State 2B football playoffs Quarterfinal match-up

Naselle (9-1) vs Life Christian Academy (10-2), Satuday Nov. 17, 7 p.m., at Mount Tahoma High School Stadium

There apparently is some feeling out there in the blogosphere that Naselle is bound to be bopped from the playoffs come tommorrow night, playing a Life Christian team stacked with some of top players in the state. But as the numbers show, the Comets, ranked 9th in the state, seem to match up fairly closely to the fifth-ranked Eagles. Perhaps the fact that the 2B Eagles play their games in the 1A Nisqually League has something to do with their apparently highly thought of stature.

The Eagles come into this game having beat the previously undefeated Adna 26-7 in last week's first round game. The Eagles are averaging 34 ppg and give up an average of 11 ppg — both of which are similar to the season stats of last week's opponent for the Comets, Seattle Lutheran. The Eagles two losses included a 17-20 loss at Cascade Christian just three weeks ago and a 16-17 loss at Orting on Oct. 12. Both of those teams advanced to the 1A state playoffs, with Cascade Christian still alive as of Friday.

The Comets reached the quarterfinal round for the second time in their history — the first time since 1986 — due to a completely dominant performance last week at Bellevue's Interlake High School over Seattle Lutheran, 42-7. That result helped better their season stats to averages of 31 ppg and giving up just 11 ppg — nearly the same as thier opponent this week.

"The kids are excited and are starting to think about making a return trip to Tacoma (for next week's state semifinals at the Tacoma Dome)," coach Jeff Eaton said in an article in the Longview Daily News Friday.

"They run a spread offense with the top quarterback in the 2B ranks (Barrett Schmidtke)," Eaton said. "They also have the top running back in 2B (Morgan Cox) who has run for 1,200 yards, and they have solid receivers. Throw all of that together and a good, big offensive line, and you have a solid team."

The Eagles and Comets have faced three common opponents, with Life Christian beating South Bend (17-6), Ocosta (50-7) and Tacoma Baptist (42-0) in nonleague games. Naselle also knocked off these three Pacific 2B League foes 25-13, 39-15 and 38-16, respectively.

Eaton also believes the Eagles' 4-4 and 5-2 defensive sets won't be a problem for Naselle quarterback Kyle Burkhalter.

"We haven't run the option until last week because Kyle was always told to pitch the ball," Eaton said. "He made the decision to try it, and it will give their (the Eagles') defense something more to work on. Kyle has also thrown the ball better the last few weeks, and they'll have to stop him and (running back) Alan Erickson."

For those driving to the game: take I-5 north to Exit 127 toward S. Tacoma Way/Puyallup. Merge onto WA-512 W via the exit on the LEFT toward S TACOMA WAY. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto S TACOMA WAY and travel 1.8 miles. Then Turn LEFT onto S 74TH ST and travel .7 miles before arriving at 4634 S 74th St.

*Please note that due to the game time and travel, photos from the game will not appear on the blog until sometime Sunday afternoon. Bloggers will likely make their reports around the same time. Thank you