3A Football | Skyline finds a way to beat O'Dea, 42-35

TACOMA — When it came time to give the prayer and the speech after this improbable comeback, Skyline didn't go to its increasingly legendary coach, Steve Gervais, whose sixth state title might have been the most exciting.

Instead, when the Spartans huddled after a 42-35 come-from-way-behind victory in the Class 3A championship game, those duties fittingly fell to linebacker Eric Biege.

Biege — the senior who last spring gave up the quarterback position so the Spartans' young phenom, Jake Heaps, could take over — made the play that made this comeback from a 28-7 deficit reality. And the state championship unfolded just the way Biege surely pictured it last spring — with him scoring the pivotal TD.

"Eric Biege," Gervais said, "is all team."

With more than six minutes left, O'Dea lined up for a field goal leading 35-28 and poised to take a two-score lead. In a fluke play that O'Dea coach Monte Kohler labeled a "communication problem," Irish kicker Pat Farricker missed the ball by so much the Skyline players said it must have been a fake.

Skyline's Anthony DeMatteo hit O'Dea holder Dillon Moyer and knocked the ball loose, and Biege scooped it up.

"I had a open field ahead of me," Biege said.

With its field-goal team on the field, O'Dea's fastest players were on the sideline. No one caught Biege as he took it 74 yards for the touchdown that led to a tie score at 35-35 with 6 minutes, 12 seconds left.

"It wasn't the fastest 80 yards, but he got there," Gervais said.

Skyline forced O'Dea into a three-and-out on the next possession, and the Spartans took over with 3:52 left. After a pass-interference penalty on O'Dea, Heaps threw a 16-yard pass that freshman Kasen Williams held onto, even as O'Dea's Johri Fogerson gave him the hardest hit of the night.

"For a freshman, that was a senior catch right there," Heaps said.

Then, with 1:44 left, Tyler Washburn ran in an 8-yard touchdown that gave Skyline its first and only lead. The Spartans not only overcame a 21-point deficit. They also survived a Class 3A championship-game-record 297 rushing yards by Fogerson.

"That's about the gutsiest performance I've seen in a team I've coached," said Gervais, who has coached for 31 years.

The Spartans trailed 21-7 at halftime, and when Fogerson ran for his fourth touchdown with 9:44 left in the third quarter to put O'Dea ahead 28-7, the Spartans faced their largest deficit of the season.

Skyline (14-0) had to punt on its next possession, giving O'Dea the ball with the three-score lead.

"We need to come out and play the football we know how to play," Heaps told teammates as they walked off the field.

On the first play of O'Dea's next possession, Skyline forced Fogerson to fumble, and the Spartans recovered at the Irish 17. On the next play, Washburn ran for a TD on an option, cutting the lead to 28-14.

Then Heaps went to work. After an O'Dea punt, Skyline went 72 yards in two plays: a 43-yard pass from Heaps to Williams, followed by a 29-yard touchdown pass to Gino Simone, who caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and beat the entire O'Dea defense to the end zone to leave Skyline trailing only 28-21.

"That's Gino," Gervais said. "He's lightning in a bottle."

O'Dea (13-1) went back ahead 35-21 on a 5-yard run by Donny Lisowski. But on the next drive, Heaps threw for 51 yards, leading to a 9-yard Washburn touchdown run with nine minutes left.

"Jake is unreal," Simone said. "He's one in 100."

As it turned out, both of the competitors for Skyline's quarterback position last spring made pivotal plays to produce a state championship. Biege had the critical touchdown return, and Heaps threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns.

"That's as good of a performance I've ever seen from a quarterback who's played for me," Gervais said.

Tom Wyrwich: 206-515-5653 or twyrwich@seattletimes.com

O — Johri Fogerson 1 run (Pat Farricker kick)

S — Gino Simone 20 pass from Jake Heaps (Jon Hardwick kick)

O — Fogerson 13 run (Farricker kick)

O — Fogerson 72 run (Farricker kick)

O — Fogerson 40 run (Farricker kick)

S — Tyler Washburn 17 run (Hardwick kick)

S — Simone 29 pass from Heaps (Hardwick kick)

O — Donald Lisowski 6 run (Farricker kick)

S — Washburn 9 run (Hardwick kick)

S — Eric Biege 74 fumble return (Hardwick kick)

S — Washburn 9 run (Hardwick kick)

Rushing — O'Dea, J. Fogerson 30-297, Z. Fogerson 11 35, D. Lisowski 11-33, D. Moyer 1 minus-19. Skyline, T. Washburn 9-45, J. Heaps 5 minus-18.

Passing — O'Dea, D. Lisowski 6-8 70, J. Fogerson 0-1; Skyline, J. Heaps 19-30-1 287.

Receiving — O'Dea, C. Gayton 2-12, S. Van Gaver 1-18, J. Fogerson 2-19, Z. Fogerson 1-21. Skyline, G. Simone 9-122, K. Williams 5-106, T. Washburn 1-7, P. Tushar 2-7, C. Lusuegro 1-31, J. Knecht 1-14.

Class 1B

Almira-Coulee- Hartline 38, Odessa 14

Friday

Class 2A

Burlington-Edison (12-1), Prosser (13-0)

Today, 10 a.m.

Class 1A

Royal (13-1), Connell (13-0)

Today, 1 p.m.

Class 2B

DeSales (12-0), Toutle Lake (11-2)

Today, 4 p.m.

Class 4A

Bothell (13-0), Lewis and Clark (10-2)

Today, 7:30 p.m., FSN

Information in this article, originally published Dec. 1, 2007, was corrected Dec. 3, 2007. A previous version of this story contained an error. In the Class 3A state championship, it was Skyline's Anthony DeMatteo who made a key hit to cause a fumble with six minutes remaining. In the original version of this article, the hit was attributed to someone else.