Now TJ, Decatur and Kentridge.

Only those football teams stand in the way of the Federal Way Eagles' return to prominence in the South Puget Sound League after what was an awesome night of spoiling the traditional power Kentwood Conquerors' homecoming night with a 17-13 win at French Field in Kent Thursday.

A return to prominence? Uh, yeah. Right.

"We haven't won a league championship since 1977, that's 30 years, I wasn't probably even wetting the bed then," said John Meagher, the colorful, soaked-wet, Eagles coach, probably some wetness from sweat of leading the troops from the sidelines. But the wet mostly came from the Gatorade orange cooler thrown on him after the game by his joyous players knowing the league championship is within view.

It was a second straight win over Kentwood in as many years for the Eagles, but winning at Kentwood is a much different conquering than winning at Federal Way. Not many teams do that against the Conks. They are a team that did win the state title in both 2001 and 2002 not so long ago. They are still considered a class program in the state. But the Eagles made a ding in that tradition to be sure in this one.

"It was a good challenge," said Meagher. "It was a good job to the whole team. The offense and defense stepped it up to a big challenge that we overcame."

Conquered!

Not only did the Eagles beat the Conks, but they knocked out the Conks' star player by halftime, too. It was a replica much like the Seahawks that did the same to key players for Tampa Bay -- quarterback Jeff Garcia and RB Greg "Cadillac" Williams in the NFL three weeks ago. And also the Hawks knocked out San Francisco's quarterback Alex Smith last week.

So, Demitrius Bronson, a UW Husky recruit running back, ran for 169 yards on 15 carries through the first quarter and 10 minutes of the second before the Eagles' defense, led by defensive ends Marcus James, Andrew Pulu, Isaac Atimala, Justin Southern and Andre Barrington, put a hit on him near that end.

It was a pinball smack-smack team tackle that twisted Bronson all up, writhing in pain. He was on the turf a good 10 minutes as the Conks' faithful grew dead silent. But then he got up and started to jog off the field, pumping a fist in the air to the 4000 Conks fans in the standing-room-only stands.

Bronson did sit out rest of the two minutes left of the second quarter but then in the third quarter came back a play or two and did nothing. Tests showed of Bronson's injury it was a '"lower ankle sprain," but before the injury, let's face the facts, Bronson's last four runs were a human 3-yard gain and, 10, 4, 10, to note. Let's add it up. That is 27 yards, a less than four yard per carry average. That says the Eagles' "D" was figuring out how to stop the league star as the game progressed. Bronson had exactly 100 yards in the first quarter rushing on seven carries, an over 8 yard per run average.

So why didn't the Eagles' defense just roll over after a 100 yard first quarter rushing on them? Well, the Eagles led 10-6 after the first quarter, thanks to a Kelyn Rowe field goal from 37 yards away five minutes in. And, after the Conks scored next, 30 seconds later, to lead it at 6-3, and blocking the point-after, the Eagles scored a second TD of the quarter on a Justin Southern to Greylin James 8-yard strike. The possession took nine plays, went 79 yards, in 3:17, to make it 10-6, Eagles, with 1:43 left in the first quarter.

James, an Eagles senior lineman captain, was without his other captain, Aaron Broussard, in this game, which, to note too, makes this win all the more impressive for the Eagles. Because, in addition, the Eagles beat Tahoma last week with Barrington also out from a same sprained ankle injury as Broussard. So the Eagles, even missing stars, are shining.

"I feel like we stepped up to the challenge. At first it was upsetting him (Bronson) getting so many yards. But I knew I could rely on my teammates," said James. "We are ready for anything."

Stopping Bronson, progressively, from rushing for as many yards as the game went along, is a good kind of ready for sure.

So, up 10-6, for the Eagles it was the Conks, scoring early in the second quarter. And it was another Bronson run-in from 20 yards away that made it 13-10, Conks, with 10 minutes to go in the second.

But the Eagles came back after halftime and did not let being down on the scoreboard do anything but get them up to start the third quarter.

After stopping the Conks a couple possessions and being stopped themselves to open the third quarter, the Eagles were not denied as a four play, 74-yard drive taking 1:58 developed into a TD pass trickery play as Barrington took a direct snap and Southern instead of catching the hike ran out to the corner of the end zone. Barrington struck the throw perfectly in the numbers to make it 17-13, Eagles.

"We struggled at the beginning and then our whole defense stepped up and finished in the second half," said Southern. "And that's our motto, 'finish.'"

The momentum was shifting to the Eagles who would hold off the Conks the rest of the third quarter. And then in the fourth, with the clock ticking down to a minute and a half going to third and seven, the Eagles could have called an easy possession run to Barrington. And then punt on fourth down. But they didn't. Instead, the hike went to Barrington who threw another perfect strike downfield to a wide open Montrel Walton, who caught the ball in stride and went 81 yards to all but end this one.

The season is not over, though. Three games in the SPSL North are left to play, and Southern knows it.

"We still have to take it one game at a time, and can't get our heads too high," said Southern, who threw for 180 yards and a TD on 10-for-19 passing. "We are not going to look ahead on anybody."

And James knows it.

"I still feel we have some work to do," said James. "We are going to get through it, all the adversity. It's always fun to work with a team that likes to work hard and get to the top.".

The Eagles do still have three games left. Rivalry games can often be thrown out the window for picking a winner or loser. They, as in Decatur or TJ, would love nothing more than to knock their rivals a notch from the top. Just look at the Apple Cup. How many times have the Cougars knocked the Huskies out of the Rose Bowl, and, vice versa?

Of course, losing these last three games would likely take the Eagles out of the playoffs, but that is not likely.