The big question for the Skyview High football team is this: is the Storm’s resume impressive enough to be rewarded with a home state playoff game next weekend?
Without question, the Storm believe so.
“Absolutely,” center Max Christiansen said after Skyview’s 33-0 shutout of Juanita on Saturday afternoon in the Week 10 4A state preliminary round. “I’m pretty sure every team we played was in the top 10.”
At 7-3, Skyview hopes its resume speaks for itself. It boasts one of Class 4A’s toughest schedules, and five opponents eventually qualified for the Class 4A or 3A round-of-16 state playoffs (Camas, Graham-Kapowsin, Richland, Puyallup and 3A Decatur).
Senior defensive end and tailback Levi Webb believes Skyview’s home-field advantage at Kiggins Bowl goes an extra mile when it hits playoff season. That’s just one reason why he’d be thrilled to have another home game next weekend to open state.
“It’s definitely hard for teams to drive down here to play us,” said Webb, who had the game’s opening touchdown Saturday. That’s definitely a pleasure to have that home-field advantage.”
Saturday against Juanita, the Storm shined on offense and defense to reach the state playoffs for a sixth straight season. Quarterback Doogie Poindexter connected with Gavin Packer for three touchdowns, running back Rex Allinger rushed for a game-best 106 yards and the Storm defense posted their third shutout in four games.
Now, the Storm wait for Sunday’s playoff seeds to determine their matchup.
Skyview raced out to a 19-0 lead midway through in the second quarter after, for the second offensive series in a row, Poindexter hit Packer for a touchdown reception. Packer finished with nine catches for 194 yards and touchdowns of 78, 15 and 10 yards. Poindexter went a perfect 9 of 9 passing to open the game, and finished 15 of 19 for 258.
The second half is when Skyview opened up the run game. After the defense forced Juanita’s fifth punt, Allinger had four consecutive runs of 12 or more yards, including a 42-yard scamper, to put the Storm deep in Ravens territory. Two plays later, he plunged into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown run that pushed Skyview’s lead to 26-0 inside 1 minute left in the third.
Defensively, Skyview limited Juanita to 145 yards, and forced six punts and two turnovers on downs.
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SKYVIEW 33, JUANITA 0
Juanita 0 0 0 0 – 0
Skyview 13 6 7 7 – 33
First quarter
S – Levi Webb 8 run (Lawrence Tang kick)
S – Gavin Packer 78 pass from Doogie Poindexter (kick failed)
Second quarter
S – Packer 15 pass from Poindexter (pass failed)
Third quarter
S – Rex Allinger 5 run (Tang kick)
Fourth quarter
S – Packer 10 pass (Tang kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Juanita: Elliot Staples 9-23, Isaiah Villanueva 6-16, Joseph McJunkin 3-21, Kaylen Moore 8-15, Ethan Deisher 1-(minus-2), Grady Pascal 1-16, Jaiden Hoblet 1-5; Skyview: Packer 5-9, Allinger 13-106, Poindexter 2-4, Webb 6-45.
PASSING — Juanita: Staples 9-17-1-53; Skyview: Poindexter 15-19-0-258.
RECEIVING — Juanita: Bryce Desousa 2-10, McJunkin 1-10, Casper Larsen 6-33; Skyview: Kaden Hamlin 1-6, Micah Robison 2-55, Packer 9-194, Emmett Stein 1-3
