Postseason bound!

What a difference a year makes.

The Shelton Highclimbers football team was back in a Kansas tiebreaker once again on Monday at Tumwater District Stadium with Black Hills and Aberdeen, with two spots in the district crossover playoff games on the line.

Shelton defeated Black Hills in the first matchup, and then took down Aberdeen to secure the No. 4 seed out of the Evergreen Conference into the District crossover games. The Highclimbers will travel to Washougal to take on the Panthers at 7 p.m. Friday at Fishback Stadium, trying to secure a spot in the state tournament.

"We set out to get in the playoffs and we got one more step. We've got the play-in game, but we set out to try to get in that field of 16 so we've got a little bit of unfinished business but I tell you what, this feeling beats the feeling we had last year," Shelton coach Mark Smith told the Journal. "Kudos to our seniors for getting us here, our coaches and the whole entire program, I'm really proud of them."

The stage was set for Monday after the Highclimbers won their regular season finale against Aberdeen 41-34 on Friday at Jack Stark Field.

"We used the last six minutes of the Black Hills game as kind of a model for us. We had our backs up against the wall there and our kids just came out and started playing and they almost came back from being down 17," Smith said. "So we told them, listen, your backs are up against the wall. They're superglued, they're duct taped, they're not coming off until you get us in there so the kids understood this is their life support and to keep going and they want to keep playing. At the end of the day, we as coaches don't make plays, we've got to get them to execute and I was really proud of our staff executing and getting our kids executing last week against Aberdeen and then tonight."

The Kansas tiebreaker is three separate mini games with college rules, with each team getting a possession at the 25-yard line and the first team to outscore the other wins. Two losses, and your season was done.

Shelton faced Black Hills in the first game. Shelton won the coin toss and played defense first. Black Hills scored on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jaxsen Beck to Braiden Bond and the extra point made it 7-0 Black Hills.

The Highclimbers received the ball and were able to score on fourth down, as Bradley Eleton took a handoff and ran through defenders for the touchdown, and Smith decided to go for two points and the win.

"There's a thing called feel. I just had a feel that let's go get this thing and win it right here," Smith said. "We had told the kids all week the plan was to kick extra points but that's if we scored first. I didn't tell them what we would do if we scored second. Sometimes, there's emotions and right after you score a touchdown, the least best call for a defensive guy is that next play. How many times have you practiced, after a touchdown, what is your two-point defense? So we thought we would get base stuff and we had a plan."

Conner Gilman took the snap, and was able to find Jayden Fuller wide open in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion and a win against the Wolves.

"I was expecting that play call," Fuller told the Journal. "We've been working it all week, we've been repping it. We just needed the right time to do it and that was the perfect time."

Shelton faced Aberdeen in the next game, and Shelton won the coin toss again and played defense first. On fourth down, Aberdeen quarterback Kale Goings had his pass batted down by Blaze Andrews.

Shelton got the ball back and on second down, Mason Goos threw a swing pass to Fuller in the flat, and he ran through open space to the endzone.

"Just run, run your fastest," Fuller said. "I was just hustling, just trying to get in the endzone. It's amazing. I said I was going to get my getback last year and I did. I just do it for my seniors, their season ended last year, there for them. There for my brother on his birthday. There for my boys. I've just got so much energy."

Fuller was excited to have redemption from last season.

"It feels amazing. I've never been here in my life and I just can't believe it right now. I don't even know," Fuller said on making the crossover game. "I just have so much excitement in my heart. I love this game and I love my boys."

Smith is a Shelton alum. He came back two years ago to coach his alma mater and some vindication was achieved on Monday night.

"I've been doing this a long time. I'm going to lose more games than most people are ever going to lose in their life and I'm going to win more games than most people are going to win in their life," Smith said. "What I'm most proud of is the community came together, stuck behind us, our school, our parent group, everybody in the inner circle kept their faith, kept their belief and it's fun to bring some of that pride back to Shelton."

They'll try to keep their season going on Friday.

"You get your dance shoes," Smith said. "You go find your best pair of dance shoes, you put them on and you dance as long as the music is playing. As long as that music plays, we'll dance."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

• Email: [email protected]