QB Luke Elliott comes out firing, leads Washington past Fife for first time since 2016

Washington High School football coach Mike Von Rueden could see it in the eyes of senior quarterback Luke Elliott all week at practice, leading up to Thursday’s home game and 2A South Puget Sound League matchup against ninth-ranked Fife. In fact, he’s seen the laser focus for weeks now.

“He’s just dialed in at practice, just taking coaching and leading this team,” Von Rueden said. “He’s a competitor. He never wants to get taken out, he never wants the No. 2 guy to get reps, cause he’s just that kid. Just that focus in the week, you could just kind of see it.”

It carried over into the game. Elliott came out firing and piled up 291 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 28-21 win, leading Washington past Fife for the first time since 2016.

“It was a big one,” Elliott said. “We’ve been locked in all week, practicing the hardest I think our team has ever come.”

When Elliott saw Fife come in man coverage to start the game, he was licking his chops.

“I’m going to take my guys (against) man every time,” Elliott said. “I love it. I just can’t believe they would even think to do that. … Our pass game, we’ve got it rolling on all cylinders, for sure. Our line, I’ve got probably the best line I’ve ever had.”

Elliott took shots downfield from the start of the game at Franklin Pierce High School, testing Fife’s corners and connecting four different times for plays of over 30 yards in the win.

“A lot of these guys, I’ve played with since like seventh grade,” Elliott said. “We played on the Parkland Raiders together. We’ve played 7’s with each other and we’ve just got a lot of rhythm going. We’ve been working hard in practice to really make sure everything is rolling on all cylinders.”

Elliott completed 16-of-24 passes for the 291 yards and pair of touchdowns. Junior Francis Tapasa led the Patriots with a game-high 104 receiving yards on four catches, senior Breydan Fisher hauled in five catches for 86 yards and a touchdown, senior Rai Elliott caught five passes for 43 yards and a touchdown and Dan Novak also caught a pass.

“His receivers, they’ve played a lot of football,” Von Rueden said. “A couple of those guys, he’s played with since he was a little kid. It’s smooth. When they’re on, they’re on and really hard to stop.”

Sophomore Kai Kai Hale led the Washington rushing attack with 82 yards and a touchdown. Kahmari Hale added 45 yards and another touchdown.

“We haven’t beat them for like six, seven years,” said Kai Kai Hale. “Me as a sophomore, scoring a touchdown, it’s just big.”

Fife was paced by Beau Fualaau’s 105 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Gavin Schnieder and La’au Maka also rushed for touchdowns for the Trojans, but Fife was only able to muster 13 passing yards in the loss.

AFTER SLOW START, PATRIOTS PLAYING GOOD FOOTBALL

Washington got off to a slow start this season, dropping games to North Thurston, Lakewood and Enumclaw in the first three weeks of the season. The Patriots weren’t ready to be written off though, bouncing back with wins over Clover Park, White River, Orting and now Fife to improve to 4-3 overall and 4-1 in the 2A SPSL.

That turnaround has largely been without three-star running back recruit Unterrio Latin-Henley, a special talent who has been sidelined most of the past month with a rib injury. He’s working his way back into the fold and will hopefully be available in the coming weeks.

Washington could be a sneaky dangerous team when the 2A postseason rolls around, particularly if Latin-Henley is able to return and play at full strength. The slow start served as a reality check for a team that received some buzz in the offseason (from this paper included). The key to turning things around? It started on the practice field.

“Being disciplined in practice, really paying attention and focusing,” Hale said.

Certainly, whatever Washington has been doing as of late has paid off.

“Going back to summer time, we thought we’d be right in the top of the league,” Von Rueden said. “We kind of stumbled out of the blocks at the beginning of the season and now things are kind of rolling. O-line is just gelling and playing really well. Luke Elliott is a difference maker as far as what he can do throwing the ball around.”