A fast start quickly fizzled for Skyline during Tuesday’s KingCo 4A championship game against Garfield in Seattle.

The Spartans pounced on the Bulldogs early, taking a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute. Mitchell Kim launched a throw-in from the 20-yard line into the goal box. Braxton Griffin headed the ball to the backside of the box where Travis Strawn headed it in for a goal.

“We came out (strong),” Skyline head coach Don Braman said. “We had the nice goal, great execution.”

Garfield tied the game in the 14th minute when Aaron Kovar punched in a penalty kick after his teammate was taken down from behind in the goalbox. The Bulldogs took the lead in the 56th minute when Kovar knocked in another penalty kick after a controversial handball in front of the Skyline net.

“It’s a strange thing we you give up two penalty kicks in any game, or when you see two penalty kicks,” Braman said. “It was unfortunate that we had two called against us.”

Garfield carried the momentum from there getting a breakaway goal from Sean Russell in the 59th minute.

“After that we took a lot of risk,” Braman said. “But you know, we weren’t here to be close, we were here to win.”

The Bulldogs tacked on one more in the 74th minute when Kovar found Josh Canova on a cross and he headed the ball in.

Garfield locked up a state playoff berth with the victory.

Skyline, which fell to 10-5-2, hosts the Greater St. Helens League No. 2 team — either Evergreen or Skyview at 2 p.m., Saturday at Skyline High School. The winner of that game moves on to the state tournament.