Trouble piled on for Skyline at the start of the second half.

On the first drive of the third quarter, quarterback Jake Heaps threw his third interception of the game. On the next drive, the Spartans went three-and-out. In a matter of minutes, an 11-point halftime cushion was trimmed to a two-point lead.

Just as everything spiraled out of control Saturday, Heaps honed in and completed a series of crucial third-down passes, guiding the Spartans to a 31-26 state semifinal victory over Bothell.

“It’s rough, but you’ve got to keep your head up,” said Heaps, noting he tied a career high for interceptions. “You’ve got to keep fighting and clawing. These guys really rely on me, so I couldn’t quit on them.”

With the lead cut to 21-19 with 5:02 left in the third quarter, Heaps led the Skyline offense to a seven-play, 78-yard scoring drive. The key element to the series — a 12-yard strike to wide receiver Connor Brandt on a third and 11. Heaps followed that with a 51-yard bomb to Brandt, and two more completions before running back Nick Washburn dove into the end zone for an 8-yard TD and a 28-19 advantage.

Bothell answered on its next drive, getting a 5-yard TD run from Luke Proulx. The touchdown moved the score to 28-26 with 9:38 left in the game.

Heaps, who completed 16 of 30 passes for 218 yards, rose to the occasion again.

Facing a third and 11 from his own 35, the senior hit receiver Tait Stephens on a 19-yard pass. The Spartans continued to march down the field, before Sean Penberthy knocked a 32-yard field goal through the uprights for a 31-26 lead with 4:56 to go.

“Our third downs, it was just a matter of the fact that ‘Hey we need to get this,'” Heaps said. “There was no question about it that I felt that we could.”

Bothell had 4:48 left to try and score, but under heavy pressure from the Skyline defense, Cougar quarterback Mitchell Muller threw an interception into the arms of defensive back Evan Zeger.

Skyline’s defense, which allowed 157 yards in the first half, limited the Cougars to just 49 second-half yards. A large part of that was the success of shutting down Proulx. The explosive junior had 12 carries for 54 yards in the first half. He was carried the ball 10 times for negative 8 yards in the second half.

“They came out and they smacked us in the mouth, and we just hit them back as hard as we could,” senior defensive lineman Michael Stead said. “We were just trying to stop the run. If we stop the run, they become a one-demensional team.”

Skyline never trailed on Saturday. Heaps and wide receiver Jordan Simone hooked up for a 33-yard TD with 10:36 left in the first quarter. The play, which occurred on yet another third and long, was set up by a blocked punt from Zeger. Bothell tied the game in the second quarter when Muller found John Sullivan on a go-route for a 47-yard TD early in the second quarter.

The Spartans got the lead back when Adam Albaum returned a fumbled punt 52 yards for a TD. Bothell answered with a field goal.

With 17 seconds left in the first half, Heaps found Brandt for an 11-yard TD, and a 21-10 halftime lead.

Bothell pushed the score to 21-19 via a Jon Mercer 41-yard field goal and an 11-yard TD pass from Muller to Kevin Knapp. A two-point conversion pass failed.

Saturday’s semifinal win was sweet for Skyline, which lost the KingCo 4A Championship 25-20 to Bothell on Oct. 30.

“Having a shot at getting redemption from that KingCo Championship game — this was just huge for us,” Skyline middle linebacker Anthony DeMatteo said.

There was also a certain mutual respect to a Bothell team that suffered its first loss of the season, dropping to 12-1 overall.

“Hats off, you look at these Bothell kids over here,” Skyline coach Mat Taylor said. “I wish it didn’t have to end to be honest.”

Skyline, which moved to 11-2, will play Ferris of Spokane (10-3) for the state championship at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5 at the Tacoma Dome. While Saturday’s win was huge for the Spartans, they know they can’t celebrate too soon.

“This game could have possibly have been for the state championship, but it wasn’t — it was for the semis,” DeMatteo said. “We’ve got to go out and take care of business next week.”