Nathan Hale wins Metro Sound football tiebreaker

Nathan Hale captured the Metro League Sound Division's top football playoff spot Monday night at Memorial Stadium, beating West Seattle 7-0 in the second game of a three-team tiebreaker that also included Rainier Beach.

Nathan Hale will play Mountain champ O'Dea for the Metro title at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium, with the winner taking Metro's No. 1 spot into next week's Class 3A district playoffs. The O'Dea-Hale loser will be Metro's No. 2 representative.

West Seattle will face Seattle Prep at 5 p.m. Friday for Metro's No. 3 and 4 spots, and Rainier Beach will play Bainbridge at 7:45 p.m. Saturday for the No. 5 and 6 berths. Those games will also be at Memorial.

The Sound Division tiebreaker was needed because Nathan Hale, West Seattle and Rainier Beach each finished the regular season with 5-1 Metro Sound records. West Seattle beat Rainier Beach 13-0 in the first of the two games, which were divided into two eight-minute halves.

Nathan Hale then beat West Seattle 7-0 on Marco Henry's 25-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Big plays on defense pushed the Raiders past West Seattle. The game looked as if it would go to halftime in a scoreless tie. But a nine-yard tackle-for-loss by Hale's Brendon Jackson left the Wildcats with the ball at their 5-yard line. Two plays later, Henry's interception return put the Raiders ahead.

"I knew I had to get in the end zone," said Henry, a senior defensive back and co-captain. "I saw my teammate Brendon Jackson coming across and I saw one guy right by the end zone. If [Jackson] hadn't made that block, I wouldn't have got in, and who knows how this game would have went."

Henry played defensive end during a 40-7 September loss to West Seattle before switching to free safety.

"He's been making plays like that since we moved him there," Nathan Hale coach Hoover Hopkins said. "That [interception] was everything. That was the game right there."

Each team traded possessions in the second half before the Raiders gave up the ball on downs at the West Seattle 26 with 2:51 remaining. But Henry broke up a fourth-down pass to seal the victory for the Raiders.

In the first game, West Seattle beat Rainier Beach 13-0 on touchdown passes from Ellison Tran to Isaiah Jenkins and Markeem Adams.

Nathan Hale was awarded first-game bye thanks to a coin flip.