The Bethel Braves football team and Happy Iona (1) participate in a pregame chant before taking the field against Graham-Kapowsin Friday night. Bethel beat its district rival, 24-15, to improve to 5-1 (photo by Shawn Jonas, For CoachesAid.com).
SPANAWAY – Happy Iona wore black stickers under his eyes with a happy message for his Bethel High School teammates.
“I’m” read one sticker … “Back.”
Happy Iona’s return to Bethel’s interior defensive line was noticed and celebrated in a 24-15 victory over Bethel School District rival Graham-Kapowsin Friday night.
Bethel’s defense came up with a goal-line stand at the game’s most crucial juncture and held Graham-Kapowsin to 77 yards rushing for the game before an overflow crowd estimated at 4,200 at Art Crate Field.
Anthony Meray was the workhorse again for Bethel, carrying the ball 35 times for 199 yards and three touchdowns, including a 57-yard scoring gallop in the first quarter.
But the story of this game was Bethel’s defense, led by Iona, strong safety David Stetler and a solid cast of contributors.
“I felt like I was back with my brothers,” said Iona, a 6-foot-3, 283-pound senior who missed three games with a high ankle sprain. “It feels good being back on the field doing what you love.”
Meray scored on two touchdown runs in the first half to put Bethel (5-1) in command, 14-0, and leave Graham-Kapowsin (4-2) staring at the probability of a fourth consecutive loss in teams’ young rivalry.
But Graham-Kapowsin cracked the scoreboard on the final play of the first half when Eric Nothstein drilled a 33-yard field goal, signaling the start of a big momentum swing.
“The way we came out really affected us,” Graham-Kapowsin junior receiver Jamaal Jones said. “We didn’t come out the way we wanted to. We came out in the second half and we played really hard.”
Anthony Meray of Bethel High School bolts for a 57-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He finished with 199 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 1,233 yards and 14 TDs on the season (photo by Shawn Jonas, For CoachesAid.com).
Behind sophomore quarterback Drew Austin, Graham-Kapowsin got the ball first in the second half and put together its most impressive drive of the night, culminating in a 17-yard touchdown run around the corner by Isaac Winters.
On the ensuing kickoff, Graham-Kapowsin’s Nick Johnson was able to chase down a short kick before Bethel could get to it, giving the Eagles the ball at the Braves’ 20-yard line and in position to take the lead.
All of a sudden, the game had changed completely. But once Graham-Kapowsin got to the 3-yard line, facing a first and goal, everything changed again.
Bethel attempted three runs into the interior of the Bethel defense but was able to net only one yard as the Braves’ front of Iona, Albert Naputi (6-foot, 248 pounds), Dylan Ricketts (5-10, 240), Josh Arnold (6-2, 306) and Josh Miller (5-9, 233) wouldn’t budge.
Happy Iona, defensive lineman from Bethel who's bound for Oregon State University (photo by Shawn Jonas, For CoachesAid.com).
“There’s no chance of someone scoring on us down the middle,” Iona said. “We wanted them to keep running up the gut. It’s a guaranteed stop. That’s the strongest part of our team is our defensive line. Everyone’s a senior (except Naputi, a junior who comes in on goal-line situations).”
Unable to penetrate Bethel’s interior, Graham-Kapowsin resorted to pass on fourth down. Dalton Dorosky took the snap and scrambled to his right before tossing an incomplete pass into the end zone.
Bethel then drove nearly the length of the field and went ahead 17-9 on Brandon Bailey’s 32-yard field goal.
When Austin lost a fumble on an errant pass attempt on the Eagles’ next possession, Bethel capitalized on Meray’s third touchdown run of the night, this one from six yards, and padded its lead to 24-9.
Graham-Kapowsin moved the ball well again on its next possession, gaining 39 yards on a pass play from Austin to Greg Logan. But on the next play from the Bethel 39, the Braves’ senior strong safety, Stetler, stepped in front of an Austin pass for an interception.
“We didn’t make the plays when we needed to,” said Graham-Kapowsin coach Eric Kurle, who coached Bethel for seven seasons before coming to the Eagles when the school opened in 2005. “I thought we played hard.”
Two plays after Stetler’s interception, Graham-Kapowsin got a big break when the ball was snapped high over the head of Bethel quarterback Justin Hordyk. A scramble for the ball ensued with Graham-Kapowsin’s Eric McKeown falling on the ball at the Bethel 1-yard line.
It took three plays before Nick Johnson scored from 2 yards to pull the Eagles to within 24-15 with 6:24 remaining. Kurle opted to go for the two-point conversion but Jones was stopped.
“I thought it would be better to go (for two points) then than later,” Kurle said.
As it turned out, there wouldn’t be another chance. Bethel’s Kariri Kiambuthi recovered an Eagles’ onside kick attempt and the Braves ate up most of the remaining clock before a last-ditch effort by Graham-Kapowsin didn’t go far.
“Simple things cost us the game,” Jones said. “We should’ve easily won this game. We just didn’t take advantage early enough.”
Ron Newberry can be reached at ronnewberry@coachesaid.com.
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