Thomas Jefferson High's 47-6 win over Mount Rainier on Friday, Oct. 21 in Federal Way turned out to be one for the history books.
The victory enabled the Raiders to clinch a South Puget Sound League 4A football postseason berth for the first time in their 43-year existence, dating back to when Lyndon Baines Johnson was president in 1968.
Division-1 college prospect and senior quarterback K.W. Williams whirled and whooshed for 201 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns in Jefferson's watershed victory on a wet homecoming night at Memorial Stadium.
"It's been a long time coming," said Jefferson coach Dean Peck of the playoff bid. "The whole school's excited."
Mount Rainier (0-6 in league, 1-7 overall) made a little history of its own last week, ending a 21-game losing streak dating back to 2009 with a 35-30 win over Spanaway Lake.
In their loss against Jefferson (5-3, 5-3), however, the Rams showed all the flaws of a prep program in the rebuilding process. They squandered opportunities to get any kind of momentum going by making mental and physical mistakes and let the game slip away early.
Mount Rainier junior quarterback Logan Wagner shocked the Raiders with a 65-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tavess Vontress on the game's second play from scrimmage and the Rams' lone score of the night.
"It was a play-action pass and we scored," said first-year Rams coach Scott Leick, who was an offensive tackle on the Don James-coached University of Washington's 1991 National Champion team. "We just couldn't follow up."
Jefferson's Williams, who is the SPSL's leading rusher with nearly 1,000 yards gained on the ground, was just too much to handle for the Rams defense. The elusive and quick 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback scored on 10-yard TD and conversion runs to give the Raiders an 8-6 lead.
After a Rams' three-and-out series was marred by two back-to-back penalties and put them deep in a hole, Williams capitalized again, scoring on a scintillating 80-yard TD run to make it 14-6.
Williams, operating out of the shotgun from his own 20-yard line and ever-patient for his blockers to open holes, cut back twice and found daylight down the right sideline and scored.
The Rams then put together their best sustained drive of the game, running off 13 plays.
Mount Rainier's variations of the Wing-T offense -- featuring a lot of misdirection on play-fakes, fly sweeps and counter traps -- was deftly executed by Wagner, the quarterback, until an errant bad snap and fumble killed the drive at the Jefferson 29.
Junior sophomore running back Amani Brown had gained 26 yards on four carries and caught one pass for 17 yards to help keep the drive going. The Rams moved to the Raiders' 7 before losing the ball on a bad-snap fumble on a 2-and-8 play.
"Sometimes we're a little inconsistent with getting our snaps down," said the 6-foot-5 Leick, who still looks like he can play. "We look good for so long and then we let the air out of it a little bit.
"It all has to come together (Wing-T concept): blocking and motion. It takes time. The important thing is the kids enjoy doing it. And if they enjoy doing it, they'll only get better at it."
Senior running back Demetrius Locke, the SPSL's fifth-leading rusher with 736 yards on 113 carries, was held in check by Jefferson's stingy defense, gaining only 36 yards on nine carries. The Rams finished with only 68 rushing yards and 91 passing yards.
It was Locke and Brown who figured largely in the Rams' road win over Spanaway Lake Oct. 13 to break the losing streak at Art Crate Memorial Stadium.
Locke scored on a 5-yard run late in the fourth quarter to seal the big 35-30 win. Mount Rainier had trailed the Sentinels 30-14 going into the fourth quarter before Brown scored on a 13-yard TD run and recovered a fumble and ran 78 yards for a touchdown to cut the gap to 30-29.
"That was a lot of fun," said Leick. "The kids wanted it. So much of the game is about effort and attitude. We got some momentum and stepped up. We're young, we're learning and we'll get better. Part of it (building a program) is getting the bodies and having your players invested and willing to lift (weight training) all year. They will."
It wasn't long ago Peck, the Jefferson coach, was in a similar situation.
"It was kind of what we did," said Peck, who is in his fifth year at Jefferson. "We took our licks and finally got the right group of kids to buy in all the way down to the freshman level and now I'm fairly confident we'll be good next year, too.
"(Coach Leick) has the talent and his team is much improved," added Peck. "He's just got to do his thing and stick to his guns and in a few years it'll pay off."
Mount Rainier closes out the season against Tahoma at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Highline Stadium.
Jefferson takes on unbeaten Federal Way (8-0 and ranked eighth by the Associated Press last week) at Federal Way Memorial Stadium on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Raiders edged the Eagles 31-28 last year for the first time in many years, a win that really got their program rolling. The Raiders have already beaten perennial powerhouses Kentwood and Auburn this season, a rarity in recent Jefferson football history.
