By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch The Eatonville Cruisers walked off the Tacoma Dome field without the shot at a state championship they hoped for, but they could make the argument that the loss to Cascade Christian in the 1A high school football tournament was a lost game, not a lost season. Quarterback Jaelin Goldsmith and receiver Bryce Powers combined on three touchdown passes to lead Cascade Christian to a 42-14 victory over Eatonville in the semifinals of the 1A state high school football tournament last Saturday at the Tacoma Dome. Cascade Christian, undefeated at 11-0, moved into the championship game this Saturday against Colville, the winner of the other semifinal over Cascade. Eatonville (11-1), which ended the 2014 season with its first loss, trailed 14-0 after the first quarter and 21-0 at halftime. The Cruisers were on the verge of getting back into the contest in the third period with a second consecutive unanswered touchdown that would have narrowed Cascade Christian's lead to a single touchdown. But the Cruisers were stopped short, and in almost the blink of an eye were down again by 21 points. Fairhart praised the performance of the Cougars. He also lauded the season-long effort of his own team that included an Evergreen League championship and 11 straight wins before the interruption by Cascade Christian. . "Our kids are resilient. This was a tough game, but they'll be fine,GÇ¥ he said. Cascade Christian piled up 545 yards of total offense, led by the 140 yards and 132 yards gained by running backs Zach Bartolome and Robert Terhune, respectively, and Goldsmith's passing for 235 yards and four touchdowns. The first Goldsmith-to-Powers TD hookup covered 59 yards in the first quarter. The lead grew to 21-0 when Goldsmith passed four yards to tight end Mason Tobek and Riley Ramos ran 10 yards for touchdowns. Eatonville started a promising rally on its first possession of the second half with a scoring drive that ended with quarterback Jake McCormick's two-yard toss to Justin Brandt for the Cruisers' first touchdown. After forcing the Cougars to punt on a three-and-out series, McCormick passed 13 yards to Johnathan Warner to put their team on Cascade Christian's 11-yard line. But the bid stalled on fourth down. "We had some momentum there. But (Cascade Christian) came up with the plays to stop us,GÇ¥ Fairhart said. Moments later, Bartolome raced virtually untouched 59 yards for a touchdown, swelling the Cougars' lead to 28-7 with 2:36 left in the third quarter. Eatonville trailed by 21 points the week before in the quarterfinals before rallying to beat Mount Baker in overtime. But this time, the margin stuck for Cascade Christian. The semifinals were a matchup of old rivals. Cascade Christian and Eatonville battled each other for supremacy in the Nisqually League before the Cruisers left and joined the Evergreen this fall. Isaac Boettcher of Eatonville caught five passes for 76 yards, 48 of them on one catch and run that was his team's longest play on offense. Boettcher also shared the team lead in tackles (four) with Mason Call and Will Harris. On the final play of his high school football career, senior running back George Tomal scored Eatonville's second touchdown on a three-yard run with nine seconds left in the game.
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