SEATTLE — The bright lights of Husky Stadium on the shores of Lake Washington have grown quite familiar for the Tumwater Thunderbirds. But, simultaneously, so has the gut-wrenching pain of heartbreak.
Tumwater left Husky Stadium with the same stinging feeling as it did each of the last two seasons as top-seeded Archbishop Murphy defeated the T-Birds 35-20 Saturday in a game in which Tumwater never led.
The T-Birds rallied back from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull within one possession but could never fully catch the Wildcats. Archbishop Murphy (13-0) clinched its first state title since 2016, while Tumwater’s (12-1) season finishes with a second-place trophy for the third straight fall.
“I thought that our kids played extremely hard. We took some shots, tried to make some plays, made a few mistakes, and that ended up costing us,” Tumwater head coach William Garrow said. “Our kids battled like crazy. We just needed to make one or two more plays.”
Tumwater looked like a much different team than the one that had taken the field so far this postseason. The T-Birds went three-and-out on their opening possession and gave up a 51-yard touchdown pass from Evan Ruiz to Arizona commit Henry Gabalis. Tumwater’s Tyler Briscoe picked up 9 yards on the first snap of the next drive, only for the T-Birds to fail to pick up a single yard on their next three carries.
“I made a poor coaching decision in the first quarter,” Garrow said. “I thought we could get it at midfield on that fourth down, and we didn’t. We put our defense in a bad spot, and that was my fault.”
Archbishop Murphy made them pay, as running back Isaiah Smith’s 1-yard touchdown run gave the Wildcats a 14-0 lead less than nine minutes into the contest. Tumwater’s offense found some brief life late in the first quarter, moving the chains for the first time on its 12th snap. But a sack put the T-Birds behind the chains, and they turned it over on downs for the second straight drive.
The Wildcats nearly blew the game open on a 78-yard touchdown catch and run from Ruiz to Gabalis, but the stunning play was called back due to an illegal formation penalty. Instead of a 21-0 advantage, Archbishop Murphy punted the ball back to the T-Birds, who marched down the field in 17 plays and scored on a 12-yard toss from Jaxon Budd to Wyatt Chase.
Leading 14-7 at halftime, Archbishop Murphy turned the ball over on its first drive of the second half as Ethan Bello picked off a pass in the end zone. But the free possession didn’t result in points for Tumwater. Archbishop Murphy extended its lead late in the third quarter on a 10-play drive capped off by a second Smith touchdown.
Then, reminiscent of the Pac-12 After Dark era in a former Pac-12 stadium, all hell broke loose early in the fourth quarter.
With the ball near midfield, Budd got flattened by Wildcats defensive lineman Logan Fryberg and lost the football, which was scooped up by linebacker William Wilson and returned for a 48-yard touchdown. It was the second touchdown in the span of 101 seconds of game time, and, suddenly, the lead was 28-7 for Archbishop Murphy.
True to the Tumwater standard that the T-Birds call their creed, they never gave up, despite staring down a three-score deficit in the fourth quarter of the state title game. Budd found senior tight end Evan Baxter for a 36-yard score, but a missed extra point left the score at 28-13.
Garrow took a gamble and called an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, which Tumwater recovered at the Wildcats’ 45. But another four-and-out canned the drive. Another roll of the dice by the T-Birds did not pay off, with a failed fourth down at their own 10-yard line setting the Wildcats up with a first-and-goal scenario.
But an answered prayer by the Tumwater faithful led to Ruiz fumbling the ball and Tumwater senior defensive lineman Mason Houskeeper picking it up and darting for an 86-yard score to bring Tumwater to within eight points with 3:43 left in the fourth.
Just as Tumwater’s crowd was starting to quiet down following the big play, Archbishop Murphy silenced them. Ruiz found an open Jack Sievers along the left sideline, and the Wisconsin commit ran untouched for a 35-yard dagger touchdown with 2:54 remaining.
Tumwater’s final two drives resulted in a turnover on downs deep in Wildcats territory and an interception at the final buzzer. The realization of a third consecutive second-place finish set in for the T-Birds, especially for the small but impactful senior class.
“I’m grateful that I had this opportunity. Obviously, it sucks to lose, and I wish I could have got one,” Budd said. “But I’m thankful I got to play here three years in a row. Not a lot of teams can say they’ve done that.”
Garrow credited his team for continuing to fight in the fourth quarter to keep its chances alive.
“That’s what the game is, right? It’s up and down, and it’s momentum swings. We had a chance. That’s all you can ask for in a state championship game is to put yourself in a position where you have a chance,” he said. “We look small, but our kids play with tremendous heart, so I’m proud of them.”
Tumwater finished with 121 yards on the ground and 243 total yards in the loss. The T-Birds graduate 17 seniors, including Baxter, Houskeeper, Budd, Chase, Blake Heryford, Brett Heryford, and Peyton Davis, among others.
Moral victories don’t exist in Tumwater, but the T-Birds are proud of the effort despite the odds and of the historic run of three straight state title appearances. Despite several starters moving on from the program, the T-Birds promise to be a contender once again in 2026, undoubtedly brimming with motivation to flip the script.
“It was a battle. We never gave up. We just kept on fighting. We wanted it so much, but it just didn’t go the right way,” Davis said. “The tradition is never going to change. People are going to doubt us, but we’re always going to come back.”
