State championship encore for Hockinson

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It’s not often a sequel beats the original, but in Hockinson’s case, it just might have.

Down by 17 points three minutes into the third quarter, the Hawks forced three turnovers and scored five touchdowns to defeat Lynden 42-37 in the 2A state championship game at the Tacoma Dome Saturday.

“The first time winning it was unbelievable but I think this second time was a little bit more special,” said junior Sawyer Racanelli who ran in all five touchdowns for Hockinson in the second half. “I’m at a loss for words right now.”

The Lions jumped out to a 14-0 advantage in the first quarter following a 32-yard interception return on the fourth play of the game, a 12-yard touchdown pass, a stop on defense, a 40-yard pass and a 27-yard touchdown reception.

Hockinson started moving the chains as the first quarter ended, but faced a fourth and 11 in scoring range. The Hawks went for it: quarterback Levi Crum set up a double reverse handoff from Garrett Gundy to Racanelli, and Racanelli passed the ball to Crum out in the open. Crum darted for the end zone and dove across the goal line to get the Hawks on the board with a touchdown.

Lynden then put together a 78-yard drive that took 6:33 of the clock in the second quarter, but Hockinson made its first stand of the game on defense and held the Lions to a 20-yard field goal. The Hawks went into the locker room at halftime trailing 17-7. Head coach Rick Steele had just the right words to inspire another Hockinson comeback.

“As well as they played and as poorly as we played in the first half, to only be down by 10 was huge,” Steele said. “I told them, ‘Hey, it’s a game of momentum.’ I felt like we gained a little bit of momentum in that second quarter, finally started stopping them and we were moving the ball. We just needed to get into the end zone.”

“We knew we could win this game,” added senior middle linebacker Jonathan Domingos. “We just had to fight.”

Lynden came out of the locker room and punched Hockinson in the mouth again on a quick touchdown drive to kick off the third quarter. It didn’t turn out to be the knockdown blow the Lions hoped. Instead, the Hawks caught a wave and rode it to 21 straight points and the lead for the first time in the game.

Jeremiah Faulstick caught a 19-yard pass from Crum on third and nine, and Liam Mallory snagged a 19-yard pass from Crum on fourth and 10 to continue the next drive for Hockinson. Racanelli capped it off with a 4-yard touchdown run.

Then came a big play on defense. Faulstick, Jacob Oldham and Domingos stripped the ball away from the handler and Domingos dove on top of it for a fumble recovery on the Lynden 18-yard line. Racanelli got the Hawks into the end zone again on a 3-yard run.



“Just everybody playing as hard as they possibly could was the best thing this team could ever do,” Oldham said. “When they got touchdowns, we thought ‘that’s all it is. It’s just a touchdown. We can get another one.’ We just chugged forward and absolutely just played our hearts out.”

Then came a bigger play on defense. Aidan Mallory intercepted a Lyden pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and took it back 29 yards.

“I thought it was going to go over my head,” he said. Instead, he just leaped up and snatched the ball out of the air. The interception brought good vibes to the Hockinson sideline, just like Mallory’s pick six in the state championship game last season did.

“I was just hoping I wouldn’t drop it,” Mallory said. “I just trusted my hands.”

At this point in the game, there was no secret. Hockinson put the ball in Racanelli’s hands and watched him run for three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

“I didn’t think I was going to be running in touchdowns this game. Figured I would be catching them,” Racanelli said. “I got to give credit to God and our o-line for keeping me up and getting me six yards a carry. That was huge for us.”

Nick Charles made all six of his extra-point kicks for Hockinson. Coach Steele said Charles also placed a kickoff perfectly in between two Lynden returners late in the game. The Lions fumbled the bounce and Niko Niehaus recovered the ball for the Hawks.

Hockinson followed up a 14-0 state championship season in 2017 with a 13-0 march to the top again in 2018. That’s 27 victories in a row.

“For the last two years, we told these guys ‘You are going to take these memories to the grave,’” Steele said. “Many of these kids are going to remember every play of this game for the rest of their lives. At their 40-year reunion, they are going to be talking about this football game.”

Charles, Domingos, Gundy, Mallory, Oldham, Joe Brennan, Nick Frichtl, Liam Heini, Wyatt Jones, Garrett Kondel, Spencer Lindberg, Bailey Wells and the rest of the seniors achieved their dream of winning back-to-back state championships. Hockinson is the first high school football team in Clark County to accomplish this feat. And if you ask any of the underclassmen, they are aiming for a three-peat.

“Last year’s team set a standard. This year’s team fulfilled that standard,” Racanelli said. “We did it for the seniors. They sacrificed so much for this team. It’s pretty cool to see them go out on top two years in a row. Hopefully next year, my senior year, we can do this again.”