HS Football: Life Christian Advances to Round of 12 by Knocking Off Zillah

11/8/25

(Lakewood, WA) 1A football took center stage on ESN on Saturday afternoon as the Round of 24 meant playoff football across the classification. In Lakewood at Harry E. Lang Stadium, it would be an East vs. West showdown as the Zillah Leopards made the trip over the Cascades to take on the Life Christian Academy Eagles. The winner would advance to the Round of 12 while the loser would move on to winter sports.

The Zillah Leopards entered the contest with a record of 7-2 and their only two losses came to two of the 1A title favorites in Royal and Cashmere. Looking to showcase how stacked the SCAC is, the Leopards had an upset on their minds. Meanwhile, the Life Christian Academy Eagles were riding a five-game winning streak after starting the season 0-3. Coming off an emotional Nisqually 1A league title win in a shootout win over Cascade Christian, the Eagles would hope that they could keep the winning streak and their season alive behind a star-studded offense.

Life Christian Academy 28, Zillah 6

Life Christian Academy began the game with the football and put together a lightning quick, three-play scoring drive. Jabez Boyd would throw the ball on all three plays as he found Julian Roso for 30 yards to begin the game before completing a 12-yard pass to Demitri Rountree. A penalty backed them up but it did not slow them down. Boyd would pump fake a slip screen and Aaron Fujita was left wide open up the Eagles sideline. Fujita hauled in the pass and took it 41 yards to the house and Life Christian Academy was on the board, leading 6-0.

Zillah would then begin their opening drive and it would get off to a solid start as well. Beau Donahoe found Jace Salme early in the drive for a 37-yard catch and run to move the Leopards right into LCA territory. However, Zillah would see their drive stall out after a penalty and a dropped pass to force a turnover on downs. LCA then put together a very long drive as they established their run game behind Zion Dennis. Kyien Hamilton Evans and Justin Durham both got involved in the passing attack as the drive would go into the start of the 2nd quarter. Jabez Boyd then found Julian Roso in the left side of the endzone to make it two scores in two drives on the six-yard touchdown pass and Life Christian Academy led 14-0 after the two-point conversion.

LCA tried to surprise Zillah with an onside kick but the Leopards recovered it to get good starting field position. Beau Donahoe was able to find RJ Curfman early in the drive to move the ball into Eagle territory on the 14-yard completion. An 11-yarder to Salme kept things moving as Maverick Myers began to find some success on the ground for Zillah to create balance on offense. Zillah also ran the wildcat with Brayden Russell and Maverick Myers in the backfield at the same time. On third and goal, Donahoe threw a pass a little bit behind Jace Salme but the receiver was able to turn his body and make the catch for a six-yard score. The extra point was no good, but Zillah was on the board trailing 14-6.

Defense would then start to takeover in this one as both teams forced turnovers. A Jabez Boyd pass was caught but a hit from Kyson Bass popped the ball into the air where RJ Curfman would catch it for the interception. An inadvertent whistle from an official blew the return dead but it was still a takeaway for the Leopards. However, on a fourth down, Zillah would fumble and the ball was recovered by Leland Moi to give it back to the Eagles. The teams traded punts and while Jabez Boyd would have an incredible return for a touchdown, it was erased due to a penalty. This game would roll into halftime with Life Christian Academy leading Zillah 14-6.

Zillah was set to receive the second half kickoff, but disaster struck for the Leopards. The kick bounced off the return man all the way back to Kyien Hamilton Evans who covered it up to give the ball to LCA to begin half number two. The Eagles were led down the short field behind senior QB Jabez Boyd and finally Boyd began to use his legs. He would have a very nice 13-yard touchdown scramble as they took advantage of the short field to extend their lead to 21-6.

A roughing the passer penalty helped Zillah move the ball into Life Christian Academy territory as they looked to respond to their two possession deficit. Facing a third and one, the Leopards decided to take a shot deep, but the LCA QB showed his defensive skills as well. Jabez Boyd high-pointed the pass and came away with an interception to put an immediate stop to that drive. Life Christian Academy then put together an extremely long and time consuming drive as they slowly marched down the field. They started at their own six-yard line and took the ball all the way to the Zillah 13 but that’s when the Leopards held their ground. A turnover on downs ended that drive as well as the quarter as we moved to the 4th with the score still 21-6 in favor of LCA.

Life Christian Academy’s defense was all over the place in the second half. Zillah could not get into any sort of groove on offense despite some penalties helping them extend drives. Zillah only got 44 yards of offense in the second half and it was mostly due to LCA’s defensive speed and so many playmakers stepping up for the Eagles. LCA would be able to put together another score as Jabez Boyd ran one in from three yards out for one last score. That would wrap this one up as Life Christian Academy took down Zillah 28-6 to advance to the 1A Round of 12.

Stats and MVP

Our Sumner Holiday Express MVP of the game did not go to just one player, but rather five players. The offensive line for Life Christian Academy was phenomenal and changed the game by dominating up front. The group of Loto Nuu, Elioenai Paolo, Ofa Taufalele, Jermaine Tofa, and Zephaniah Vailahi-Sala got a constant push up front when the Eagles went to the ground game and gave Jabez Boyd all day to throw in the passing game. My dominating in the trenches the Eagles got out in front early and led from very early on throughout the entire game.

Jabez Boyd lit up the stat sheet once again for the Eagles as he went 20/35 passing for 287 yards and two touchdowns while running the ball eight times for 42 yards and two scores. To add to that, Boyd also had an interception on defense. Zion Dennis had a strong game on the ground, running the ball nine times for 47 yards while Deon Paine had seven carries for 24 yards. Leland Moi carries the ball twice for 13 yards. Aaron Fujita led the receiving game with six catches for 87 yards and a score. Kyien Hamilton Evans and Julian Roso each had four catches for 43 yards and 61 yards and a touchdown respectively. Demitri Rountree caught two passes for 67 yards, Justin Durham had two catches for 17 yards and Zion Dennis had two catches for 12 yards. On defense, Leland Moi recovered a fumble while Micah Vaeao, Trent Davis, and JayJ Fung Chen Pen all had a pass break-up. Demitri Rountree also had a sack.

For the Zillah Leopards, Beau Donahoe went 8/24 passing for 87 yards and a touchdown. Maverick Myers carried the ball 11 times for 40 yards while Brayden Russell had six carries for nine yards. Jace Salme was the star offensively with four catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. RJ Curfman had a nice day with two catches for 20 yards and an interception on defense. Brayden Russell and Kyson Bass each had a four-yard catch while Bass also recorded a sack on defense.

Life Christian Academy has now won six consecutive games since starting the season 0-3 and the Eagles now sit at 6-3. They will await the 1A bracket reveal on Sunday to see if they play next week or if they have earned a first round bye. Zillah finishes their season at 7-3 but with just eight seniors on the roster, the Leopards are loaded for a deep run in 2026.

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