The Hazen football team advanced to the 3A state tournament for the first time since 1993 with a 36-15 win against Franklin Nov. 5.
“The win was huge,” said Hazen coach Drew Oliver. “This is where we stalled out for the past couple of years, so for the growth of the program, this was the natural step.”
The Highlanders (7-2) avenged a 28-13 loss to Franklin in the same situation last season. Oliver said at first he wanted to play someone new when he saw the matchup with Franklin, but after thinking about it, it was important to take on the Quakers again.
“I couldn’t pick anything better than to play that game as a rematch because it shows how far we’ve come,” Oliver said. “Same location, same time, same team, it was big for our kids.”
In Saturday’s game, Franklin’s defense helped the Quakers to a 15-7 lead in the second quarter. Franklin scored on a safety in the first, and a 53-yard fumble return in the second.
But Hazen scored on two Eric Jacobs touchdown runs (21, three yards) and an 80-yard pass from Cody Taylor to J.D. Peterson to lead 22-15 at the half.
The Highlanders tacked on 14 points in the fourth quarter on another touchdown run from Jacobs (this one from 30 yards) and a one-yard rush from Tray Brown.
It’s the fifth straight win for Hazen. A big part of the streak is the team’s offense, which has scored at least 21 points in each of the five wins with an average of 34.6 points per game. It’s all been about execution.
“We’re getting better at not shooting ourselves in the foot,” Oliver said. “Early on, we were putting ourselves in second and long, third and long. That’s not how a Wing-T offense works.”
Hazen takes on Capital in the first round of the 3A state tournament Saturday at 7 p.m. at Ingersoll Stadium. Oliver said the two teams are similar, in that they both like to run the ball and play physical defense. He also said the team’s renewed confidence will help them moving forward.
“That’s one of our biggest changes is just knowing that we belong,” he said. “Part of the issue the past few years is we fell into someone else’s game. We’re a good football team and we can play our game.”
The Highlanders have an overall record of 5-3 in the state tournament in three appearances (1991-1993). In 1993, the team beat Meadowdale 42-14, then lost to Gig Harbor 34-0 in the quarter finals.
