After the game, once the celebration had died down, Tom Bainter talked about what allowed his team to get past some early mistakes in Bothell's 25-20 victory over Skyline in the KingCo 4A title game at Pop Keeney.

With a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, Bothell had two chances in the red zone to build a three or four-score advantage. But two turnovers allowed Skyline to keep the game close and the Cougars held a 13-7 lead at halftime.

It was at that moment, in the locker room when Bainter reminded his players to work toward the positive. He told them to forget about the turnovers. All the team needed to do was create more opportunities.

"Let's not look back, let's look forward," he said.

The Cougars kept looking forward when the Spartans took the lead in the third quarter. They continued looking ahead when Skyline took another lead in the fourth quarter.

Now, after this big win, they need to look forward to the playoffs.

"We're going to need to look forward now, maybe on Monday though," Bainter said with a laugh, allowing that he will give the team some time to enjoy this win.

There were a total of eight turnovers in the game. A few of them came on sloppy plays, but many were the result of two incredibly talented defenses. It was the Spartans' defense that kept their team in the game while the offense got untracked, and it was Bothell's defense that kept Skyline's offense from exploding in the second half.

On the other sideline, the Spartans left the stadium with their second loss of the season. It is a feeling they are not used to and one they don't play on accepting for long.

"Our kids are warriors, but we've got to get some things figured out," Skyline coach Mat Taylor said.

Both teams expect to see each other in playoffs. After this game, there is no doubt in my mind that these are the top two 4A teams in the state right now. But, that won't be for a few weeks and there is still a lot of football to be played before we get to that point.

Here are some more stats that didn't make the game story.

Bothell:

Quarterback Mitchell Muller was 13 of 26 for 205 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He really did a nice job of making big throws when he needed to.

Tight end Michael Hartvigson had three catches for 45 yards and a touchdown.

Running back Luke Proulx had a total of three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Skyline:

Running back Nick Washburn had 100 yards on 13 carries.

Receiver Kasen Williams had six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown.

The Spartans were penalized 13 times for 105 yards, while Bothell had four penalties for 30 yards.

That's about it from here tonight. I have a few quotes from Muller left over and I'll try to work them into the blog tomorrow. There were some great performances Thursday that I'll mention as well. Then we will have our regular Friday night coverage and more on Saturday.

One thing I'm curious about: What did you think of the live game blog? Would you like more analysis or more play-by-play? Obviously, it's tough to do both. It was the first time we've tried that, and it seemed to be well received. It is something we plan on doing more of late in the season, especially during the Gridiron Classic.