OK, so Todd Beamer looked clumsy again, off-kilter as a crane fly flying into a light, playing Puyallup, getting stung again and again, and again..., losing, 50-0, at Federal Way Memorial Friday.

“They came out and played hard,” said Titans head coach Gem Abe afterward.

The Vikings fought harder, and were just plain bigger and more physical. It was better not to be the Titans in battle on this night. Even the Puyallup student body drowned out the Todd Beamer fans trying, too, to cheer. But the craning of their necks at the scoreboard time and again must have taken a lot out of them. They were out-cheered for sure.

But the game.

“I think our kids were physically outmanned for it,” said Abe.

It was 40-0 at halftime.

Ouch. The truth hurts. And, really replying to the question of trying hard or not, Tyler Enos, a 5-5 155 senior captain, said what he could to will things a conscionable right way.

Play hard?

“Oh, God,” he said. “We try to. Just limited on guys.”

Enos, by the way, took seventh place at state wrestling last year in the Tacoma Dome. He worked hard out there.

Sounds, too, like an exclamation to the big guy above?

Maybe that is what this football program needs: Prayer.

The Titans football program is...

“Struggling,’ said Enos, filling in the blank. “We are struggling.”

But there is a reason for that struggle and that should give this program some hope.

“We are just getting the program going.We are still a new program, five years,” said Enos, a 5-5, 155 running back and linebacker for his team.

That’s true. Todd Beamer’s only been around a handful of years as a school, coming to life in south Federal Way five years ago.

It takes time to develop, like, say, Puyallup, those Viks! The Viks have a couple Kingbowl state championships under their belt in the last two decades as well as a consistently strong SPSL playoffs program in football for years and years now.

“They got a good JV program,” said Abe. “They have a good feeder program, around 100 kids in their program, 50 on JV and another 50 on varsity. It takes time to develop that.”

Puyallup has that tradition of being good year in and year out.

“It is hard to get tradition when you don’t have it,” said Abe.

The Titans traditionally have a lot less than 100 for their football program.

“We have around 40-45,” said Abe.

On the varsity?

“Total,” said Abe, “JV and varsity. We are trying to develop and establish a program here. We need to be doing off-season stuff, in the weight room, running, other things.”

It sounds like the Titans just are not trying hard enough. And, being undedicated in the spring from not trying hard enough will carry over to meaning not doing well in the fall for football...no matter how hard one tries.

Enough gloom and doom. Let’s get to the game.

Enos had a nice 6-yard carry on one play in the third quarter to get inside the Viks’ 35-yard line.

“I only carried the ball two times,” said Enos.

Maybe then the highlight of this game for the Titans, keep in mind we really have to search here for “those.” Maybe something to talk about was Titans kicker Zach Hoffman, setting up for a field goal and taking the kick from 35-yards out...and making it! Oh, wait, a player was not on the field when he should have been, or, the other way around, so a penalty.

Who was that player?

“Oh, you mean, when I was not on the field,” said Enos, “and we didn’t have enough guys.”

Yep, penalty. Well, at least Enos was honest. That was not known until he said his error of subsitution after the game.

So, after being backed up five yards from the penalty, Hoffman tried it again. And made the field goal! From 40 yards out!! But, alas, again, there was a penalty. Hoffman was backed up some more.

“And barely missed,” said Enos, sighing. “Dang it. Close as we got to scoring.”

The only other true highlight was senior 5-7, 165 Isaiah Syph, a speedy wide receiver/defensive back on offense and defense, respectively. And he does a pretty good job on special teams, too, as he took a kickoff and returned it up the middle and down the right sideline 82 yards to the Viks’ 20-yard line. But then the three and out came. Well, actually, this was the field position start that allowed Hoffman to try that field goal kick.

Oh well. There is still hope for this season in games to come for the Titans to make a turnaround, of some consolation.

Games?

Let’s just say “game.”

Next up is Curtis for Todd Beamer and the sting of losing to Puyallup can all but be sweet-swept away with a win over Curtis. Not that beating Curtis should be considered very hopeful for a win. Curtis is in second place, only having lost to Graham-Kapowsin who is first place in the South Puget Sound League South. Maybe, too, why Puyallup came out so hard, like a wasp ready to sting a crane fly, was because they lost last week to Graham-Kapowsin, 35-34, at their home. Puyallup needed to take that anger out on someone and that state football power made the Titans the subject of all that pent-up emotions.

“They were hungry from last week,” said Abe.

Hungry? Hmm, four words come to mind.

Fee Fi Fo Fum. The Viks just ate the Titans alive on the gridiron, enough chews that the Titans could effectively shut down motivationally for the rest of the season.

Let’s hope not.

Abe spoke after the game, told the players to “Have a good week of practice, and, come out hard for Curtis.”

Now is there any motivation at all in practicing hard for this week is a good question.

The answer is “You bet!”

“It is a big week ahead of us,” said Enos. “It’s homecoming. We got to win for homecoming, do everything we can. We win homecoming and I will be happy.”

That will make Enos’ season, and, only four games in, it should make a lot of these players’ seasons. No more motivation than that, their dates watching and a good portion of their classmates at that game.

Just a program in development, as Abe says, and it really is a lot less developed than traditionally strong programs like Viks and, Curtis’ which, too, has a Kingbowl or two trophy in their school display case.

Curtis comes to play Todd Beamer at Federal Way Memorial Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

In other action this past Friday, Federal Way scored a 48-6 win over homestanding and previously undefeated Kentlake, while Thomas Jefferson journeyed to Auburn and lost, 66-28.