HS Football: Lincoln's Defense Scores Twice to Send Abes to Quarterfinals

11/14/25

(Renton, WA) Washington state’s 3A state football tournament was in the spotlight on Friday night as the Opening Round got underway across the state. At Renton Memorial Stadium, the nightcap of the doubleheader would we a very enticing matchup as the #10 seed Lincoln Abes met the #7 seed in the Rainier Beach Vikings.

It was yet another strong regular season for the Lincoln Abes, despite a tough 1-2 start. While they would drop just one league game, the Abes were looking to show that they were still as much of a contender as their Puget Sound League rivals elsewhere in the tournament. Lincoln would look to ride the hot hand of Jadeon Scranton who entered the state tournament with nine touchdowns in his last two games.

Rainier Beach also got off to a tough start in the 2025 season. After losing their head coach after week two, interim head coach Charles McFarland stepped up and took the Vikings on quite the run as they went 6-1 through the rest of the season and entered the state tournament for the first time since 2022. The Vikings would look to their dynamic rushing attack of Ze Watkins and Damari King to try to rush past the Abes and into the quarterfinals.

Lincoln (Tacoma) 28, Rainier Beach 19

Rainier Beach began the game with the ball after a short kick, giving the Vikings pretty good field position. A heavy dose of the run game moved Rainier Beach right down the field behind Ze Watkins with a couple of nice runs. As Watkins needed a breather, Damari King came in to take over in the backfield and on his first carry, set the tone for his day. A 29-yard touchdown run by the senior would get Rainier Beach off to a very nice start as they took an early 7-0 lead.

An onside kick attempt would be recovered by Lincoln and their offense took the field for the first time in the game with nice field position. Just like Rainier Beach, Lincoln kept the ball on the ground and Jadeon Scranton was an absolute workhorse moving the ball down the field with short, consistent runs while he would also pop a couple of nine-yard dashes. Immanuel Jordan spelled him for a couple of carries but it would be Scranton putting the exclamation point on the drive. A two-yard touchdown run for the senior put Lincoln on the board and tied the game 7-7.

Lincoln would attempt an onside kick with Brayant Salazar and the Abes would recover it to get their offense right back on the field. More Jadeon Scranton moved the Abes down the field yet again but the Viking defense dug their heels in. A stop of fourth and two turned the ball over on downs and gave Rainier Beach the ball to begin the 2nd quarter. Venisala Maiava would get a tackle for a loss to put the Vikings behind the chains. That forced Rainier Beach to throw the ball and Esquire Williams found Sirjewel Glover but the ball was knocked loose by Ramon Jones. Immanuel Jordan was able to pick up the ball with his knee just avoiding touching the ground and took the fumble back 26 yards for a scoop and score. A big defensive swing helped Lincoln grab a 14-7 lead.

A stunning moment saw Lincoln recover yet another onside kick for their second in a row. A 15-yard personal foul penalty erased what could have been great field position for the Abes however. Sione Kaho would start to get going with the passing attack in the rain, converting a third down on a 14-yard pass to Kasey Williams. Kaho would also use his legs as the half began to wind down but again, the Viking defense would bend but not break as they forced another turnover on downs inside their own 20. Despite punting the ball back to Lincoln, Rainier Beach would have another big defensive play, recovering a fumble inside the 20 yet again. A couple of sacks for the Lincoln defense ended the half with the Abes still in front 14-7.

Ramon Jones had a really good return to begin the second half, setting Lincoln up at their own 43 to begin the 3rd quarter. Damari King would blow up a third down run play to force a quick punt to give Beach an opportunity to go tie the game but a very good punt by Ramon Jones after a delay of game pinned the Vikings back at their own two yard line. Lincoln’s defense recorded another sack to force a Rainier Beach punt from their own endzone.

A short punt gave the Abes the ball at the Viking 38. A big conversion from Sione Kaho to Eli Malafu kept Lincoln’s drive alive. JT Williams started to get more work as he had the first and only run for over ten yards with an 11-yard run to keep the Abes marching. The heavy rushing attack set up Lincoln for a beautiful play action to the left while Kaho rolled to his right. He found his tight end Noah Dennis for a nine-yard touchdown and Lincoln had opened their lead to 20-7 after a failed PAT.

This time Rainier Beach would recover the onside kick but the Lincoln defense pushed them right back. A huge 16-yard pass from Esquire Williams to Tariq Shabazz would extend the drive but a couple of tackles for a loss by Immanuel Jordan backed them up yet again. Rainier Beach had to punt to begin the 4th quarter. A muffed punt however would be recovered by the Vikings to set them up in phenomenal field position at the 16. A couple of plays later, Esquire Williams found Sirjewel Glover for a 12-yard score to bring the Vikings back to life, trailing 20-13.

Just a couple of plays after the kick, DJ Shaw knocked the ball free and Jay’Shaun Banks Hall came away with hit for a huge takeaway for Rainier Beach. After dropping a pass on the previous two-point attempt, Tek Mwamba made up for it with a hard fought 12-yard touchdown reception on a pass from Williams. With the score 20-19, Rainier Beach elected to go for two, but the attempt was unsuccessful so Lincoln maintained a one-point lead.

Lincoln was looking to just kill time but a holding penalty hurt them or so it seemed. A checkdown pass from Sione Kaho to JT Williams went for 25 and moved the sticks as the Abes marched down the field against the clock. Rainier Beach would dig in one more time to force a punt to get their offense on the field with a chance to go win the game. While the drive started off nicely, the pressure from Lincoln’s defense on Esquire Williams just continued to build. Immanuel Jordan pressured him once again and while Williams got the pass off, Noah Dennis was right there for the pick and took it all the way to the house for a pick six. Jadeon Scranton ran in the two-point conversion to make it a two-possession game. That would seal this one away as Lincoln’s two defensive scores powered them to the quarterfinals with a 28-19 win over Rainier Beach.

Stats and MVP

Our Sumner Holiday Inn MVP of the game went to Lincoln’s Noah Dennis. The junior tight end put together the biggest game of his season on the biggest stage the Abes have been on in 2025. Dennis caught just one pass for a nine-yard touchdown and had a pick six on defense that helped seal the deal on the Abes win. Two massive plays accounting for 12 points was the difference for Lincoln and Dennis stepped up at the perfect moments.

Jadeon Scranton was the star of the show for the Lincoln offense, carrying the ball 28 times for 124 yards and a score in a very impressive performance. JT Williams would find success on the ground and through the air with six carries foe 28 yards and three catches for 30 yards as well. Sione Kaho ran the ball five times for nine yards and went 12/14 passing for 88 yards and a touchdown at quarterback. Kasey Williams caught two passes for 24 yards and Eli Malafu had three catches for 14 yards. Erick Tijiboy caught two passes for 1 yard and Elijah Carney had a 10-yard catch. Immanuel Jordan was big for Lincoln as well with two carries for seven yards but also had two sacks, a tackle for a loss, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Lincoln had eight sacks on defense with Eonytus Kitiona, Tyrone Jones, Venisalav Maiava, and Kaivone Cooks all tallied one. Elijah Carney had an interception and Kaivone Cooks had a forced fumble.

For Rainier Beach, it was Esquire Williams with a heavy workload, going 11/14 passing for 89 yards and two touchdowns and had 10 carries as well. Damari King had seven carries for 44 yards and a touchdown and had a sack, tackle for a loss, and a forced fumble. Ze Watkins ran the ball six times for 27 yards. In the receiving game, Sirjewel Glover caught four passes for 46 yards and a touchdown while Tek Mwamba had four catches for 35 yards and a score. Marques Ili-Maneese caught two passes for 21 yards while Tariq Shabazz had a 16-yard catch and Ameer Johnson had a seven-yard reception. Micah Ili-Maneese would go 1/4 passing for 17 yards. On defense, Glover had a pass break-up while Tek Mwamba and DJ Shaw each had a fumble recovery.

Lincoln’s win moves them to 8-3 on the season and into the quarterfinals where they will meet PSL rival Mount Tahoma for a spot in the state semifinals. Rainier Beach sees their season end at 6-3 but had a great surge after a shaky start to the season in a stacked Metro League.

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