Decatur was never really there, despite a large throng of students on this homecoming game night.

There was another team there, the Rogers Rams, who came out on fire, definitely more hungry, and pursuant to blow the Gators out of the water, 37-6, on the Federal Way Memorial turf Friday night.

"We never got going in this game," said Decatur head coach Leon Hatch.

The Rams did, butting to a 7-0 lead before the game was two minutes old. A six-play, 68-yard drive took all of 1:16 to go down, giving the Del Taco scoreboard a number for the visitor at the 10:44 mark as Graham Madelyn hit Donovan Goode going up the middle, unmarked, past the secondary's last man back-safety.
 
Alex Bykovskiy, the Gators’ quarterback, threw for zero yards in the first quarter on 0-for-1 passing, the running game went six yards in five tries, negative yards carrying the ball on a couple of those. Just plain not there.

"I don't know what happened," said Bykovskiy. "We didn't come ready to play from the beginning."

The Rams scored again, following Bykovskiy throwing an interception, in still the first quarter, with a 3-yard run that made it 14-0, with 3:45 left.

The Gators looked to have a good drive going then off a good Mike Klavuhn return, but it stalled on a fumble.

Goode was good again for the Rams, hooking up with Madelyn's throw over the middle again that went for 75 yards and another Rams touchdown and made it 21-0 with a couple minutes past the first quarter. The Gators scored with five minutes left in the second quarter on a Bykovskiy to J.T. Koontz catch.

The 6-9 Koontz almost made another catch a little earlier for a score but the ball went through his hands. This time he grabbed hold of the pigskin leather in the end zone, after having deceptively lined up at the line of scrimmage with all the linemen and then floating 10 yards out.

"I am just trying to help my team get a win," said Koontz, a junior, who is a transfer from Federal Way. With his athleticism -- he played both ways, including at tight end, and, on the line --and running ability for a big man, watch out rest of the SPSL, this kid is for real if he can handle the ball on the b-ball court with any kind of prowess at all.

He might even start to make some noise for this Gators team and give all those jubilant fans something to really go coco puffs over.

Koontz knew he missed a pass or two, too, like the one that almost was caught but hit his hands. That one was a miscommunication, too, it looked as Dominic Samuels looked to be the intended receiver and may have caught it there. And it would have made the score 21-14 still midway through the 2nd quarter.

But Koontz is another story, one of the Kevin Olson coached boys basketball team members that took FW to OT two years ago at state and, with Marcus Tibbs and Cam Schilling leading the way, got to state again.

Koontz shows his maturity though.

"I missed some things out there," said Koontz. "We will clean that up in practice Monday."

So, football, there is some promise still for this team if guys can keep Bykovskiy from being sacked. Yes, he was 0-for-1 in the first quarter but he looked like a mouse in a field of cats (Rogers defense) too.

The Rams ran in another 18-yard score in the third quarter to make it 28-6. Then a 32-yarder went in for the final score.

There was such promise to this Gators’ season no doubt. They beat Emerald Ridge their first game then upset Puyallup at Puyallup.

This was a football program in this southwest Federal Way school that knew why they were out there -- to play as a team, to have each others backs, to follow their coach's game plan, protect their QB like he was their mamma, to open up holes for running backs, etc.

But then a loss to Spanaway Lake, a close one, 28-21, and, then an even closer loss to Bethel was definitely demoralizing these Gator football young men. The Bethel game was killer.

"We were tied 28-28 and they made a field goal with only four seconds left," said Hatch.

It sounds like Hatch there is saying that his team could have won that game if they only had more time there on the clock. But there was not.

Hatch believes in his team but he is seeing them not believing in his system.

"We are still trying to build a program here," said Hatch, who took Mount Tahoma from winless to wonderful, making the playoffs his final fifth season there a couple years ago now back in 2007.

He's been the Gators’ head coach for this his second season and things are just not quite going right yet.

A TD loss and a FG loss in games of late, and, please, forget about this Rams game, and, yes, it shows this team can be right in there, fighting for the win.