HS Football: Quarterfinals Puyallup too much for Skyline advances to Semifinals

11/22/2025

(Puyallup, WA) After a full day of State 3A and 4A girls Soccer Championships and 3rd place matches, why not cap off your Saturday with a huge quarterfinal football match-up with the #1 seeded and undefeated Puyallup Vikings take on the #9 Skyline Spartans.

The Vikings were ready to show they are for real if you didn’t already believe in them while the Spartans are working to bring the program back that has 7 State Championship trophies in their trophy case and 3 runner-ups over the past 25 years.

Skyline tookover on their own 20 to begin the game and on the 7th play of the drive sophomore QB Bed Odom hit Bupe Chasinga on a 3rd and 8 from the Puyallup 22 in the end zone. Odom lofted the ball up and Chasinga elevated went up and made a terrific catch. Cooper Logue added the PAT and the Spartans jumped out to a 7-0 lead against the #1 team in the state.

The score seemed to trigger the Vikings and they quickly realized it’s game time. The explosive Viking offense would get their chance mixing in the impressive running of Briytan Bailey and Noah Smith connecting with his receivers marched the ball from their own 24 to the 4 yard line of the Spartans.

QB Noah Smith lined up and play faked the hand-off to Bailey and the Spartan defense swarmed while Smith snuck around the outside and walked into the end zone untouched for 6. Braylon Bowie added the extra point and with just 2:00 to go in the 1st quarter it was even at 7-7.

Skyline would then go on to make some big self-inflicted mistakes with several huge drops of passes which would have been significant yardage, coupled with a pair of short punts that handed Puyallup fantastic field position.

Puyallup would take advantage with a 2-yard TD plunge by Bailey and Akuffo with a 1 yard blast with 2:39 to play in the half. Akuffo then ran in the PAT for 2 after missing the two previous touchdowns to push the Viks lead to 27-7.

That’s how it would stay going into halftime. Both coaches had plenty to talk about at the break with Puyallup giving away unecessary yardage by penalty and Skyline’s dropped passes and a huge fumble that ended a promising drive that would have at least tied Puyallup at 13 had they been able to punch it in.

Skyline would kick-off to start the 3rd quarter and it was imperative to get a stop or a big play to shift the momentum back in the Spartans favor. Puyallup wasn’t buying they were kicking it deep and were ready for an onside kick or squib kick but they did boot it deep and Puyallup began with the ball on their own 25.

It would take the Vikings 11 seconds to blow up any halftime plans the Spartans were hoping to accomplish. Noah Smith took the snap, play-action to Bailey stepped back and found a streaking Jayden Woodland who got behind the secondary and Smith laid it right in his arms at the Skyline 40 for a 35 yard pass and then Woodland took it the final 40 yards for the score on a 75 yard TD strike. Cody McFadden scored on a wildcat run to 2 point PAT for a 35-7 lead.

Smith would then hit Luke Parker on a 9 yard pass for 6 and Akuffo would run in his 3rd TD of the game to push the score to 49-7. The Spartans would get 2 late scores on a run from Colin Shamp and Chasinga would score on the final play of the game.

Skyline reached the quarterfinals under 2nd year Head Coach Peyton Pelluer who was part of the last State Championship team in 2012. Pelluer is focused on returning the Spartans to their former glory and is off to a solid beginning finishing with a 9-2 overall record.

Speaking of getting off to a fast start, new Puyallup Head Coach DJ Mims is not intersted in an improved season over last year at this point, it’s now all bout finishing this nmagical season. The Vikings are now 12-0 and their closest win was in week 1 against 2A power Tumwater where the Vikings began the season with a 25-19 win. Since then the closest they’ve come to a loss was a 29 point win at Graham-Kapwowsin.

Puyallup has outscored their opponents 628-112 or a per game average of 52.3 to 9.3. Mims has been able to put this talented team together all in one year and now the challenge is to finish what they started. The Vikings haven’t been to the Championship since going back-to-back in 1991 and 1992 taking 2nd both years. There only Championship came in 1987 when they beat Gonzaga Prep 27-21.

The Vikings will host a very familiar foe in the semifinals on Saturday at Sparks stadium when Sumner comes to town. The Spartans are the defending 4A champs beating Camas last December for their 2nd title in school history. Puyallup defeated Sumner handily in their league match-up on October 4th 58-22.

Graham-Kapowsin, the 3rd SPSL team is in the semifinals and travel to Lake Stevens who won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.

Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game we went defense. Jasiah Denmark earned it for his work in the secondary including a pick. Denmark was constantly in man-on-man coverage taking away the top Spartan receivers on a regular basis. As dominant as the offense has been, the defense is stifling again giving up only 9 points a game on average.