HS Football: Sumner Wins Home Opener Over Kennedy Catholic

9/12/25

(Sumner, WA) Last December, the Sumner Spartans were celebrating their first 4A football state championship in program history. Fast forward to week 2 of the high school football season with Sumner in search of their first win of their title defense season. Looking to spoil that goal for Sumner would be another perennial 4A title contender in the Kennedy Catholic Lancers. They also came into the showdown with an 0-1 record after both teams lost their season openers in close contests.

Sumner 28, Kennedy Catholic 0

Kennedy Catholic began the game with the football and moved down the field behind running back Nikko Lecksiwilai and his power run game. A pass to Royce Miller would end the drive as Sumner forced and recovered a fumble. However, the Spartans gave the ball right back on an interception to put the Lancers back on the field. They would once again move the ball down the field until a penalty stalled their drive. A missed field goal would give Sumner another shot on offense. They too had a nice drive until a penalty killed theirs as well. Defense was the story of the first quarter as the game was scoreless after 1.

Sumner didn’t wait too long to put some points on the board in the 2nd quarter. Sumner found success behind Lance McGee who marched the Spartans down the field. He would also find paydirt with a one-yard score to give Sumner a 7-0 lead. On the very next play from scrimmage, Elias Isaacs intercepted a pass by Dante Saladino. A long run by Israel Nabors got Sumner down to the goal line before another one-yard score for McGee. In the blink of an eye, Sumner had taken a 14-0 lead.

Kennedy Catholic would fumble the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by Sumner. It looked like they would add on even more when Nate Donavan threw a deep shot to the endzone. It was not meant to be as Jayce Fitzgerald went up and pulled down an interception in the endzone. The pick would not lead to anything for the Lancers and they left time for Sumner to get one last shot. The Spartans would not miss as they marched down the field. Nabors would make another explosive run for a 33-yard touchdown. That would take things to the half with Sumner leading 21-0.

The Spartans would get the ball to begin the second half and they put things away. It was a no-nonsense drive from the defending champs as they went right down the field behind Nabors and the receiver weapons for Donavan in Braylon Pope and Ashton Pillard. Those four moved Sumner inside the 10 before a penalty backed them up. They would still make the most of the drive as a screen from Donavan to Nabors went for a 10-yard touchdown to make it 28-0.

Kennedy Catholic was then playing to avoid the shutout. They marched down the field with a slow and very methodical rushing attack headlined by Nikko Lecksiwilai with Dante Saladino and Kael Copeland having success as well. They would get down inside the five-yard line before a fourth down began the 4th quarter. The Spartan defense would hold one last time and force a turnover on downs. The two teams traded drives that led to nothing else and it was Sumner earning their first win with a shutout of Kennedy Catholic 28-0.

Stats and MVP

Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game went to Israel Nabors for Sumner. The Spartan tailback was the most explosive player on offense for either team all game long. He carried the ball eight times for 107 yards and a touchdown while adding a 10-yard touchdown reception. He had four touches for 10+ yards and also helped set up the first touchdown of the game. Nabors was the spark that the Spartans needed to get their offense moving and helped them pile up the points to get their first win of the season.

Also on the ground for Sumner, Lance McGee had 11 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns and had a five-yard reception. Mika Petaia added four carries for 17 yards and in clean-up duty, Santos Hernandez-Ruiz carried the ball eight times for 53 yards. In the passing game, Nate Donavan went 10-20 for 115 yards and a touchdown. Braylon Pope was the go-to receiver with five catches for 71 yards. Ashton Pillard also had three catches for 29 yards. On defense, Will Maxwell and Gray Longoria each recorded a sack while Elias Isaacs had an interception.

For Kennedy Catholic’s offense, Nikko Lecksiwilai was the star of the show with 17 carries for 81 yards. Kael Copeland also carried the ball seven times for 18 yards while Royce Miller and Jaidan Hammer each had four carries for 14 yards each. Jayce Fitzgerald also had two carries for nine yards. Quarterback Dante Saladino went 3-8 passing for 38 yards and had five carries for 24 yards. Jordan Noel had the explosive catch for 24 yards while Brayden Seiber had a 10-yard catch and Royce Miller had a four-yard reception. On defense, Jayce Fitzgerald had a pass break-up in the endzone plus an interception.

With the win, the Sumner Spartans get in the win column and move to 1-1 on the season. The defending 4A state champions have a massive challenge next week when they host West Linn in a game you can see here on ESN. Kennedy Catholic falls to 0-2 and they will look to get their first win next Saturday at home against the Tahoma Bears.

Click here for the link to the full game replay (Subscription Required)