Tonight's game gave thousands in the Tacoma Dome a reminder of what is special about high school football. It took Bellevue and Kennedy four quarters and then some to settle who would take home to 2006 state title. In the end Bellevue walked away with their sixth state title in school history and I walked away thankful to witness one of one of the most exciting games to ever be played in the Tacoma Dome.
In the early going the game was all Kennedy. After recovering a Bellevue fumble, Kennedy took advantage of great field position and Nate Williams found paydirt as he leaped up and over the defense for six. Both defenses would flex their muscles throughout the 2nd quarter as Kennedy took a 7-0 lead into halftime.
Kennedy came out of the locker room and appeared to make a statement about how the rest of the game was going to go by driving down the field and taking a 14-0 lead on a perfectly tossed pass to Nolan Washington from the arm of Bobby Gentry.
While Bellevue could have packed it in, considering they had never trailed the entire season, they instead responded with a TD drive of their own that was capped by a Ladell Carroll short scoring run to bring the Wolverines within a touchdown of Kennedy.
The Bellevue D continued to stiffen as the fourth quarter got underway and gave the ball back to their offense, who put together a time consuming drive that ate up much of the fourth quarter. The key play came on a clutch 4th and 8 first down run by senior QB Eric Block to keep the Wolverines title hopes alive. A few plays later, Ladell Carroll punched it in on another short TD run to tie it up and send the legion of Wolverine fans into a mad frenzy.
After a 3 and out by the Wolverine D, Bellevue was happy to take a knee and send this one into overtime. Going into overtime, it was appeared that the Wolverine big men in the trenches had finally begun to wear down a Kennedy defense that had kept them in check for most of the night.
After Kennedy stuffed two plays, the man of the evening, QB Eric Block, ripped off a 24 yard scoring run. Following a successful PAT, it was Kennedy's turn to see if they could match the 7 points Bellevue had put on the board. On 3rd and 8 and with the state title hanging in the balance, Kennedy went to the shotgun, but Gentry had trouble handling the snap and was quickly crushed by the Bellevue D as he attempted to get a handle on the ball. The Bellevue defense promptly chased down the pigskin as the rest of team stormed the field in triumph and the Bellevue celebration was on in Tacoma.
With the state title going back to the Wolverines trophy case, Bellevue continues to add to their own legacy as one of the nation's premier programs and certainly stakes a claim as the best program in the state of Washington.
