As went the first play, so went the game for the Decatur football team.

The Gators lost the ball on a fumble on the opening in the Saturday, Sept. 19 action, leading to Spanaway Lake's first touchdown in an eventual 28-21 loss.

The opening kickoff landed behind a Decatur return man, who then lost sight of it as it bounced high and dropped right back down to the Federal Way Memorial Stadium Field Turf.

By that time the Sentinels were rushing in for the kill and they recovered the ball on the Decatur 29-yard line.

They lost the ball on downs at the 28 on an incomplete pass three plays later, but Decatur was still in the hole with the start on their ensuing possession.

The Gators lost ground to their 9-yard line on a 17-yard sack, then got 10 of the yards back on third down, but that left them still having to punt on fourth down.

Spanaway Lake took over the ball 26 yards from paydirt, and marched into the end zone on its eighth play.

The final play started only inches from the goal line, and Sentinels quarterback Josh Schultz punched it on on a keeper. Bryan Riedle booted the extra point and Spanaway Lake led, 7-0, with the clock worn down to 7-0 with 4:12 to play in the first quarter.

The Sentinels kept up the pressure, forcing the Gators to punt from their own 15-yard line at 2:46 remaining in the opening quarter.

Spanaway Lake took over on the Decatur 30, and Schultz fired off a 21-yard pass to D'Wan Edwards and handed off to Shey Patton for a 9-yard running touchdown.

Riedle's kick made it 14-0 at 2:23 remaining in the initial quarter.

The score stayed that way until the 19,7-second mark of the third quarter, when Patton waltzed through untouched for a 7-yard touchdown and handed the ball to the nearest official. Riedle kicked again for a 21-0 cushion.

Decatur finally broke through to score with 10:34 left in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Aleksandr Bykovskiy found Mike Klavuhn open across the middle in the end zone and fed the ball to him for a 17-yard score. Al Carlson's kick cut the score to 21-7.

Two interceptions and a fumble helped keep the Gators out of the end zone in the middle of the fourth quarter, and the Sentinels scored with 3:31 remaining.

Patton barrelled through the middle for a 17-yard touchdown and Riedle's kick increased the Spanaway Lake lead to 28-7.

Decatur scored twice in the remaining time to make things interesting.

Bykovskiy found Klavuhn for an 11-yard touchdown and ran for a two-point conversion that closed the gap to 28-15.

Spanaway Lake punted the ball back at 1:13 to play, and Decatur went from the Decatur 41 to a 20-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock.

Bykovskiy threw to Aaron Lee for a 20-yard touchdown pass right before clock went to :00. No kick was attempted since the game was already over, and the Sentinels left with a 28-21 win in hand.

Bykovskiy completed 17 of 39 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Cary Carver caught five passes for 60 yards.

Spanaway Lake's Patton ran 25 times for 126 yards.