Stanwood fullback Ryder Bumgarner proves too much, Mt. Spokane falls in State 3A first-round matchup

When a team lines up in an offensive formation that originated in the 1800s and led to championships in the 1940s, you know what they are going to do.

Greater Spokane League champion Mt. Spokane knew what to expect from its State 3A first-round opponent. Stanwood just executed its game plan to perfection.

Senior Ryder Bumgarner, the Spartans’ featured back in their Wing-T formation, carried 32 times for 233 yards with two touchdowns – all between the tackles – and 11th-seeded Stanwood beat sixth-seeded Mt. Spokane 24-14 at Union Stadium on Friday.

The Spartans rushed 52 times and threw four passes – two of which were grounded intentionally to stop the clock.

Stanwood (9-1) advances to face third-seeded O’Dea, a 42-28 winner over 14th-seeded Peninsula, in a quarterfinal next weekend.

The Spartans were making back-to-back trips to the state tournament for the first time in program history and earned their first win at state since reaching the semifinals in 1996.

“We set this goal at the beginning of the season, so we’re not doing it just for ourselves,” Bumgarner said. “We’re doing it for the community, our families each other. So, we’re gonna keep going. Our goal now is to get to the top four.”

Bumgarner amassed 2,063 yards and 21 TDs on the ground during the regular season.

“It’s my (offensive) line,” Bumgarner said. “I couldn’t do anything I do without them, and they work hard every single day. That’s the reason why I’m great. So, all credit to them.”

“He’s a hell of a runner,” Mt. Spokane senior linebacker Jackson Hale said. “I mean, strong. He’s a strong man. And he doesn’t give up once he gets hit. He keeps on running.”

“(Bumgarner) definitely runs downhill,” Mt. Spokane coach Terry Cloer said. “And he runs hard, and we just didn’t do a great job of getting off blocks up front and you got to swarm tackle him.”

Mt. Spokane (9-2) was looking to extend its run of state quarterfinal appearances to three consecutive seasons. It’s the first first-round game at state the Wildcats have lost in their past four trips (2009, ’10, ’19, ’21).

“I’m just proud of all of us,” Hale said. “We worked so hard, you know. No one thought we’d be GSL champs, you know, undefeated in the GSL and I’m just so proud of them. It’s just a tough loss.”

Stanwood protected against Mt. Spokane’s deep threat all game. Junior QB T.J. Haberman went 12 of 16 for 185 yards with two interceptions as the Spartans’ defense shut out Mt. Spokane after the second play of the second quarter.

“We had two drives that we were moving and fizzled out,” Cloer said. “If we score those two drives, we have 28 points, and it’s a completely different ballgame.

It started promising for Mt. Spokane.

On the first possession. Haberman went straight to the air, hitting Ethan Keene on a seam route for 28 yards and Rece Schuerman took a screen 13 yards for first-and-goal. On third down, Keene took a direct snap in the Wildcat formation and went up the middle for a touchdown and 7-0 lead.

Bumgarner carried on 10 of Stanwood’s first 13 plays, and his 1-yard plunge tied it up.

Haberman hit Tristan Olson for 30 yards to the Stanwood 34, then Mt. Spokane went to the ground with runs on four of the next five plays, finishing with another Keene 5-yard TD to make it 14-7.

Another long Stanwood drive resulted in first-and-goal at the 1. QB Wyatt Custer got behind his offensive line and bulled his way in to tie it again.

A couple of deep Mt. Spokane attempts went awry and they went for it on fourth-and-8 at the Stanwood 31. Haberman’s pass was picked off by Gary Grisham and returned to the 42 with 21/2 minutes left in the half.

That was plenty of time for Stanwood to get back into the Wildcats’ red zone. With 5.2 seconds left, Treyton Mascarenas kicked a 27-yard field goal for a 17-14 halftime lead.

Bumgarner had 19 carries for 130 in the first half. Mt. Spokane ran just 22 plays in three possessions.

“They just limit your possessions,” Cloer said. “They get 3 yards and a cloud of dust and, you know, we didn’t get a lot of tackles for loss.”

Stanwood got the ball to start the second half and moved to midfield. Beckt gained 12 yards on a second-down carry, but coughed it up fighting for extra yardage and Devonn Khaleel fell on it at the Mt. Spokane 48.

Haberman hit Bode Gardner for 19 yards and the Wildcats had first-and-goal at the 10. The drive stalled, though, and Reese Carlsen’s 23-yard field-goal attempt from the near hash hit the goalpost and it stayed 17-14.

Stanwood went backward due to a couple of personal foul penalties on its next drive and was forced to make the game’s first punt.

The Wildcats moved to the Stanwood 25, but Haberman was sacked on consecutive possessions. After a punt, the Spartans took the ball at their 14 with 7:03 left.

“We couldn’t finish those drives in the second half,” Cloer said. “We got down into the red zone and got the two sacks on the one possession and just good drives just fizzled out.”

Beckt broke off a 26-yard gain to the Mt. Spokane 21 and Custer picked up a first down at the 11 on a sneak. Bumgarner did the rest, breaking tackles for a touchdown to make it a 10-point game with 1:49 to go.

On Mt. Spokane’s next play, Haberman was picked off by Max Mayo and Stanwood took the victory formation.

2A

Anacortes 28, West Valley 14: The sixth-seeded Seahawks (8-1) beat the visiting 11th-seeded Eagles (8-3) in a state first-round game.

1A

Freeman 28, King’s 7: Boen Phelps threw three touchdown passes and ran for another and the visiting 12th-seeded Scotties (8-2) beat the fifth-seeded Knights (8-2) in a state first-round game.

Freeman advances to a quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Eatonville, a 28-0 winner over 13th-seeded Zillah.

Phelps connected with Reed Hicks on a 23-yard TD pass to open the scoring. His 19-yard pass to Luke Whitaker put the Scotties up 14-0. Phelps added a 1-yard plunge and hit Colton Wells on a 26-yard TD pass to close the scoring.