It is 129 miles from Skyview High School to the Tacoma Dome.
So for the second year in a row, that’s the battle cry — 129 — for the Storm.
“It was our goal last year, and it’s our goal this year,” senior Tom Zink said. “Get to the Tacoma Dome, and make it to the championship game.”
After winning its state preliminary playoff game last week, the Storm are back in the Class 4A state football playoffs for the third consecutive season. They open that quest to get to the dome tonight at Kiggins Bowl against Auburn. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but we’re definitely going to give it our best shot,” Zink said.
The Storm are familiar with long playoff runs. Last year, they just missed going to the championship game in the dome, falling in the semifinals in Spokane, some 361 miles from home.
This year, the bracket shows the Storm will stay home next week — provided they beat Auburn — and if they can win in the quarterfinals they would get to go to the dome in the semifinals.
Not that anyone from Skyview is looking ahead, though. Auburn, at 8-2, shares the same record as Skyview.
“They’re going to come down here looking for blood,” said Zink, who was named one of the team’s game captains Thursday at practice. “We killed their 11-0 season last year.”
Yes, these two know each other.
Skyview scored the final two touchdowns to beat the Trojans 34-21 last year in the state quarterfinals.
“They want payback, they want some redemption, I’m sure,” Skyview coach Steve Kizer said.
The Trojans must have liked what they saw last week. Skyview led from start-to-finish against Todd Beamer in a 42-33 victory, but the Titans rushed for more than 300 yards against the Storm. Auburn is a running team, too.
Zink, a linebacker and a center, said the Storm defense should show improvement.
“We just gotta read better, tackle better,” Zink said. “We came out a little flat. We’ll be fired up for this game. We gotta come out alive and ready to go.”
Indeed, the Storm defense did improve late in the fourth quarter in the win over Beamer, stopping the Titans on downs on their final two possessions to preserve the victory.
Skyview is looking for at least one more victory, to survive and advance, in the playoffs.
“Playing this time of year is a big deal,” Kizer said. “It’s three years in a row for us.”
