed everything we could things would go our way.”
The Spartans wasted no time getting on the board. They marched 72 yards in the first 1 minute, 22 seconds, capping it off with a 4-yard touchdown run from senior running back Nick Washburn. The play was set up by a 43-yard pass from Jake Heaps to Connor Brandt.
Heaps credited Skyline’s recent fast starts to a change in attitude after losing 25-20 to Bothell on Oct. 29.
“We had to change the way we practiced, we had to change the mentality of of how we approach each day,” he said. “Our guys have really welcomed the challenge, and really welcomed the opportunity in the playoffs.”
After taking the early lead, Skyline used a slew of Curtis miscues to its advantage — something Taylor said they’d been unable to do earlier in the season.
“That’s something that we’ve needed, and it’s something I couldn’t be more excited that it’s happening at this time of the year,” he said.
Two interception returns placed Skyline at the Curtis 21- and 9-yard lines. The Spartans had answers for both. Heaps found wide receiver Kasen Williams on a 21-yard go-route for a touchdown, and Wasburn broke into the end zone for a 9-yard score. A Viking fumble resulted in a 9-play, 47 yard drive, capped off by a touchdown pass from Heaps to Cooper Pelluer. Running back Nick Beauchamp also added a first-quarter score, breaking loose on a counter left for a 16-yard TD.
Curtis continued to shoot itself in the foot in the second quarter. A botched snap from their own 29, sailed over the punter’s head and was downed at the Viking 2. One play later, Heaps rushed in for a touchdown and a 42-0 lead with 8:03 left in the first half.
Heaps, who sat out the entire second half, found Williams for an 8-yard TD with 4:11 left in the first half. The BYU-bound quarterback completed 10 of 19 passes for 149 yards and three TDs.
The Spartans were able to rest the majority of their starters in the second half — something Taylor welcomed.
“We’ve got some kids who are dinged up, so it was good to get them some rest,” he said.
Skyline improved to 10-2 with the victory. They will face Bothell (12-0) at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 29 at the Tacoma Dome in the state semifinals.
“We just have to practice hard this week and have a really good week,” Butorac said. “We can’t lose focus because they’re a great team. As you can see, they beat us already. They’re very good. We’ve just got to come out focused and work hard this week.”
Heaps agreed.
“The opportunity to get a chance to play a team we lost against, there’s nothing better than that,” he said. “We have the opportunity to prove to ourselves that we can come back. It’s going to take a lot of work, they’re a great team. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
