HS Football: Kentwood's big 2nd half vs Tahoma secures 2nd place in NPSL

10/24/2025

Kentwood 27, Tahoma 24

(Kent, WA) 2nd place in the 4A NPSL was on the line when Tahoma traveled to French Field to take on the Kentwood Conquerors. Both teams came in with a 4-1 league record and the winner would take sole possession of 2nd place. Both teams have lost to 1st place Kennedy Catholic who have clinched the top spot. 4th place Stadium was sitting a half game behind with a 4-2 record after winning on Thursday night blasting Auburn-Riverside.

The night began with a torrential rain all through warm-ups and then it stopped about 10-minutes before kick-off and didn’t rain again except for a short time in the 3rd quarter.

The two teams traded possessions when on the wnd Tahoma possession the Bears unveiled Johnny Grose their running back who blasted his way down the field with a big 18 yard screen pass from QB Brady Bonnell to get to the Kentwood 11 yard line. From there Grose took one more carry to barrel into the end zone. Reese Williamson added the PAT and the Bears took the 7-0 lead with just 53-seconds to play in a fast moving 1st quarter.

Tahoma then forced the Conks to punt where KW punter Chance Savini pinned the Bears back to their own 5 yard line. On 2nd down, Bonnell broke open an option and blazed down the field 83 yards to inside the 10 yard line for as 1st and goal. Kentwood’s defense dug in and Tahoma settled for a 20-yard Williamson field goal with 9:39 to play n the half pushing their to 10-0.

The Conks would finally put it together when they took over possession on their own 35 yard line. On a 3rd and 6 from midfield, Tagle stepped up in the pocket and could have run for the 1st down but kept his eyes downfield and found Tre Mayfield on a crossing route for 24 yards and a huge 1st down. Tagle dropped back again on 1st down and found Rocco Micelli for another 15 to push the ball to the 13 yard line.

On the next play, Darian Williams got the hand-off and swept around the right of the offensive line with big blocks from TE Lee ‘Andrew Rubin and Homecoming King, Ethan Heidal sprung Williams in for 6. Micelli added the PAT and the Conks were within 3 down 10-7. That score would hold up to the halftime break.

Kentwood would take that momentum they picked up at the end of the 1st half and come right back with the opening possession of the 2nd half with a 75-yard scoring drive. The Conks would go on a 9-play drive with 8 running plays including a huge 8 yard run from Williams on a 4th and 1 on the Tahoma 45. Tagle followed that up with another shifty scramble connecting with Micelli on a 31 yard pass and catch. After a penalty it was 1st and goal on the 3 where Williams scored his 2nd TD of the night to give Kentwood their 1st lead of the game 13-10. The score would stay a 3 point difference after the Bears blocked the PAT on a nice play from Tavin Zinniger.

Tahoma would get their first chance in the 2nd half but on the first play a fumble turned it right back over to KW on the Tahoma 31. After a 15-yard chop block penalty, the Conks faced a 1st and 25 back near midfield but in 3 plays picked up the 1st down as they continued to pick up chunks of yardage. They would work down to the 9 yard line and Tagle spun out like he was running a bootleg when he stopped raised up and found Mayfield in the middle of the end zone for a touchdown. Micelli hit the extra point to double up Tahoma 20-10 with 5:59 to play in the 3rd.

Just before the quarter ended the Bears had driven the ball down to the 12 yard line of Kentwood and Bonnell showed off his running skills yet again bursting across the goal line, the PAT was good and it was again a 1 score game with Tahoma back within 3.

Kentwood then believed they put this game out of reach when they began with the ball on their own 36 and then peeled 7:05 off the clock and finished it with Darian Williams’ 3rd touchdown of the game with the PAT pushed the lead back to 10 with a 27-17 lead.

However, Tahoma wasn’t finished yet as they took-over on their own 33. It tooks the Bears about a minute and a half to claw back to within 3 when Bonnell found Ethan Tanner for 6, the extra point was good and it was again a 3 point game with Kentwood leading 27-24.

The Conquerors got the ball back on their own 31 with 3:21 to play. The Bears had all 3 time-outs and burned them both on 1st and 2nd downs and pushed KW back to the 29 setting up a 3rd and 12. Would Kentwood gamble to try and pick up the 1st down or simply run the ball, hope to break it but certainly wanted to force Tahoma to burn that last time out before they punted the ball away.

Kentwood Coach Quincey Davison decided to split the difference and called a run-pass option with Tagle rolling out to his right and found Williams who had leaked out of the backfield and Tagle hit him in stride about 5 yards short of the 1st down but Williams had open space and plenty of momentum and rolled to a 17 yard pick-up getting the 1st down with 1:33 to play. Tahoma called their final time-out but Kentwood got into the victory formation, kneed it 3 times to clinch the hard-fought 27-24 win.

Kentwood is now 5-1 in league play and has sole control of 2nd place and will finish their season vs winless Kentridge next week. Tahoma drops to 4-2 and is tied with Stadium for 3rd. Those two will face off next Thursday at Tahoma with the winner clinching 3rd and the loser 4th. Even if Kentwood stumbles and loses next week they hold the tie-breaker over both Tahoma and Stadium with wins over both teams.

Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP went to Kentwood QB Brandon Tagle whose all-around performance was spectacular in this huge win for the Conks. Darian Williams, Ethan Heidal and Ezra Moaalii were also in the running.

Had Tahoma pulled out the win, Brady Bonnell would have been the likely winner with Johnny Grose, Yassen Youssef and Ethan Tanner in the running.

Below are our video highlights followed by the NPSL current standings.

Link to watch full game on the NFHS Network. (subscription required)

Video Highlights

Tahoma strikes first late in the 1st

Kentwood gets their ground game rolling to get on the board

Kentwood doubles up Tahoma through the air

Tahoma digs in with big score on a critical pass play

Kentwood picks up a huge 3rd and long to clinch the win

NPSL Results

Kennedy Catholic at Kentridge (Sat 10/25)
Kentwood 27, Tahoma 24
Stadium 51, Auburn-Riverside 19 (Thursday)
Mount Rainier 45, Auburn 40

NPSL 4A Standings

	WIAA	League			Overall
Team Name	CL	W	L	T	W	L	T
Kennedy Catholic	4A	5	0	0	5	2	0
Kentwood	4A	5	1	0	6	2	0
Tahoma	4A	4	2	0	5	3	0
Stadium	4A	4	2	0	6	2	0
Mount Rainier	4A	3	3	0	5	3	0
Auburn	4A	1	5	0	2	6	0
Auburn Riverside	4A	1	5	0	1	7	0
Kentridge	4A	0	5	0	0	7	0