Undefeated Puyallup Displaces Lake Stevens Atop 4A Power Rankings

SPSL's undefeated Puyallup is up one spot, displacing Lake Stevens. Gonzaga Prep is third, all three teams received first place votes from J425's aggregation of 7 weekly 4A polls.

The upstart Puyallup Vikings (6-0) of the SPSL top this week’s J425 4A Power Rankings, a proprietary aggregation of seven top weekly polls. Read on for summaries of each of the top ten teams, plus a scorecard that shows how each team was ranked across seven weekly 4A polls.

Puyallup received four first place votes from the seven aggregated polls. Second-ranked Lake Stevens (6-0) received two and third place Gonzaga Prep (6-0) received one.

Puyallup Earns Top Spot with Four First Place Votes

Top-ranked Puyallup blanked South Kitsap 60-0 on the road, one week after stepping on to the state stage with a 58-22 home thrashing of defending 4A champ #6 Sumner (3-3) behind the debut of 2027 lefty QB Noah Smith, a transfer from the Kitsap peninsula who sat the requisite four games under the WIAA’s new elective transfer rule before storming the gates with a 341-yard, four TD performance against Sumner.

Smith has nine touchdowns in his first two contests. Puyallup’s sophomore back Briytan Bailey is quietly second in 4A with 760 yards rushing (8.4 avg) and 11 touchdowns.

Puyallup is heavily favored in their week seven contest with Rogers. Circle an upcoming matchup with #8 Curtis (5-1) in two weeks as one to watch, as well as a possible SPSL title matchup with undefeated #4 Graham-Kapowsin (6-0).

Lake Stevens Falls to Second Despite Undefeated Campaign

The undefeated Lake Stevens Vikings finished a sliver behind Puyallup in this week’s aggregation, the deciding factor coming when MaxPreps slid Lake down two slots and gave first to the SPSL’s Viks. Lake Stevens hammered Jackson on the road, building a 42-0 lead in the second quarter and coasted to a running-clock shutout. Lake Stevens travels to Ferndale Friday for a non-conference game.

Lake’s junior running back Jayvian Ferrell continues to break long runs and leads 4A averaging just under 12 yards per carry. Ferrell is third in yards (758) and touchdowns (10) despite sitting out more than a half in each of three Viking wins. Junior QB Blake Moser has passed for 15 touchdowns and rushed for three more.

The Viks wrap with two conference home games: Oct. 24 vs Kamiak (1-5) and Homecoming, Senior Night and Halloween vs Arlington (3-3) on Oct. 31.

Gonzaga Prep Snags First Place Vote, Leans on the Pass More in

Gonzaga Prep slides up a notch to number three following a 63-0 thrashing of Shadle Park. We were reliably told that the Bullpups are looking to pass more this year, so we checked it out and sure enough, GP’s senior signal caller Sam Kincaid is among the GSL League leaders. The 6-ft senior is 36-47 (76%) for 743 yards with a league-leading 16 TDs, against no interceptions. G-Prep’s Isaiah Dockins has 24 catches for 376 yards and a league-leading 7 TD catches.

GP is relying on a balanced offense overall, churning out 316 yards per game – 180 on the ground and 136.5 through the air. It’s still a defense-first formula for the Bullpups, allowing their opponents 153 yards per game on average. All stats courtesy of SpokaneChalktalk. Follow them on IG. Gonzaga Prep’s next challenge comes in two weeks against 5-1 Mead, a 4A team on the outskirts of the top ten polls.

G-K Sits in 4th Amidst Injury Questions for Star QB

Graham-Kapowsin slides down a notch in this week’s power rankings through no fault of their own: Gonzaga Prep picked up a first place vote from Varsity WA. Blame Todd. That’s not to say it’s totally clear-sailing in the Southend: G-K’s star signal caller AJ Tuivaiave is questionable to play this week with a foot sprain. The 6’3, 240-lb 2028 star exited midway through last week’s 20-10 win at Bethel, a victory that counted among the week’s most impressive.

Hit the jump for recaps on each of the top ten teams in this week’s poll, plus our full Week 7 Polling Scorecard, which features the scores of each team across all seven weekly polls. J425 is a reader-supported publication.

Tuivaiave, who holds at least eight high major scholarship offers (and is seen as a UW lean according to 247), got his foot caught at the line on the game’s fifth play and was replaced by senior backup Kolton Wadley, a lacrosse star.

The senior, who according to G-K coach Jeff Logan makes all the throws and gets the ball out on time, ably guided the Blue and Orange to a 20-10 win.

That said, it appears as if Logan felt he needed to pull out all the stops to earn the W, pulling off two onside kicks in the second half – one of which was preceded by two significant Bethel penalties, moving the kick up to near midfield. But still.

“Bethel is a really, really good football team,” Logan told the Union-Bulletin. “They are really good up front on the line and they run the ball downhill.”

It is unclear whether Tuivaiave will be back this week, but the word around the Sound didn’t make it seem like the sophomore season was threatened. Something to keep an eye on. If both teams stay on course, a G-K vs Puyallup matchup awaits in week 9.

Chiawana in Fifth: Undefeated Riverhawks Face Big Road Test Week 7

Fifth in this week’s power rankings are the Chiawana Riverhawks of Pasco. Chiawana (6-0) came a triple overtime play away from defeating last year’s ultimate title winner Sumner in the 4A semifinal, and they continue to coast in 2025, winning 59-6 at home last week over geographic rival Pasco.

Things pick up the next two weeks however, with the Riverhawks heading to undefeated 3A power Kennewick this Friday for a eastside showdown. Kennewick has allowed just one touchdown over its last three contests. In two weeks, #5 Chiawana hosts 5-1 Richland, who comes in at 11th, just two points outside of the top ten in this week’s power rankings.

Sumner and Moses Lake Tie for Sixth, Records Couldn’t be More Divergent

Sumner (3-3) and Moses Lake (6-0) come in tied for 6th in this week’s power rankings. And two teams with more divergent records – and aggregate quality of opponent – would be hard to find.

Sixth-ranked Moses Lake is on its second-straight regular season romp behind a high flying offense led by QB Brady Jay, who is averaging over 400 yards per game passing, stacking up 41 touchdowns (that’s nearly seven per game) against one interception.

Moses Lake sits atop its conference standings.

To say that Moses Lake doesn’t really play anybody is an understatement. To their credit, they did schedule North Creek this season, but the Snohomish County’s typical playoff contender is fighting through a 1-5 campaign.

A similarly- dominant regular season came to a crashing halt last year in the 4a playoffs round of 32, where Moses Lake lost at home 49-20 to Kamiakin (7-5), with Jay getting picked off four times in the unsightly home loss. Moses Lake faces its only conference competition Friday versus Eastmont (5-1), who haven’t lost in state this year. On the other hand, Eastmont lost to a 2-3 Post Falls, ID team that Moses Lake easily handled. So it may be until Week 10 before we get a true measure of Moses Lake and its high-flying attack.

Tied for sixth with Moses Lake are the Sumner Spartans, who own a strong 3-3 record.

Sumner, of course, is the defending 4A champ, and their record belies the fact that they came within seconds of winning at Lake Stevens Week 1, surrendering the lead thanks to Viking QB Blake Moser’s last second 21-yard strike to WR Seth Price.

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The sixth-ranked Spartans then beat 4A power Kennedy-Catholic 28-0 before losing at home to undefeated defending Oregon 6A champ West Linn, 31-24. Sumner then played the role of the old guard giving way to the new in their 58-22 conference thrashing at Puyallup in Week 5.

That said, the title remains in Sumner until someone takes it from them, and the Spartans have a chance to re-assert themselves with a home contest against 8th-ranked Curtis this Friday.

Curtis, Camas and Bothell Round out the Week 7 Power Rankings

The SPSL’s Curtis comes in at 8th place in this week’s power rankings. At 5-1, Curtis is on the edge of the SPSL title race and has a chance to overturn the apple cart with a win over undefeated Puyallup in two week’s time. The Vikings are coming off of a 46-13 home win over Emerald Ridge. The Viks’ only blemish comes from a Week 2 home loss to undefeated 3A contender Lakes, 21-17. Curtis’ true might will be tested this week with a tough road contest at #6 Sumner (3-3).

Greater Vancouver power #9 Camas is another team that is tough to judge, with losses coming against 3A number-one contender Mt. Tahoma and to Oregon’s aforementioned power West Linn. The Papermakers sit at 4-2 as they begin their truncated league season. Contests against Battle Ground (3-2), Skyview and Union await, with the latter two owning just three wins between them. We may have to wait until Week 10 to better judge the Papermakers’ staying power.

Snohomish and King County’s Bothell enters the poll at 10th. That’s right, the school’s campus splits the county line and the Northshore district services two of the state’s top four most populous counties. That said, fans of Lake Stevens may feel free to boast that they’re the only team fully north of King County to win a 4A title in the last 30+ years. This year’s Bothell team has lost just once in state, to Skyline (by a score of 14-7) – and Skyline is a team on the edge of the power ranking top ten – tied for thirteenth this week. The Cougars also own an out-of-state loss to Lewiston, ID who at 2-3 doesn’t really represent the strongest loss. That said, models like the RPI have the Cougars as high as 5th and there’s likely to be few more hints about the Cougar’s true strength with games against Mount Si (2-4) and Eastlake (3-3) remaining.

J425’s scorecard for all seven weekly polls.

Varsity WA Poll Added to Power Rankings Mix

This week, the Varsity WA 4A rankings were added into the aggregate mix for the J425 weekly power rankings, which combines the judgements of seven weekly polls: the Associated Press, the Washington State Football Coaches Association, the Tacoma News Tribune, MaxPreps, WIAA RPI, Evans Computer Rankings and Varsity WA, a new venture by long time prep scribe Todd Milles and photographer Lauren Smith. You can follow their work here. J425 aggregates each of the individual polls on our X account: @425Kev. Check out all of our Reels and Highlights on Instagram @J425live.

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