The End Zone

I covered all three KingCo 4A football crossover games last week at Pop Keeney Stadium in Bothell, starting with the Thursday’s KingCo championship — Skyline vs. Bothell.

The Cougars’ 25-20 victory over the Spartans gave them the No. 1 seed and potential home-field advantage through the state quarterfinals. While the game came down to the wire, it was sloppy. Both teams turned the ball over four times, resulting in eight total turnovers. Skyline, which fumbled four times, had three turnovers on its own side of the 50 — two of those were inside its 20.

Bothell quarterback Mitchell Muller threw three interceptions, while Skyline’s Jake Heaps continually had problems receiving snaps from center. He fumbled a snap at the Cougar 28 with 6 minutes left in the game, with the Spartans up 20-19. Bothell made Skyline pay, driving 72 yards for the winning score.

Bothell was the better team that night, but am I sold that they’re the top team in the state? Not fully. Most of Skyline’s turnovers were self-inflicted, not to mention they put the Cougars in great scoring position. The Spartans still have the edge over Bothell at most positions, with the exception of the offensive and defensive lines where they are evenly matched. These same two squads will likely square off again in a few weeks in the state semifinals at the Tacoma Dome. That game will answer all questions.

Here are some quotes from Thursday that didn’t make the story.

Skyline quarterback Jake Heaps
“I think we’ve kind of taken things for granted. Our wins, our losses … we took them for granted. From the Oaks game we didn’t learn. We said ‘Hey that was the No. 1 team in California and so be it.’”

“Hopefully we can take care of our business one game at a time. That’s something that we’ve got to preach and take care of now. This is the state playoffs, you can’t take anybody lightly in the state playoffs, and hopefully we see these guys again.”

Skyline head coach Mat Taylor
“(Bothell) did a great job. They’re well coached. I have so much respect this program. It’s very similar to ours. I know our coaching staff respects them, and I know they respect us. There’s a potential that we’re going to play them again.”

Bothell head coach Tom Bainter
“The fun thing about this game is you can go back and look at film and say ‘We can get better.’ And they’re going to do the same thing.”