SUMNER — Months before the 2026 season started, well before the helmets and pads ever touched the heads and shoulders of the Olympia Bears, Cary Nagel made quite the introductory statement to his new team.
The Olympia Bears would be different, and they would be physical.
After 11 weeks of football, the entirety of the 4A classification can comfortably agree that Olympia is a program reborn.
In its first state football game in 15 years, Olympia gave two-time reigning 4A state champion Sumner quite the test but fell just short in a 28-19 loss in the Class 4A state Round of 16 Friday, Nov. 13.
Just two weeks prior, Sumner blew past the Bears 38-8 in a South Puget Sound League crossover at Sunset Chevy Stadium. The Bears knew they weren’t 30 points worse than the Spartans, and they were determined to prove that on Friday.
“The kids were dialed in this week, and they believed,” Nagel said. “Sumner gave us a run for our money last time. They took it to us pretty good. I think the kids wanted to show them that we are a team to contend with.”
In that Oct. 30 loss to Sumner, the Bears had to play from behind immediately as Zab Zenkner scored a 65-yard touchdown run on the opening snap of the game. On Friday, Olympia once again trailed before it touched the ball, but the Spartans assembled a more methodical drive to jump in front. Sumner quarterback Brennan Abbott led his offense down the field in eight plays and finished the drive himself with a 3-yard touchdown run.
Two weeks ago, Olympia stumbled after the explosive first play and trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter before its offense got going. But in the Round of 16, the Bears quickly shook off the Sumner score and responded. Noah Miller burst through a tight window for a 60-yard run, and Elijah Butler’s 2-yard TD run brought the Bears within a point. The ensuing extra point was blocked, leaving Sumner with a one-point advantage.
One significant addition to Sumner’s offense this week was senior wide receiver Braylon Pope, seen by many recruiting platforms as the top recruit in Washington state. The Washington Huskies commit used all of his 6-foot-4 height to pluck a deep ball away from the Olympia defense for a 54-yard gain. Abbott once again scored with his legs on a 1-yard plunge to give Sumner a 14-6 lead through one quarter.
Olympia’s offense fell flat in the second quarter. The Bears moved into Sumner territory early in the frame but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-3, and they went three-and-out on their next possession after forcing a Spartans punt.
Abbott connected with Pope for a 19-yard touchdown with 1:17 left in the first half, and Sumner strolled into the locker room with a 21-6 halftime lead.
Olympia came out of the locker room with some trickery. Butler took the handoff, rolled to his right and faked a throw, and he turned back to the middle of the field to find a streaking Easton Ertman cutting up field. Butler lobbed a pass in stride to Ertman for a 43-yard gain. Miller finished off the drive with a 3-yard TD run, and suddenly, the lead was down to nine. Ertman’s two-point conversion run was halted.
Defenses stole the show in the third quarter. Olympia forced a three-and-out and a turnover on downs.
A prominent storyline from the Oct. 30 matchup was Olympia putting together one of its most impressive drives of the season: 17 plays and over 12 minutes of game clock chewed up. Unfortunately, it ended in a fourth-down stop by the Sumner defense at the 5-yard line.
Late in the third quarter on Friday, Olympia started a similar drive that trickled into the fourth quarter. Fourteen plays and 69 yards later, David Ukwu’s 1-yard TD pulled the Bears back to within two points at 21-19 with 9:04 to play.
Sumner answered by milking away five minutes of the fourth-quarter clock on an 11-play, 80-yard drive. The Spartans converted a third-and-8, and on a third-and-4 just outside the red zone, Olympia’s defense handed Sumner a first down thanks to a defensive pass interference.
Abbott tossed an 11-yard TD pass to Pope, who reeled in an impressive one-handed snag. The ever-important extra point sailed through the uprights to make it a two-possession game.
“They’ve got great players. You put it up to No. 0, he’s really good. We didn't have an answer there,” Nagel said.
Olympia’s offense couldn’t muster any momentum on the ensuing drive, as a pair of sacks, including one on fourth down, sealed the Sumner victory.
Despite the season-ending defeat, the postgame vibes were celebratory. The coaches praised the Bears’ fight throughout the season and for laying the foundation for further growth in the future.
“To be where we are right now from where we started, it’s a testament to how hard these kids worked and our coaches doing a good job of putting in the work,” Nagel said. “I think all of the credit goes to the community and to our players. They played so hard tonight. We came in with the mindset that we were going to run the football extremely physically. It’s huge for them to have success being more physical, and once they see the results of it, it’s just going to snowball.”
Olympia outgained Sumner 293-257, including the Bears’ 246 rushing yards to Sumner’s 100. Miller finished as the leading rusher with 102 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, while Ukwu added 77 yards and a score on 18 totes.
Olympia finishes with an 8-3 record in 2026. The Bears will lose a handful of impactful seniors, including Ibrahima Diallo, Aden Carr, Kam Kronmeyer, Tucker Downing, Karter Clark, Charlie DeBord, Ethan Phitsamay, Keegan Sawyer, Tyler York, and more.
“As a new coach coming in, I give all the credit to the seniors as far as them accepting me and trusting me because they’re the leaders of this program,” Nagel said. “They had the trust in our staff to put them in the right positions to make plays.”
What did those seniors prove this season?
“That the Bears are going to be on the map for a long time,” Nagel said.
