Kennedy jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead on Liberty of Issaquah in a Class 3A football playoff opener at Highline Stadium Friday, but it disappeared like a morning mist in the second half.

“It’s 17-0, and we said let’s make it 17-7, then 17-14 and then 17-21,” said Liberty head coach Steve Valach. “It was a game of two halves.”

The last score change in that sequence came with 1:27 left on the fourth quarter clock.

Greg Ericksen struck on a 5-yard run and Keegan Bennett kicked the extra point to pad the lead to 21-17 - making it a field goal proof four-point advantage that the Patriots held.

That capped off a 14-play, 65-yard drive that received a big boost from a trick play in the middle. Trey Wheeler of Liberty lined up like he was making a punt, but threw it down field for a 21-yard gain and a first down instead.

“(Assistant coach) Brian Hartman said it’s been there the whole game,” said Valach, a former assistant at Thomas Jefferson. “He said it’s been there all night, let’s try it.”

Kennedy took control early and appeared to be headed for an expected win on the way deeper into state.

Thomas Morrell kicked a 25-yard field goal with 6:46 to play in the first quarter, then Tre Watson scored on a 25-yard run at 5:44 remaining in the second quarter. Morrell’s PAT made it 10-0.

What turned out to be the final touchdown for the Lancers came with 27 seconds left in the half. Nolan Washington scored on a 4-yard run and Morrell kicked successfully again for a 17-0 advantage.

Liberty rose to the fore in the second half, starting with a 26-yard catch by Ericksen from Wheeler with 1:10 left in the third quarter. Bennett made it 17-7 with a kick. Wheeler scored himself on a 21-yard run with 8:52 to go in the fourth quarter, then Ericksen ran in for the winning touchdown at 1:27 remaining.

Watson ran for 115 yards for JFK and Washington gained 93.

Kennedy 35, Camas 23

Kennedy proved it’s first-half, running-the-football, muscle would carry them to victory over their visiting southwest Washington foes from Camas, posting a 35-23 victory in a winner-to-state, bi-district playoff on the Highline Stadium turf Saturday, Nov. 9.

Camas came in as the No. 3 seed out of the 3A Greater St Helens League, with a 6-3 record, while the Lancers were ranked No. 3 in 3A poll rankings in the state of Washington, and came in as the No.1 seed from the Seamount League.

But Lancers head coach, Bob Bourgette, quickly put things in perspective.

“They’re a real good football team,” said Bourgette of Camas. Bourgette has taken Kennedy to the playoffs yearly for two decades plus, and the Lancers to only three losses in the league in the last 20 years.

“Camas is nine points from being undefeated,” said Bourgette. Camas has lost to quality competition, 41-38, to Columbia River this GSL season, and 27-26 to Evergreen (of Vancouver), Union, No. 4 ranked in the state just behind Kennedy, beat them 26-21.

Camas was good then, no doubt. How good? Took No. 4 Union to the wire a week before this game. With its 9-0 record on the line, and its league title, too, highly-ranked Union nipped Camas with a TD at the end of that game, giving Union the 3A GSL league title.

Kennedy was just better coming out of the gate in this game, having a completely focused first half that would deny Camas anything but being in catch-up mode the second half, which, ultimately, was to Camas’ undoing.

Just having to do too much in half two to catch up to what Kennedy did in half one was too much to do.

And what did Camas have to do to catch up?

Washington and Watson, Kennedy’s dynamic duo rushing the football, that’s what Camas had to do to get back in this game. And they couldn’t do it. Washington and Watson were too much.

Those two, Washington and Watson, touched the football an awful lot in the first half, carrying the pigskin 22 times between them for 194 yards. Breaking it down, Watson ran 12 times for 100 yards and Washington was 10-for-94. That was the biggest difference in this game as Washington and Watson also were instrumental on defense, too, keeping Camas’ passing game minimal in the first half from their safety and cornerback spots.

“Those couple guys got it done,” said Bourgette.

Camas broke into the scoring column quickly, with 9:27 left in the first quarter, striking for a field goal and a 3-0 lead. Kennedy countered that 6-play, 63-yard, 2:29 time of possession Camas’ scoring drive with a long drive of its own, coming with better results than Camas’. Washington’s 42-yard QB keeper run was the biggest play of that drive, coming halfway through the 10 play drive that took the ball from Kennedy’s own 35 to the Camas 23. Two plays later, off this drive that started at Kennedy’s own 3-yard line, Watson bounced in for a 3-yard TD run. That made it 7-3 Lancers with kicker Thomas Morrell making this and all extra-points after this.

Camas got the ball back for its next possession only until Washington intercepted a pass on the eighth play of that drive. Kennedy did fumble the ball then on its possession, but recovered it, then scoring on Watson’s one-yard run that made it 14-3. This drive took seven plays and went 58 yards in 3:53.

Camas’ next drive stalled after eight plays and they punted, with still 8:03 on the clock in the second quarter and Kennedy scored again on a nine-play, 97-yard drive taking 4:37, capped by Washington running it in from the 1-yard line to make it 21-3.

And, with the ball on its next possession, Camas’ drive went nowhere in five plays so they punted again. However, Kennedy’s ensuing drive stalled after four straight plays, too, so they punted. Starting at their own 20, Camas got in a 22-yard pass on first and 10 and a 13-yard pass on another first and 10.

What came next on this pivotal drive with 1:30 left in the second quarter until halftime?

Watson. He stepped in front of an intended pass for a Camas wide receiver deep down the right side and took it back the other way 65 yards into the end zone to make it 28-3, Kennedy.

The second half had a little scare for the Lancers, who saw their star running, option quarterback go down on the field a few minutes into the third quarter.

“Nolan was a little banged up in there,” said Bourgette. “He came out and did a great job.”

In the second half’s third quarter, Washington came out of the game literally, being shaken up, out for a play or two. Camas scored to make it 28-10 with nine minutes to go in that frame. It was a 20-yard run-in, taking 2:27 of time, in seven plays, as the scoreboard clock showed 9:23 left in the third quarter.

“I got tweaked a little bit,” said Washington, adding, “But I wasn’t going to come out I told myself regardless of how I felt.”

Camas continued to roll, Washington or no Washington in the game, as their GSL All-League running back, junior Craig Beasley, went hog-wild carrying the football in the second half. Beasley ran pretty well in the first half, with 12 carries for 103 yards, but the Lancers shut him down in the red zone, not allowing any critical scores off those yards. Not true in the second half as Beasley ran and ran, to the tune of 236 yards on 23 total carries for the game. Broken down, he ran for 131 yards on 11 carries in the second half with two TDs.

The first of his scores came on Camas’ next possession right after their first TD score just as Beasley ran from his team’s 22-yard line all the way to the end zone for a 78-yard, one-play drive that had Camas right back in this game, down 28-17 with plenty of football left -- 5:21 in the third quarter.

Back-and-forth ball was the way things went then. Though Beasley ran strong and ran for a lot of yards there was no more scoring, with the biggest help to the Lancers being a Washington interception with 9:45 left in the fourth quarter to stall Camas’ comeback try.

But Camas was not done, scoring with five minutes left in the game, Beasley went 20 yards on a run into end zone. A big victory came next for Kennedy, however, as keeping Camas from scoring on its two-point conversion try was huge. So the score was 28-23 instead of 28-25, with Camas needing to get the ball back and get more than just a field goal to continue its season past this game.

But Kennedy, behind Watson’s good ball-control rushing a couple of times was followed by Washington carrying the ball on a third down and two, breaking a tackle and sprinting past one last hope for Camas into the clear for a 55-yard TD to make it 35-23.

“I knew if I had one guy to beat I was going to score it,” said Washington, who likes this kind of pressure and excitement.

“I love playing football,” said Washington, who ran 15 times for 184 yards. “Games like this I live for.”

Watson ran 20 times for 145 yards, but was stopped, like Washington in the second half getting less than half his total. Washington, too, was slowed way down in the second half by Camas, getting that long 55-yard run to seal the win but before that being keyed on by the Camas defense.

--Sports correspondent Ed Shepherd contributed the Camas portion of this report.