3A Football | Peter Nguyen powers Bellevue to semifinals

BELLEVUE — They had lost two turnovers. Their running game had moved backward more than forward, and the wind knocked their passes out of the air like clay pigeons. But as the final minute of the first half ticked away, the Liberty Patriots at least had this: hope.

If they could stop one more play and keep Bellevue from scoring, they could go into halftime down only a touchdown.

But one more stop meant tackling Bellevue senior Peter Nguyen.

On Friday night, that was nearly impossible. Liberty couldn't do it with 20 seconds left in the half. Nguyen broke a tackle up the middle, cut to his right and raced to the end zone, and the Wolverines were on their way to a 35-7 victory in the Class 3A quarterfinals.

The 32-yard touchdown was one of seven Nguyen runs of 15 yards or more and was the second of his three touchdowns.

When Bellevue took the ball after halftime leading 14-0, Nguyen carried four times for 64 yards on the Wolverines' first drive. He plunged up the middle for a 5-yard touchdown. Without playing a down in the fourth quarter, Nguyen finished with 253 yards on 23 carries.

"It was on all adrenaline," he said.

Nguyen, a 1,000-yard rusher last season, missed five games this year with an injured knee before returning two weeks ago. He has been playing his way into shape since.

"Peter Nguyen, he's back," Bellevue safety Cam Warren exclaimed. "It's the comeback of Peter Nguyen."

With his return for the Wolverines' seventh semifinal trip in eight years, top-ranked Bellevue gets more dangerous. Nguyen is the quickest and most elusive back in the Wolverines' wing-T offense. Just don't try to get him to say that.

"He won't take any credit for anything," Bellevue defensive back Taylor Anderson said. "He'll always say 'good job' to the line." (To which Nguyen said, "The line opened up everything.")

In the semifinals next weekend, Bellevue (12-0) will face the winner of today's quarterfinal game between Capital of Olympia and East Valley of Spokane.

Two big throws put Liberty (9-3) in the red zone on its opening drive. But when the Patriots tried to kick a field goal for an early lead, Bellevue senior Jamal Atofau slipped between two defenders — "Like a magician," he said — and blocked it. After its first drive, Liberty completed 13 of 28 passes with four interceptions and didn't fare any better with the run (21 yards on 22 carries).

"We tried to take the passing game away because we knew we could shut down the run," Warren said.

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