Gavin Schumaker was more upset at himself than any teammate or coach. Just before halftime, the normally sure-footed kicker nicked the tee and missed a 26-yard field goal by a good 10 yards.

“I kind of messed up,” he said. “I had to repay (my team).”

Schumaker stayed on the field for a good five minutes, practicing field goals while the rest of the Eagles entered the locker room with a 21-7 halftime advantage over Bothell.

Fortunately for Issaquah, practice made perfect.

With the score tied, 28-28, and 6 seconds left in the game, Schumaker booted a 36-yard field goal through the uprights. The sophomore’s kick lifted the Eagles to a 31-28 state quarterfinal victory over the Cougars, moving them into a semifinal matchup with Central Kitsap on Nov. 29 at the Tacoma Dome.

“It was one of the greatest feelings of my life,” Schumaker said.

The feeling was mutual for coach Chris Bennett, who never doubted his kicker for a second.

“He never gets too wound up about anything, he’s just happy-go-lucky,” Bennett said. “He fits that kicker mold pretty well. He struck that one good, that could have been good from a ways away.”

Schumaker’s game-winning boot was set up by a series of key plays, starting with the kick return. After tying the score, Bothell pooched a kickoff short, attempting to fool Issaquah. Sophomore Kevin Nye leapt in the air and pulled the ball down among a crowd of Bothell players.

“That was a great play by him to hang on to that,” Bennett said. “A lot of kids in that situation don’t have the poise to understand they’re going to get hit. Next time I wish he would fair catch it though.”

With 1:41 left, quarterback Joey Bradley led the Eagles down the field, connecting on two 20-yard strikes to Evan Peterson and Brennan Miller. Both receivers had drops earlier in the contest.

“I told them, ‘I’m coming back to you, you’re going to make it up, just keep playing,'” Bradley said. “They did, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

While the game got close down the stretch, Issaquah took a commanding early lead. Junior running back Grant Gellatly, who rushed 33 times for 182 yards, helped the Eagles to a 21-0 advantage. He scored on first-half touchdowns of 27, 2 and 2 yards.

The Cougars battled their way back into the game with 5:09 left in the first half after Patrick Ottorbech punched in a 1-yard score on fourth and goal.

Ottorbech, who had 27 carries for 264 yards, was a thorn in the side of Issaquah during the second half. He scored one more touchdown, and came through with big runs of 38 and 45 yards, placing Bothell in scoring position. Cougar quarterback Mitchell Muller found Michael Hartvigson on a 12-yard TD pass and backup QB James Korn ran in a two-point conversion to bring the score to 21-15 with 3:24 to go in the third. Ottorbech’s 5-yard TD knotted the score, 21-21, with 8:03 left in the fourth. Issaquah’s Ryan Tiernan blocked the extra point.

The Eagles responded on offense when Bradley found Miller in the right front corner of the end zone on a 5-yard score and a 28-21 lead with 4:09 remaining. Bradley ended the game 15-for-23 with 189 yards.

“What a great job by Joey tonight,” Bennett said. “He led us and he was so sharp early. We wanted to get Grant going, but we knew we couldn’t just rely on that.”

Bothell tied the game once more with 1:44 to go in the game when Korn connected with the 6-foot-5 Hartvigson in the back of the end zone.

The victory proved sweet to Issaquah for multiple reasons.

It silenced a lot of chatter, in particular from the Cougars’ Ottorbech, who insinuated to several media outlets that Issaquah’s season-opening win over Bothell was a “fluke.”

“We had a poster of what Ottorbech said on the wall, and we each smacked it before the game,” Miller said. “So that felt good.”

The victory also marks the third time in school history the Eagles have advanced to a state semifinal game — the last coming in 2003 when they lost 21-0 to Bellevue. They made it all the way to the championship in 1980 before losing to Mount Tahoma.

“All season man, we’ve just been talking about getting to the Dome, making it happen,” Bradley said. “It’s going to be a five-step process to get that championship. We’ve got three down, we’ve got to get four before we can get that fifth.”

Issaquah vs. Central Kitsap

Kickoff: 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 29 at the Tacoma Dome

Quick look: Central Kitsap (9-3) is one of the hotter teams in the state, winning its last seven games. Six-foot-five quarterback Jason Simonis has thrown for 1,501 yards and 18 touchdowns. The Cougars also run the ball behind 1,000-yard rusher Howie McDonald.

Prediction: Issaquah is healthy and has apparently returned to early-season form. With a possible matchup with rival Skyline ahead in the championship game, the Eagles have be to careful not to overlook a Central Kitsap team that upset previously unbeaten Olympia. Final score: 35-28 Issaquah.