Playoff Football: #6 Graham-Kapowsin Eagles at #2 Lake Stevens Vikings. WIAA 4A State Semifinal Game, J425 Preview and Pick
The 11-1 Eagles visit the 12-0 Vikings at 4:00 pm today with a trip to Husky Stadium on the line. J425 has a preview, pick and playoff notebook.
The Lake Stevens Vikings (12-0) welcome the Graham-Kapowsin Eagles (11-1) to Lake Stevens today for a State Semifinal Playoff matchup, kickoff at 4:00 pm. Tickets available at stadium.
LAKE STEVENS — Earlier this week, the daily paper that covers the South Sound proclaimed the South Puget Sound League – home of Lake Stevens’ semifinal opp Graham-Kapowsin – “the SEC of WA”, a play on the dominance of college football’s most powerful conference.
The inference: real football is played down south, and to prove it, three out of the final four 4A contestants emerged from the SPSL. Setting aside the fact that Graham-Kapowsin is the only team that finished above .500 in the SPSL South, the assertion seemingly gives short shrift to that fourth contestant in the 4A final four: the 12-0 Lake Stevens Vikings, who despite the fact that they enter semifinal weekend unbeaten, despite the fact that Lake (like Puyallup) has victories over two teams still playing at this stage of the season, comes in a little underrated – or at least lacking in the fanfare given to upstart Puyallup, the team that overtook the Viks in the consensus polls halfway through the season.
In all honesty, the center of dominance in Washington state high school football is not in the south Puget Sound. It’s in the 425, where head coach Tom Tri has built a bottom-up winning machine that – at this point – doesnt stop to rebuild, it simply reloads.
A Generational Run: The Lake Stevens Vikings Since 2018
Consider the recent history of the Tom Tri-led program:
Lake Stevens is 11-1 in its last 12 State Playoff games,
Lake Stevens is 18-4 in State Playoffs since 2018,
Lake Stevens has made the 4A title game four times since 2018, winning two of the last three state championships,
Vikings’ finishes since 2018: Finals appearance (lost), Quarterfinals, Finals appearance (lost), Finals appearance (won), Finals appearance (won), Quarterfinals.
No program in the state comes close to matching the Vikings’ excellence over this period of time. Saturday’s opponent comes the closest, and prior to the current year, they hadn’t won a state playoff game since 2022. In addition to dominating season over season, Tom Tri has sought out the creme of the crop in his non-conference schedule and outside of West Linn (Oregon), there’s not a team that he doesn’t hold the recent advantage over.
Lake has won in Bellevue two of the last three years and took three out of four in a recent four year series. Lake avenged a season opening road loss last year by knocking off defending 4A champ Sumner on opening weekend this September, in the junior QB Blake Moser’s first start. League rival Glacier Peak went into last weekend 10-1, their only loss: 49-14 to Lake Stevens. And Glacier Peak hasn’t beat the Vikings in over a decade. In fact, Lake Stevens has lost a total of one league games in 13 years.
With a continued level of dominance like this, one would assume that riding an undefeated season (neither of Lake’s title winning campaigns were undefeated seasons) into the semis would establish Lake as the most feared team in the state. That simply hasn’t been the case, at least externally, where Lake’s mercy-rule blowout of then-undefeated Moses Lake is viewed less like a MERCY RULE BLOWOUT and more like a narrowly-escaped shootout.
And perhaps Lake’s season opening win over Sumner is discounted somewhat by the fact that –yes, Lake beat Sumner, but only by three – whereas Puyallup lapped Sumner 59-22. (After Lake and West Linn softened them up, perhaps). Prognosticators around the state give Tom Tri and the Viks their respect: I’ve only seen one outlet pick the Viks to lose this week – but those who pick the Viks win cage their picks with “first team to 60” or “last team to score” type qualifiers, as if the Viks are bereft of defense and as if one offense is as good as the next. Taking nothing away from today’s opponent, whose quarterback passed for over 500 yards on the road in dispatching Gonzaga Prep last week, this year’s Lake Stevens offense isn’t simply great, it’s the best version of the offense we’ve seen in the Tom Tri era.
How sharp has the Viking attack been? It’s created time of possession and ball control stat deficits that – on paper – make it seem like the Viking defense is weaker than it is. Giving up time of possession and first down advantages to the likes of Ferndale and Kamiak? That might seem like something to worry about until you consider the fact that a 65-yard, one play touchdown drive puts zero first downs on the stat sheet and results in like fifteen seconds of time of possession. The Viking offense has redefined what it means to be a big play offense. Lake averages three fifty-plus yard touchdowns per game. On the season, every single one of Lake’s backs averages over 10 yards per carry. On the whole, Tom Tri’s offense is gaining 14 yards per snap and almost 17 yards per pass play. And the big plays haven’t been stacked up solely against the weakest opponents. The season began with junior RB Jayvian Ferrell scoring from 73 yards out on the first snap against Sumner’s top rated defense. Moser ran it in from 40 in the second quarter of that game. In the playoffs, Lake Stevens has touchdowns of 65, 61, 59, 49, 46, 45, 40, 40, 35 and 32 yards. Again, outside of Puyallup, you’re simply not seeing anything like this anywhere else.
To be fair, yes the defense has struggled against the pass, at least compared to Lake Stevens year-over-year standards. Sumner wide receiver Braylen Pope caught four touchdown passes week one. Woodinville passed for over 300 yards in the first week of the playoffs. Brady Jay passed for 400 yards and six touchdowns last week, albeit in a running-clock mercy rule loss. And while it’s easy to brush off the defensive “issues” by pointing out that Woodinville is the only team that hasn’t been mercy-ruled since Week 2, there is some truth to criticism. Lake’s fearsome defensive line hasn’t got home on opposing passers with the regularity of the 2022 or 2023 teams, despite featuring much higher rated players. And coming into today’s matchup with the state’s highest rated QB prospect, three star sophomore AJ Tuivaiave, the susceptibility to the pass is what must be concerning defensive coordinator Eric Dinwiddie the most. Because if this year’s version of Graham- Kapowsin isn’t quite the bully that the 2021 team was, the Eagles passing attack is as sharp as ever. More on that in the game preview.
Know Thy Opponent: Graham Kapowsin Eagles (SPSL South Champions)
RECORD: 11-1, SPSL South Champions, 6th Seed
Passing Yards per Game: 319, Rushing Yards per Game: 126
SIGNATURE 2025 WINS: 42-35 over Gonzaga Prep, 40-38 over O’Dea, 34-7 over Kennedy Catholic.
RECENT RECORD vs LS: lost 6-31 in 2023 State Finals, lost 28-42 in 2022 State Semifinals in Lake Stevens, won in State Finals in 2021 44-6. Overall: 2-4 versus Lake in the WIAA playoffs.
STAT LEADERS: RB Blake Pearson (999 yards, 13 TDs on 168 carries); QB AJ Tuivaiave (168-of-234 passing, 2,685 yards, 28 TDs, INT); WR Kase Betz (1,119 yards, 11 TDs on 66 receptions); WR Jayce Halasz (852 yards, 6 TDs on 58 receptions).
ALL CONFERENCE PLAYERS: SPSL South Player of the Year: Kase Betz, Offensive Player of the Year: AJ Tuivaiave, Offensive Lineman of the Year: Douglas Peterson, Defensive Lineman of the Year: Julius Hernandez. First Team All SPSL South: RB — Blake Pearson, , jr. WR — Jayce Halasz, , soph. OL — Tua Steffany, soph. OL — Ayden Bullinger, , jr. DL — Jeremiah Leumuava, jr. LB — Derick Manibusan, , jr. LB — Gavin Deaton, , sr. DB — Mo Williams, jr.
TOP RECRUITS: Tuivaiave is the top QB prospect in the state for 2028, a top 150 player in the nation in his class, and holds offers from UW, Miami, BYU and Oregon, among others. Betz is a three star WR rated 12th in the class of 2027. DB Williams and OL Bullinger are also three star recruits in the 2027 class. Freshman safety George Woods had a three interception game two weeks ago and is gathering interest.
“They’re playing better football each week. They’re coached up, playmakers on the outside everywhere, great QB play, solid O-line play. They’re playing great football at the right time.” - Anonymous SPSL coach on Graham-Kapowsin, as featured in the Tacoma News Tribune.
Notes: Tuivaiave was 31-34 passing for over 500 yards at Gonzaga Prep, Betz caught 12 balls for 215 yards and sophomore wideout Jayce Halasz was over 180 on the day as well. The Eagles went through a period of malaise in the middle of the schedule, fighting through a series of clunkers against inferior competition, all of which the Eagles turned into wins. This included a 14-0 win over two-win Emerald Ridge, a game in which they gave up 34 to three-win Bonney Lake, and a late October 20-10 squeaker over Bethel, a team that later lost at home to Kamiakin in a State play-in game. Lake later put Kamiakin to the running-clock sword, 55-14 in the State Playoffs Round of 16.
Reviewing the Lake Stevens Vikings
RECORD: 12-0, Wesco 4A Champions, #2 Seed.
Passing Yards per Game: 260; Rushing Yards per Game: 191
SIGNATURE 2025 WINS: 31-28 over Sumner, 21-14 over Bellevue at Bellevue, won 49-14 at then-undefeated Glacier Peak, knocked out previously unbeaten Moses Lake with a running clock 75-41 effort in the quarters.
RECENT RECORD vs G-K: Won 31-6 in 2023 State Finals, won 42-28 in 2022
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