Skyview’s fourth-quarter comeback against Bothell sends Storm back to 4A state football quarterfinalsUpdated 40 mins ago

Moments after Skyview completed a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback to keep its season alive, Levi Webb found teammate Max Christiansen and embraced him with a handshake. “I can’t thank you enough,” the Skyview senior running back told his senior center.

Trailing by 10 points as the clock ticked down during Saturday’s Class 4A state playoff football game against Bothell at Kiggins Bowl, Webb scored Skyview’s first touchdown and was knocking on the door of another as the Storm drove inside the Cougars’ 5-yard line.

Webb took a handoff from the 3, looked for space along his right side and dove forward when a Bothell defender jarred the ball loose.

Christiansen saw the play the whole way. The senior lineman pounced on the ball after it rolled several yards into the end zone and secured it for a go-ahead touchdown with under two minutes left.

Skyview’s defense handled the rest by turning Bothell over on downs and allowing the Storm to kneel out the clock for a 17-13 win at Kiggins Bowl. The win means No. 7 seed Skyview is on to the state quarterfinals for the second straight year where it will face No. 2 Sumner next week.

“I was getting a little scared,” Christiansen said. “I’m like, ‘I can’t have our last game be at Kiggins. We’re seniors, so we just gotta keep going,’ and that’s what happened.”

Skyview players also weren’t going to let Saturday be the last game for their head coach, Steve Kizer, who announced in October this season would be his last after 21 years leading the Storm.

Once Skyview quarterback Doogie Poindexter took a knee to end the game, several Storm players ran toward Kizer at midfield led by senior Gavin Packer, who gave his coach a big hug. They delivered Kizer win number 155 of his head coaching career and at least another week of the 2024 season.

“You’ve got to work hard for that dude because he puts so much in us,” Webb said.

“I’ve known Kize since I was born,” Skyview senior Kaden Hamlin added. “He hired my dad (associate head coach Matt Hamlin) when my mom was pregnant with me. … I’ve known Kize my whole life, and I’ll play for him, I’ll die for him, I’ll do anything for Kize, man.”

Kizer called Packer, Skyview’s leading receiver with 87 yards on six catches, the sparkplug the Storm needed after they were limited to just three points through three quarters.

With Bothell holding a 13-3 lead following quarterback Jaylen Viars’ 21-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter, the Cougars got the ball back and burned nearly six minutes of clock in the fourth before Skyview’s defense forced a punt.

Three plays later, Packer hauled in a 52-yard catch and run from Poindexter, setting up Webb for a 6-yard touchdown run, Skyview’s first of the game, with four-and-a-half minutes left.

Skyview’s defense denied Bothell a first down on its next drive. Webb and Rex Allinger combined for a tackle for loss on third down, and a shanked Bothell punt gave Skyview the ball on Bothell’s 30-yard line. Poindexter completed three straight passes to Packer, Micah Robison and Toren Baker before the play of the game — Christiansen’s recovered fumble for a touchdown.

“That was a great job by our center Max Christiansen to get on that fumble. Man, that was good,” Kizer said. “And then, the defense stepped up when we needed to. It wasn’t a thing of beauty the rest of the game. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”

To a casual observer, perhaps Skyview’s final touchdown looked like a fortuitous bounce, a lucky break.

In reality, the Storm have been in similar spots on several occasions this season and delivered nearly every time. Wins against Radford (Hawaii), Graham-Kapowsin and Richland all came down to the wire.

“We just like to like to think we create our own luck,” Hamlin said. “Our hard work is going to create our own luck.”

With Saturday’s win, they’ve added another to the late-game heroics category.

“We’ve been battle-tested — that’s for sure,” Kizer said. “I think that helps us.”

SKYVIEW 17, BOTHELL 13

Bothell 0 6 7 0—13

Skyview 3 0 0 14—17

First quarter

S — Lawrence Tang 25 field goal

Second quarter

B — Jaylen Viars 1 run (kick failed)

Third quarter

B — Viars 21 run (Diego Palomera Curiel kick)

Fourth quarter

S — Levi Webb 6 run (Tang kick)

S — Max Christiansen end zone fumble recovery (Tang kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Bothell: Cole Brooke 24-136, Jaylen Viars 16-96, Wyatt Mickelberry 6-36, Cyion Soeum 2-1, Eliandry Ozuna 2-11. Skyview: Levi Webb 10-44, Gavin Packer 2-(minus 1), Rex Allinger 5-13, Doogie Poindexter 1-1, Team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING — Bothell: Jaylen Viars 5-12-1-44, Cole Brooke 1-1-0-7. Skyview: Doogie Poindexter 5-12-1-44.

RECEIVING — Bothell: Eliandry Ozuna 1-0, Kingston Fleming-Maile 1-12, Jake Wells 1-7, Wyatt Mickelberry 1-2, Hunter Schmoll 1-12, Westin Narancic 1-18. Skyview: Gavin Packer 6-87, Emmett Stein 1-12, Toren Baker 3-45, Micah Robison 1-14.