The Skyline Spartans defense pitched a shutout against the Issaquah Eagles in a matchup between rivals on the gridiron.
The Spartans, which forced Issaquah senior punter Issac Chai to punt the ball seven times, didn’t surrender a point in Skyline’s 34-6 win against Issaquah on Oct. 28 at Skyline High School in Sammamish. Issaquah’s lone touchdown came when Jordan Wallace fell on a Skyline fumble in the end zone late in the fourth quarter of play.
Skyline improved their overall record to 7-2 with the win. Issaquah dropped to 1-8. Skyline head coach Mat Taylor was glad to see his team get back on track after losing a heartbreaking 42-35 loss to Woodinville in triple overtime on Oct. 20.
“The biggest thing was how would our kids respond after last week’s game,” Taylor said. “That was the challenge going into this game (against Issaquah). If you want to be a great team, that is how you respond. We came out ready to play and played hard-nosed smart football.”
Issaquah head coach Buddy Bland believes his team gave maximum effort in defeat.
“Skyline is a well coached team with really great athletes. At the end of the day, our kids kept battling and I’m proud of them for that,” Bland said.
The night belonged to the Skyline defense but the offense did its part against Issaquah. Skyline senior quarterback Drew Kistner, who is in his first full season as the starting signal caller, had two touchdown tosses in the first half of play. Kistner connected with Bradley Kim on a 25-yard touchdown catch on the first play of the second quarter. Kistner also hit CJ Moore on a perfectly placed touch pass on a fade route for a 16-yard touchdown with 6:16 left in the second quarter, extending’s Skyline lead to 14-0.
Skyline senior running back Isaiah Shim scored on a 6-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, senior wide receiver Ben Mix had a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter and kicker Kevin McGrane added two field goals to round out the scoring parade for the Spartans.
“It was great to get our momentum back. We had a tough game last week (loss to Woodinville) but we bounced back pretty well,” Kistner said. “I feel like it’s all coming together right now. We got great receivers, Isaiah (Shim) is a great running back and the offensive line is phenomenal. We have a lot of options on offense.”
The Spartans will host the Mount Rainier Rams in a winner-to-state, loser-out playoff game at 7 p.m. on Nov. 4 at Skyline High School in Sammamish. The Spartans, who advanced to the Class 4A state championship game in 2015, are a a seasoned squad that knows what it takes to succeed in playoff games.
“The past three years we have been through a lot of adversity and we’ve learned how to deal with that and push through it. That is what is special about this team,” Kim said. “I think we respond to adversity better than anyone.”
Kistner is relishing the challenge awaiting his squad in the postseason.
“We just got to keep winning. That is the most important thing right now,” he said.
