It takes three quarters, but No. 2 Yelm finally solves the Mead riddle for a 37-21 state play-in victory

YELM - Mead came into the Class 3A round-of-32 playoff game Saturday at second-ranked Yelm a heavy underdog.

But the Panthers hadn’t come 328 miles from Spokane to go through the motions.

Executing an insightful scouting report, Mead forced five Yelm turnovers and scored twice defensively. The Panthers led late in the third quarter.

In the end, though, Yelm’s defense was itself more than solid, and the Tornados’ offense eventually shook off early-playoff jitters and harsh weather conditions to all but certainly assure itself of a first-round state playoff home game with a 37-21 victory.

The Tornados’ defense was dialed in, holding Mead (3-6) to just 53 total yards and one offensive touchdown. When its offense settled in, Yelm (9-0) pulled away for its 15th win in a row, going back to 2019.

"Our defense was playing lights out," Yelm coach Jason Ronquillo said. "Offensively, we just weren’t clicking at the start. Our ball security was shaky. We didn’t take care of the football like we normally do."

Ronquillo pointed to the weather as another factor.

"It kind of limited the things we could do. Our ball-handling was a little off," he said.

Yelm turned the ball over five times, twice for Panthers' scores, allowing Mead to grab a 14-12 third quarter lead - despite surrendering two 27-yard first-half sweeps for touchdowns by Tornados’ sophomore running back Brayden Platt.

First, with Yelm leading, 6-0, a Palaina Hooper pass intended for Nathan Paul was tipped into the hands of Panthers defensive back Nolan Braun, who ran 45 yards untouched for a pick six that gave Mead its first lead, 7-6.

Later, after Platt’s second scoring run had given the Tornados a 12-7 halftime edge, he fumbled an out-of-sync third-quarter handoff from Hooper near his own goal line. Sophomore Madden Raab scooped it up and sprung forward into the end zone for a 14-12 Mead lead.

"Those two defensive scores were huge momentum changers for them," Ronquillo said

With the specter of an upset loss looming as bleak as the weather, Yelm’s defense made the play that put the Tornados ahead to stay. With a minute and 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, linebacker William Carreto looked a Colby Danielson pass into his arms and sprinted 41 yards the other way to make it 20-14.

"I read the run and tried to hook the curl. He threw it right to me," Carretto said. "Ray Wright made a great block on the return."

Yelm extended its lead to as much as 35-14, as Wright, dangerous all season on sweeps, went outside to the right and in from 20 yards out and Carretto barreled up the middle for a 5-yard scoring run.

Wright rushed for 60 yards on 10 carries, while Carreto had 58 yards on 11 carries. Platt, though, made the biggest splash. A week ago against Central Kitsap, nursing a sore ankle, he carried only twice, for negative yardage.

Saturday, he carried 21 times for 194 yards and those two touchdowns.

"We weren’t sure how much we were going to be able to use Brayden today," Ronquillo said. "At this point in the season, staying healthy is important."

Mead ran just four plays for positive yardage in the fourth quarter. One was a sharp 8-yard touchdown pass from Danielson to Colby Price on a delayed route out of the backfield that gave the Panthers their only offensive touchdown and an outside chance to come back, down 35-21 with 4:30 to go.

But Mead couldn’t recover its onside kick and, ultimately, the final scoring play was a safety by Yelm when Danielson was forced to fall on his own fumble in the end zone.

Though Hooper, who had thrown only two interceptions in the Tornados’ previous eight games, was picked off twice Saturday, he finished 18-of-27 for 195 yards as Yelm rolled up 495 total yards.

"Mead had a great defensive plan for us. We were well-scouted by them," Ronquillo said. "A lot of it comes down to rhythm. We’ve got to do a job of allowing Palaina to get rhythmic. We need to do small things earlier and get bigger later, rather than take the top off too early."

(Featured file photo by Vince Miller)