High School Football | Road clear for top seeds

The supposed challengers are gone. Ferndale (3A) and Olympia (4A), the No. 2-ranked teams in the state's two largest classifications, have left the state football playoffs the past two weeks, falling to a pair of surprise teams that have become pioneers for programs young and old.

By beating Ferndale last week, Union, a second-year school from Vancouver, made it to the Tacoma Dome for the first time. Central Kitsap, a 76-year-old school from Silverdale, is also going to the Dome for the first time, two weeks after upsetting Olympia on the road.

But as Ferndale and Olympia have fallen, along with other top teams such as Auburn (4A), Southridge (4A) of Kennewick and Eastside Catholic (3A), the two wire-to-wire top seeds in Class 4A and Class 3A could not loom larger in each bracket.

Skyline (4A) and Bellevue (3A), programs that have combined for eight state championships since 2000, could not have made the past three weeks look much easier. Skyline, 12-0 and ranked eighth in the country by USA Today as of Monday, has made it to the semifinals by a combined score of 114-15, and 12-0 Bellevue has outscored its three opponents 128-23.

But as Union and Central Kitsap have already shown, it takes just one week to change the face of the postseason.

"To me, playoff football is rarely the best team that wins it," Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff. "I think it's survival of the fittest. If four teams are left playing, they're all good."

Here's how each of top three classifications break down for the four Seattle-area teams left playing:

Class 4A

Skyline's reward for winning the KingCo 4A conference was three straight postseason home games, but it came with one caveat: the top-ranked Spartans would have to travel east of the mountains for the semifinals. After last weekend's 38-2 win against third-ranked Auburn, the Spartans now travel to Spokane for a semifinal game against No. 5 Ferris (11-1).

The Saxons hosted another KingCo 4A team, Bothell, in the semifinals last year and lost 14-7, fumbling on Bothell's 1-yard on the game's final play. And even though Ferris lost a handful of Division I athletes — including Apple Cup hero Jared Karstetter — they claimed the top seed in the Greater Spokane League. Junior quarterback Connor Halliday threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns last week to lead Ferris to a 14-7 win against Central Valley.

On the other side, 10th-ranked Issaquah (9-2) held off Bothell with a last-second field goal to advance to its first semifinal since 2003. The Eagles will face Central Kitsap (9-3), which began the year 2-3. The Cougars have upset No. 2 Olympia and No. 9 Rogers in the past two weeks to get to the semifinals.

"After getting to see them on film this weekend, there's a reason why they're here," Issaquah coach Chris Bennett said. "They have flown under the radar, but they've got some really big wins down the stretch."

Class 3A

Second-ranked Ferndale lined up for a 44-yard field on its final play Saturday night, hoping to break a 14-14 tie and avoid overtime. Overtime never came, but not because the field goal went through. Instead, Union's Dex Homer blocked the kick, and Mitch Saylor took it back 65 yards for a touchdown for a 21-14 victory.

So Ferndale, the team Goncharoff thought was the top team in the state for most of the year, dropped out of the running. Who's left to challenge the Wolverines, who have not gone more than two years without a title since 2001?

Is it Union (12-0), which is only in its second year? After going through the Greater St. Helens League undefeated, the fourth-ranked Titans certainly made a case with their win against Ferndale, especially by stopping Ferndale's running game in the second half.

Is it Lakes (12-0)? Remember, the Lancers' year was supposed to be last year, when they had seven college prospects and two future Huskies. But Lakes ran into eventual champion Skyline in the round of 16. This year's Lancers have one of the state's youngest teams but also has one of the top running games. If Union finds a way to hold down juniors Jamaal Kearse and Teddy Cotton, the Titans will be the first team to do so.

Or is it Capital (9-3), Bellevue's semifinal opponent? The Cougars, who last won a state championship in 1998, have allowed an average of just 11.1 points this postseason, but they have yet to play a team with fewer than three losses this postseason.

Of the three remaining teams, only Lakes has played Bellevue since coach Butch Goncharoff took over in 2000, and the Lancers haven't seen the Wolverines' wing-T since 2003. And in that game, a first-round playoff game, the Lancers showed how hard it is to face Bellevue for the first time. Lakes allowed more than 500 rushing yards and lost 49-7.

"Teams just aren't used to the speed that they play at," said Liberty coach Steve Valach, whose team lost 35-7 and 24-7 to Bellevue this season. "If you haven't played them before, it may take you a whole game. They are incredibly well-coached. No one plays harder and more disciplined."

Class 2A

When Archbishop Murphy coach Dave Ward first looked at the tape of his new team last spring, he first saw how strong his returning players were at running back and linebacker. But he also saw four offensive lineman and a pair of corners who had not started a game and knew there was room for improvement.

"It's amazing how much you can improve when you really concentrate on it," Ward said.

It took about two weeks from the start of camp for Ward to see how much his new starters had improved. In the team's opener against Lynden, Archbishop Murphy won 26-15, starting a 12-0 run that included a victory against Eastside Catholic.

Now the team forced to forfeit itself out of last year's playoffs is just one win away from the Class 2A state championship game. A rematch with Lynden (10-2) stands in the way, and the Wildcats insist Lynden has improved.

Win and the Wildcats could meet top-ranked Prosser (12-0), the defending 2A champion, in the final. Prosser plays Burlington-Edison (11-1) in a rematch of last year's championship in the other semifinal.

Prosser ended Archbishop Murphy's season in 2006.

"Honestly, Prosser is always going to be on our minds," senior center Glade Hall said. "But this year, we've been focused on playing every team like they're the all-stars of the world. And right now, we're focused on Lynden."