HS Football: Kalama Advances to Playoffs with Shutout of Castle Rock

10/30/25

(Kalama, WA) Regular season football came to an end on Thursday night for the Castle Rock Rockets and Kalama Chinooks as the two Trico 1A foes met in Kalama. It wasn’t just the last game of the regular season, but also a game that would have massive implications on the final two postseason spots out of the league moving into next week.

With Seton Catholic and La Center already locking up two of the four spots out of the Trico, Kalama had a much simpler path to the playoffs. A win on Thursday night would put Kalama in the 1A playoffs for the first time since moving up from 2B last fall. However, a win for Castle Rock would put added emphasis on the game between King’s Way Christian and Fort Vancouver as if KWC won, their would be a three-way tie for two spots. A Castle Rock win and a Fort Vancouver win would put the Rockets and Chinooks into the playoffs. While the picture was foggy, we would have all the answers after Thursday night’s games.

Kalama 33, Castle Rock 0

Castle Rock began the game with the ball and a great kick return put them at their own 47-yard line for the first play from scrimmage. They tried to get tricky right away with JJ Soden throwing a halfback pass up the far sideline, but Abel Koski would come down with it for an interception to give Kalama the ball early. The Chinooks went three-and-out thanks to a sack by Max Coulson to put Castle Rock’s offense back on the field where they would go three-and-out.

Kalama would then put together the best drive of the early going as Brayden Storedahl and Talan Thomas got going out of the backfield. A run by Storedahl would put an abrupt end to that drive as the ball was fumbled and recovered by Sam Smith for a takeaway from Castle Rock. The Rockets then put together a nice drive that ended in a fumble as Kalama forced their second turnover of the quarter. In the final minute of the quarter, Kalama would both complete their first pass and score the first points of the game. Henry Sigfridson launched a 50-yard bomb to Owen Kushner for a touchdown to give Kalama a 6-0 lead after a quarter of play.

Defense continued to be the story of the 2nd quarter as Kalama did not allow Castle Rock to put together a scoring drive. The Rockets did move the ball down the field very well on their first drive of the quarter with Holden Stevens, Wiley Bolar, and Brody Burgoyne putting together a three-headed rushing attack. However a big 36-yard run ended with a fumble into the endzone to give Kalama back the ball. They had an explosive play on a 54-yard scramble by Henry Sigfridson to put the ball in Rockets territory. Sigfridson would finally connect with Benji Brightbill for a 12-yard score to make it 14-0 after a successful two-point conversion.

Castle Rock did have time before the half to try to put up some points and Brody Burgoyne started to get the passing attack working with completions to Aiden Mead and Wiley Bolar. Things would then stall out for the Rockets as a 4th down pass was caught and fumbled short of the line to gain for a turnover on downs and we would go to halftime with Kalama up 14-0.

The football belonged to Kalama to begin the second half but the Rocket defense once again dug deep and did their job, forcing a three-and-out to put their offense back on the field. They continued to struggle moving the football however as they could not solve the Chinook defense that kept bringing pressure. Kalama’s offense started to look smoother as they found a nice run-pass balance with Talan Thomas out of the backfield and Henry Sigfridson through the air. Sigfridson would find Cass Kenley behind the defense for a 40-yard score to extend the lead later in the 3rd quarter to 20-0.

The Rockets looked to stay alive behind a huge pass break-up by Brody Burgoyne in the 4th as well as an interception by JJ Soden, but Kalama’s defense continued to answer the call each and every time. Henry Sigfridson added an interception on defense to erase the one he threw and Benji Brightbill found the endzone on an 18-yard run. Kalama would score one final touchdown on the last play of the game on a touchdown pass from Sigfridson to Brightbill to put the finishing touches on a 33-0 shutout victory.

Stats and MVP

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game was Kalama quarterback Henry Sigfridson. The junior QB went 8/21 through the air for 184 yards and four touchdowns while also running the ball nine times for 50 yards and caught an interception on defense. He was doing it all on both sides of the ball and never came out of the game showing off his gas tank as well. He also made a couple of very smart decisions to throw the ball away rather than forcing something down the field to limit the mistakes as well in an all around strong performance.

Elsewhere for the Kalama Chinooks, Brayden Storedahl tallied six carries for 32 yards while Talan Thomas had seven carries for 47 yards as well as a one-two punch out of the backfield. Ivan Bailey supplied the clean-up duty with four carries for 17 yards late while Aiden Coalman had an 11-yard carry to go along with some damage in the return game. Benji Brightbill had a strong game with an 18-yard touchdown run and two catches for 34 yards and two touchdowns through the air. Cass Kenley had three catches for 82 yards and a score while Abel Koski had two catches for 18 yards and an interception. Owen Kushner caught one pass for a 50-yard touchdown. Talan Thomas also tallied a tackle for a loss while Steven Kays and Hunter Harvill split a sack and Reece Achen had two sacks and a forced fumble on defense.

For the Castle Rock Rockets, Bordy Burgoyne was all over the field, going 5/18 passing for 36 yards, running the ball 16 times for 28 yards, and tallying a big pass break-up on defense. Holden Stevens would carry the ball seven times for 52 yards while Wiley Bolar had 10 carries for 39 yards for the Rockets. JJ Soden added two carries for 10 yards and had a four-yard reception plus an interception on defense. Aiden Mead caught a 13-yard pass while Stevens caught a 12-yarder and Bolar caught a seven-yarder. Max Coulson registered a sack on defense while Sam Smith had a fumble recovery.

With the win, Kalama finishes the regular season 4-4 overall and 4-2 in Trico 1A play. The Chinooks will await to see where and who they play in the playoffs next week with the matchups announced on Sunday. With King’s Way Christian’s win on Thursday, Castle Rock finishes their season 3-5 overall and 2-4 in league play, narrowly missing the playoffs.

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