A little over a month ago the Issaquah Eagles suffered a 32-14 defeat in a non-league game against the Olympia Bears.

The Eagles haven’t lost since.

Issaquah avenged the early October defeat against Olympia, cruising to a 28-14 victory in a winner-to-state, loser-out district playoff game on Nov. 6 at Gary Moore Stadium in Issaquah. It was the Eagles fifth consecutive victory on the gridiron. Issaquah left cornerback Conner Pederson, who finished the game with a game-high three interceptions including a spectacular 52-yard interception return for a touchdown giving the Eagles a 7-0 lead with 1:51 left in the first quarter, said the coaching staff put together a great game-plan against the Bears.

“It is the second time we have faced Olympia. Obviously the first time around they gave it to us pretty good. We were coming into this game pretty confident because we knew if we could stop their core plays (running game), they were going to have to start throwing it up and that is exactly what happened,” Pederson said. “We responded the way we expected to.”

Issaquah running back Bryce Hughes scored on a 3-yard touchdown run up the middle, extending Issaquah’s lead to 14-0 with 7:54 left in the second quarter. Olympia got on the board with a 42-yard touchdown scamper by running back Scott Gunther, cutting Issaquah’s lead to 14-7 with 2:18 left in the second quarter. The Eagles answered when quarterback Cam Humphrey calmly connected with Pederson on a 29-yard touchdown pass, extending the lead to 21-7 with 1:08 left before halftime. Instead of being conservative the Bears instead tried to move the ball with minimal time left on the clock.

The move backfired.

Olympia quarterback Jack Bell was picked off by Hughes at the 30-yard line who then preceded to return the ball to the endzone, giving the Eagles an insurmountable 28-7 lead with 48 seconds left in the first half. Hughes credited defensive coordinator Zach Tuiasosopo for putting Eagles defenders in the right positions to make plays.

“Coach Tui (Tuiasosopo) laid it out perfectly for us in practice. We spent hours in film study. We put the time in and we were the more physical team. We came out and we had the want to,” Hughes said. “We felt they took something from us (32-14 loss in October) and we had a little comeback we needed to give them.”

Eagles’ head coach Buddy Bland said having an opportunistic defense has been a staple of the Eagles mode of operation all season long.

“We’re really proud of the fact that we are plus 14 with takeaways and that play held true for tonight. I’m very proud of our defense and their ability to shut them down in the first half,” Bland said. “The goal was to go 1-0 this week and we got that taken care of.”

Humphrey, who is in his second season as the Eagles starting quarterback, credited the defense for shutting down Olympia’s prolific offense.

“Hats off to the defense. They have been playing well these past five weeks. I can’t thank them enough. They are coming out every game and are doing what they need to do. Coach Tui (Tuiasosopo) is leading them and we got some ballers out there,” Humphrey said.

Hughes was impressed with Pederson’s all-around performance. Pederson finished the game with three interceptions and two touchdowns.

“It feels good knowing we have on the left side (cornerback). I know he is going to have that side of the field locked down every time,” Hughes said of Pederson.

The Eagles will face Lake Stevens in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

“We’re ready. We got a good win streak going and we’re coming full speed at them,” Pederson said.