TUMWATER — Do what got you here.
It’s an oft-expressed phrase by coaches of high-powered football programs who perennially make deep postseason runs.
The Tumwater Thunderbirds seem to swear by that motto every November.
But in this particular 2A state tournament, any team on the opposite sideline of the T-Birds seems to have a miserable time doing what got them here.
First, Tumwater locked down Washougal, a successful rushing attack silenced in the first round. Next on the T-Birds’ gauntlet was Franklin Pierce, a dynamic Power-T rushing offense muzzled in the quarterfinals.
And on Saturday night in the 2A state semis, a previously undefeated East Valley (Yakima) team shut out for the first time since the 2021 spring season.
Tumwater wiped out the Red Devils 42-0 to punch its ticket back to the state title game for the third straight season — a feat that has never been accomplished in the program’s rich history. The T-Birds held a prolific passing East Valley offense, led by standout quarterback Jaxon Berg, to just 61 yards, with Berg completing just six of his 26 pass attempts.
“I’m always impressed with our kids. They practice so hard and they prepare so well,” Tumwater head coach William Garrow said. “Our defensive coaches are lights out. They’re so good at figuring out what other teams do well and trying to game plan to take those things away specifically.”
Tumwater’s defense was dialed in from the kickoff, holding East Valley without a first down on its first four snaps to force a turnover on downs. The T-Birds fed Tyler Briscoe early and often on the opening drive, and the junior tailback rewarded his coaches’ decision by scoring from 9 yards out.
East Valley’s best drive of the night came on its second possession of the game, as the Red Devils marched to the Tumwater 14-yard line. However, a 6-yard loss, a dropped touchdown pass in the end zone, a false start, and two failed shots to the end zone left the Red Devils without points.
Senior running back Peyton Davis didn’t seem bothered by his injured left hamstring when he broke through multiple tacklers for a 26-yard gain to start the second quarter. His big run set up a 26-yard touchdown pass by Jaxon Budd to Wyatt Chase to double the lead to 14-0.
The Red Devils tried to prevent another four-and-out by faking a punt on fourth-and-2, but the pass by Greyson Stevens was batted down, giving Tumwater the ball with solid field position again. Grady Wall then slipped past multiple defenders for a 28-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0, and Tumwater stopped the Red Devils on a third straight fourth down after they advanced to the brink of the red zone.
With about three minutes remaining in the first half and Tumwater with the ball, T-Birds coaches yelled to their players, “Don’t give them any time,” as they knew they would have the ball to start the second half. Tumwater only gave East Valley 15.7 seconds to work with and a 28-point deficit, as Davis tacked on a 3-yard touchdown late in the second half.
Garrow dipped into his bag of tricks to start the second half. With the ball at the East Valley 3, Budd threw a backward pass to Charlie Crawford, who initially dropped the ball before scooping it up and lobbing a pass to Chase for a touchdown. Crawford, a senior with experience at quarterback, was an obvious choice for Garrow to bring Tumwater closer to a running clock.
“Charlie’s a good athlete. He’s our ASB president. I knew he’d be calm if something happened. We’ve been practicing it and waiting for the right situation. We run it a lot better in practice and we don’t fumble it,” Garrow joked. “We thought that we had the game well in hand, but we knew if he could get one more score, we could get the clock running.”
Tumwater, with its second unit in the game, scored on its sixth straight possession on a 3-yard plunge by Jayden Hinchcliffe to ignite the running clock. For good measure, the T-Birds stopped the Red Devils on fourth down for the sixth straight time to close out the 42-0 win.
Tumwater rushed for 334 yards, led by 97 yards by Davis, who surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season and moved into the top 10 in career rushing yards in school history. He sought to show out for the Tumwater crowd in his final game at Tumwater District Stadium, despite his nagging hamstring injury.
“It took a lot, but I just wanted what’s best for the team. I just really wanted to win and do whatever I could to help the team,” Davis said.
Tyler Briscoe added 93 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and Wall rushed for 81 yards on just seven totes.
One does not have to scroll far into the history books to find the last time Tumwater shut out an opponent in the 2A state semifinals. It happened almost one year ago to the day, when the T-Birds coincidentally won by an identical score of 42-0. Also coincidentally, the opponent was Archbishop Murphy, which Tumwater will now face in the 2A state championship game at Husky Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m.
A Tumwater win next weekend would mark the first state championship since 2019, Garrow’s first season with the program as an assistant coach. He sees some similarities between the 2019 edition of Tumwater football and the 2025 edition.
“That 2019 team was just so athletically talented. We had so many pieces. These guys, I think, are a little bit grittier,” Garrow said. “We have a lot more two-way guys now than we did. They were able to win it in 2019, and I really hope that our guys get a chance to go win it next week so they can put their name underneath the stadium with the other ones.”
The T-Birds aren’t letting their back-to-back losses in the state title game sit under their skin as they prepare for another trip to Montlake. The motto is the same:
Do what got you here.
“I want to thank our coaches and our scout team. They prepare us every week. They’re the foundation for us,” Wall said. “We’ve just got to put our nose down and get to work. It would mean a lot to win. I’ve had two brothers go through here. One was able to win a state title, and the other one lost the previous two. It’s kind of like a little chip on our shoulder.”
“We got so close in the last two years, and our senior class has been so tight for so many years,” Crawford added. “For our senior class to do it in our final year, it would mean everything. And it’s not just us. It takes everybody.”
